Epson Expression Photo XP-8500

£150/$250 A conventional model with six inks

This is the only printer in this group to retain the time-honoured photo printing mix of CMYK plus light cyan and light magenta inks, all six inks

being dye-based. That’s good news for photos and, while the usual downside is that mono text looks faint and greyish, this Epson manages to produce smart-looking documents.

Standalone photocopying and printing from SD/HC/XC cards is via a 2.7-inch touchscreen that’s a bit small and fiddly to use. Unlike with the Epson ET-7700 and XP-960, you can insert photo paper in the rear feeder without needing to wait for the printer. Performance Typical of Epson six-ink photo printers, output looks bright and vibrant. Colour saturation and contrast can sometimes look a little too strident in ‘photo enhance’ modes. Other photo output is accurate for colour and tone, although mono photo printing is prone to colour casts.

Maximum scanning resolution is higher than in the ET-7700, at 1,200 x 4,800dpi. The motorised output tray extends automatically when printing.

The 2.7-inch touchscreen is a bit on the small side for easy operation.