Epson SureColor SC-P700 photo printer A3+, 10 inks, Wi-Fi, LAN

A typical home inkjet uses four to six inks; the SC-P700 uses ten. Light blue and light purple support the main colours, so individual dots do not show in pale areas such as sky, skin tones or mist. The violet ink widens the gamut in the blue-purple range, where four-colour printers often fall short. The result is softer gradations and a print that sits closer to the image you edited on screen.

Photo black is meant for glossy and semi-gloss paper, while matte black gives a deep black on matte fine-art stock. The grey and light grey inks mean the mid-tones of a black-and-white photo are printed with real grey ink rather than a mix of colours. The image stays neutral, without a green or reddish cast, and the shadows keep more detail. For anyone who prints monochrome work, this is one of the most important features of the printer.

The largest print size is A3+, slightly bigger than standard A3. That leaves room for a white border around an A3 image for framing, or for an A3 print with a trimming margin. A resolution of up to 5760 × 1440 dpi means very fine placement of ink droplets, and it is in large prints viewed up close that this really shows. The printer is built first and foremost for big photographs rather than everyday documents.

Connect a computer with a USB 3.0 cable, or put the printer on the local network through its 10/100 Ethernet port so several people can use it. Wi-Fi 5 works on both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, which helps on a crowded office network. Wi-Fi Direct lets you connect to the printer directly without a router, handy when you want to print a picture from a laptop or mobile device straight away without changing network settings.

The printer has two paper trays and a standard input capacity of 120 sheets, so one paper can stay loaded while you swap the other for the job at hand. It also prints directly onto printable CDs and DVDs: the artwork for an album, portfolio or wedding video goes onto the disc without a sticker. The black printer weighs 12.6 kg, so it deserves a stable spot on a desk or shelf.

Photographers who want to print their own work at A3+ and control how an image looks on paper; artists and designers producing small editions and proofs; black-and-white enthusiasts who benefit from two blacks and two greys for neutral tones; and studios or photo clubs where the printer is shared over the network by several computers.