Again, getting the right printer all depends on how you want to use it. If you are printing for your personal pleasure, there is no need to spend tons of money on a super high end piece of equipment. If you are going to do semi pro or pro pictures, you will want to buy a printer that will produce high quality pictures.

The good news is that technology has come a very long way and there are many good quality printers available that will not break the bank. You will want to have an inkjet printer and they can often be found for as little as $40 if you look around really hard. Another good choice is a laser printer.

Most of these printers offer good quality output for printing standard size photos, but pay attention to the detail because not all inkjet printers provide good quality output for larger photos. Although most inkjet printers produce a similar quality the majority providing the maximum dpi dots per inch of 1,200 X 4,800 spending more on an inkjet printer will most likely provide you with more features or a faster printing speed.

Keep in mind that many photo printers use color ink cartridges to produce black and white, or grayscale images, which can lead to photos printed with a colored tint, so try to stick to inkjet printers that use black or gray inks if you want to print many black and white photos.

What separates professional photo printers from consumer models is that the professional variety can produce quality images at much larger sizes.

Depending on your needs, printers accepting paper sizes from 24 inches all the way up to 60 inches wide are available, but because they are targeted towards professionals, many convenient features such as printing from your digital camera will not be available on professional printers.