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bbales · Aug 23, 2004, 08:37 AM

Haven't even seen a note that these things finally are available, but on Friday I went searching for one of the new Canon printers (the PIXMA line). I'd been wanting a photo printer and decided to go for a canon, as we have a Canon digital camera.

I got the top of the new "consumer" line, a PIXMA i4000, for $149. And it is fabulous.

It is very quiet, it is very fast and the prints are wonderful. (At first they were awful and I was ready to take the thing back, as I was so disappointed. Turns out I had settings -- that I thought were correct -- very off. I changed the settings and now I'm just a printing fool.

I encourage anyone in the market for a photo printer to take a look.

Cadaver · Aug 23, 2004, 04:20 PM

Originally posted by bbales:
Haven't even seen a note that these things finally are available, but on Friday I went searching for one of the new Canon printers (the PIXMA line). I'd been wanting a photo printer and decided to go for a canon, as we have a Canon digital camera.

I got the top of the new "consumer" line, a PIXMA i4000, for $149. And it is fabulous.

It is very quiet, it is very fast and the prints are wonderful. (At first they were awful and I was ready to take the thing back, as I was so disappointed. Turns out I had settings -- that I thought were correct -- very off. I changed the settings and now I'm just a printing fool.

I encourage anyone in the market for a photo printer to take a look.

Thanks for the mini-review.
Just for our info, what settings did you have to reset to get good prints?

bbales · Aug 23, 2004, 05:18 PM

Well, I HAD them on "plain paper" and "composite document," or something like that. I THOUGHT (b/c I was using old settings, from my Epson) it was on glossy photo paper, printing photos, so it's no wonder the colors were pretty unremarkable.

So -- I switched it to the correct paper (Photo Paper Plus Glossy, by Canon), the "print photo" setting, instead of a document, and, under "special effects," again a photo setting.

The difference, as you mgiht expect, was pronounced. I just had the settings completely wrong.

zigzag · Aug 23, 2004, 09:33 PM

I saw a review of that one here: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_...on_ip4000.html and he really raves about it for both photo and text. The real plus for me is the built-in duplex printing feature - my old HP has it and I really like it. I was thinking about replacing it with a Brother laser with duplexing, but now I'll probably get the Canon. I'm sorta waiting to see what the higher models (ip5000) offer but they haven't made them official yet.

One thing I can't figure out is why Canon won't offer CD printing on its US models. No one seems to know and Canon won't say.

wuzup101 · Aug 24, 2004, 01:33 AM

I personally have an i950 and I plan on stick with canon. I have an s230 digital elph and I love it to death... also own a scanner and this printer. The thing works great and I have nothing to complain about!

OreoCookie · Aug 24, 2004, 04:21 AM

The only reason why I might not stick with Canon is that I want a laser next. My parents just got the nice Kyocera FS1010 which works perfectly on a Mac, even when networked. It's fast, has an excellent built-quality (you can access the whole paper way), and I'm tempted to buy the FS1020D now (with built-in duplexer).

bbales · Aug 24, 2004, 08:34 AM

I noticed in the directions references to two-sided printing, which I'll have to explore later. I actually still have a servicable Epson, that I've been using for text.

But I am really, really liking the Canon. It's very quiet, it's fast and the quality is very, very nice. As I've been having a fine time printing out gorgeous 4 x 6 borderless prints with absoultely no difficulty, I've found myself muttering over and over, "what is WRONG with Epson that it can't update its drivers to do this simply? I believe (and I don't know for sure) that it's still saying "Apple made changes in OSX so that custom printing can't be done."

I'd been using Epsons for many, many years. I am a Canon believer now. Have a PowerShot S110 (which I'd like to upgrade in the not-too-distant future), a scanner and now the printer.

Thanks for posting the link to the review. I'd not seen anything.

And the guy at Comp USA tried to get me to buy an Epson, too. These are brand-new and he didn't know anything about them. They weren't even hooked up yet! I wanted to try it out before buying.

KeriVit · Aug 24, 2004, 05:45 PM

Have you/can you try the direct print with your camera and that printer? i think its pict bridge... that's the next investment on a printer for my canon camera i'd like to try.

bbales · Aug 25, 2004, 01:10 PM

KeriVit: Well, unfortunately, it appears my camera (A PowerShot S110) is too old to have the PictBridge technology! I'm sure we'll be getting a new one one of these days, but not with back-to-school expenses piling up. I was all set to try it this morning, but can't find a firmware update that will allow me to do this.

joe · Aug 26, 2004, 12:31 AM

Originally posted by zigzag:
The real plus for me is the built-in duplex printing feature - my old HP has it and I really like it.

Ditto! I bought the duplex option for my HP930c years ago and it's a great feature. However, the duplexer on my new Canon iP4000 has better front/back alignment than any HP I've ever seen. Headers and footers line up perfectly (front to back) on the iP4000 giving it a very professional look.

One thing I can't figure out is why Canon won't offer CD printing on its US models. No one seems to know and Canon won't say.

I was wondering about that myself. There is a 3rd tray on the iP4000 that's not mentioned in the review at Steve's digicams. My 1st guess was a CD/DVD print tray because of it's location. But without driver support it's just an extra piece of plastic on the printer.......joe

zigzag · Aug 26, 2004, 08:58 PM

Originally posted by joe:
I was wondering about that myself. There is a 3rd tray on the iP4000 that's not mentioned in the review at Steve's digicams. My 1st guess was a CD/DVD print tray because of it's location. But without driver support it's just an extra piece of plastic on the printer.......joe

I can only guess that there's some sort of agreement with some American concern - record companies, labeling companies? - to stay out of the CD printing market in the U.S. I just don't understand why that would be the case here and not in Europe or Australia. And why would Epson offer it here, but not Canon or HP? Strange.