For anyone looking to make a living from their photography skills, their camera of choice is of utmost importance. An element that is perhaps glanced over, but could prove equally important for any entrepreneurially-savvy photographer is a great printer.

To that end, Epson is readying to debut two new offerings for the local market. The L850 designed for A4 and smaller sized prints, and the larger L1800 for bigger prints up to the A3 mark. Both printers will be arriving in SA within the next two months, but we were on hand to see them in action at Gallery MOMO earlier today, where they thoroughly impressed.

Kicking things off with the L850, which Epson says is designed for consumers who need a quick and easy printing solution. Although it is the smaller of the two new options, the L850 is by no means inferior, and delivers a printing rate of 12 milliseconds. It can also produce 1800 15x10 cm2 prints from a set of inks. Added to this is a memory card slot for users to print from one's connected camera. It also sports an A4 scanner, an LCD display for scrolling through printer options and the ability to print CD/DVD labels.

Now for the big brother, Epson's L1800. It carries the unique distinction of being the Japanese manufacturer's first ITS printer to produce photographic A3 prints. Epson say it's purpose built for high volume print sizes and is able to print a maximum of 15 pages per minute (colour and b/w) when the print speed is turned all the way up. It also sports one set of inks that deliver an approximate 1500 A3 photographic prints in total.

Both units make use of Epson's Ink Tank system, which the company says delivers the cost per print photo printing in the industry, and serves as one of the best value for money options on the market. The advantage of Epson's ink bottles, is that they can be replaced individually, saving users money on the cartridge alternative, according to the Japanese manufacturer. Each bottle retails for R200, with each printer housing six ink bottles in total.

As far as pricing for the printers go, the L850 is listed at R6 900 and the larger L1800 will go for R9 000.