Review of the Epson RX520

Out of the six units tested this month, the RX520 is bound to be the most attractive to photographers. It’s only one of two that includes film scanning capability and though this has its limitations, it works a lot better than the system found on the more expensive HP Photosmart 3210. Both scans and photo prints offer good dynamic range and deep blacks, and a welcome lack of over-saturation that can blight cheap printers. And the RX520 achieves very good photo print quality while making do without extra ‘photo’ ink shades. On the downside, the RX420 was the slowest printer of the bunch, taking seven minutes to print a borderless A4 print using best quality driver settings. Another concern is the longevity of the RX520’s dye-based inks compared to some rivals. Scanning speed was more respectable, only being beaten by the HP 3210 at 300ppi, for example. Despite its tiny LCD screen’ the RX520 worked just as well when direct printing from memory cards as the others. As long as you’re patient when it comes to printing times, the RX520 is well worth looking at.