Best Photo Albums in the UK

Benjia 500 is a photo album with 500 pockets, hence the name. Between 50 sheets with 10 pockets (5 on each side), the model will have no trouble accommodating 500 photographs. With each page holding 3 horizontal and 2 vertical photos, you can arrange the photographs in a way that makes more chronological or aesthetical sense.

But, as impressive as its capacity is, the more attractive part is the elegant leather cover, making the album look like something that holds treasured memories and not just random pictures. The leather is gorgeous. You can choose between 8 different colours but we would recommend sticking with brown or black as those look a little more classy than the rest. Besides being easy on the eyes, the high-quality cover's also pleasant to the touch.

Despite accommodating 500 photos, the album measures just 33.5 x 33 centimetres, which is not much more than albums that cap at 300-400 photographs. The only weak link here is that the pockets are pretty tight, so inserting and removing photos is not quite as easy as you'd expect.

In short, Benjia 500 will store more treasured memories than most photo albums, from weddings and anniversaries to random baby/family photographs.

Walther design EA-201-B understands that albums nowadays should be able to do a little more than hold photos. Whilst the model is pretty good at that as well, accommodating 400 standard 10- x 15-centimetre photographs, the album can also store CDs and negatives. What's more, the album is a little more practical than its competition.

The slip-in pages accept both vertical and horizontal pictures, featuring 40 sheets with 10 pockets (5 on each side). Furthermore, they're black, contrasting the photos and letting you flip through hundreds of photos without tiring your eyes out. Generally speaking, we have no complaints about the pages themselves, but the photo inserts are not always 100% the same size, making the album a little confusing sometimes.

Looking at the cover, the smooth texture is accompanied by a floral arrangement, giving the album a modern feel and a charming presence. Size-wise, at 33 x 31 centimetres, the model is about as compact or bulky as you'd expect considering its 400-page capacity and the additional CD or negative archive.

Bottom line, Walther design EA-201-B can do a little more than 9/10 photo albums, so its place within this selection is earned and justified.

ARPAN Plain Photo Album is not quite as plain as the name suggests. Sure, there's nothing crazy about the square gold stamping on the cover. There's also nothing crazy about the padded pages or the 3 colours (black, blue, and burgundy) that the album is available in. But, where we come from, plain albums do not also include a CD/DVD pocket at back, which is not the most insane feature, admittedly, but also not the most basic one.

Setting aside this pocket, the model incorporates 50 sheets with 4 pockets (2 on each side), meaning that the album can keep 200 standard (10 x 15 centimetres or 6 x 4 inches) photographs. There's nothing necessarily wrong with the sheets but the album will sometimes arrive with multiple pages stuck with each other, which is a little annoying but not the worst thing that can happen.

Removing them from the equation, the aforementioned hardcover is made from high-strength cardboard, so it should easily last years, maybe even decades. And, measuring 23 x 18 centimetres, the album will also require very little storage space.

All things considered, ARPAN Plain Photo Album will allow you to capture and store memories in one place, keeping them organised and easily accessible.

ARPAN Large Self-Adhesive Photo Album approaches the same task from a different angle. Whereas the previous albums can only keep 10- x 15-centimetre photos, this model can hold A4 photographs. Of course, with A4 photos, the capacity is reduced ~tenfold, meaning that the album cannot accommodate more than 40 photos, but that's to be expected. That said, the model comes without allocated photo slots, so you can use as much space as you like.

The pages are wire-bound and sealed, which also means that they lie flat, enabling easy viewing. As the 'self-adhesive' part of the name suggests, this album ditches traditional inserts, replacing them with sheets that have an adhesive surface, so, again, you can organise the photos however you see fit.

The one and, as far as we can tell, only downside to this approach is that it's not always easy to get the film completely flat once the photo is removed due to bubbles that form when you remove photographs. Other than that, this album is pretty great, including the PVC dust protection jacket with personalised messages. Plus, there's a personal information page that lets you write down names, numbers, emails, addresses, and more, making the album useful in more ways than one.

QC Life Magnetic Scrapbook Album also reveals almost everything interesting about it with the name, but we'll continue nonetheless. With its self-adhesive design that's 100% acid-free and comes without corner paste, the album uses high-quality film that protects photos and text and makes sure they do not fade.

To add more, the scrapbook is shipped with a watercolour pen that sports an executive gold metal design, making this package an even more compelling gift. The same can be said about the flannel hardcover with a plastic protective cover. But we will not necessarily say that since, whilst the cover looks alright, the protective layer loses its attractive appearance with time, making the otherwise elegant album a little less presentable.

Where the model's capacity is concerned, the scrapbook can hold 120 regular (10 x 15 centimetres) photos. You can organise these photographs between 20 sheets with 2 pockets on each side. From a size perspective, the album measures 28 x 27 centimetres, which is a little more than you'd expect considering the capacity but nothing that will make a substantial difference. So, assuming you want to protect your photos from harm, the QC Life Magnetic Scrapbook Album is the way to go about it.