S800 Color Bubble Jet
Photo Printer

The Special Effects page lets you change your image by sliding the contrast control you can semi-solarize it. Or choose one of the Monochrome Effects like Sepia, Blue, Pink, Green or custom mix your own color.

The Color page lets you completely control the output of the ink with sliders for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. The Output Style can be Accurate or Vivid, brightness can be Light, Normal or Dark and you can control the Intensity as well.

Once you have all of your custom options selected you can go to the Save page and create your own custom printing mode icon that will appear on the Main page for easy selection.

This is the "pop up" that comes up whenever you are actively printing a job. It displays the printer name, document being printed, the time it started, the progress, number of pages printed, which cartridge is being used and whether or not there are any low ink tanks.

Click on the Ink Information tab to display this screen that graphically shows the status of each of the printer's ink tanks.

When one of the tanks is low the tanks will have a yellow exclamation mark over it to let you know that it needs to be replaced soon. The ink warning first comes on when there is still some ink remaining so you won't run out in the middle of a printout and waste a sheet of costly photo paper.

Here's the low Photo Magenta ink tank after I finished the current print job. The chamber on the left side is full of ink when the tank is new. As you can see it drained the left chamber completely and the foam-filled side that feeds the head is very close to empty. I printed 42 full-page 8 x 10-inch and six 4 x 6-inch photos before I received a low ink warning for the Photo Magenta ink tank. I replaced it and then printed one more 8 x 10 before receiving a low ink warning on the Photo Cyan tank.

Steve's Conclusion

The Canon S800 is a great photo printer, it's fast and quiet and there's no denying that the individually replaceable ink tanks are more economical than having to replace a multi- color cartridge just because one of the colors has run out. However you must consider that these individual ink tanks retail for $11.99 and the cost of the average Epson 5-color cartridge is around $25. The S800's printhead assembly can be replaced by the user which eliminates the need to send the printer in for service in the event of a failure or major clog. The driver maintenance options include both a regular and a "deep" head cleaning cycle as well as an alignment procedure to keep your printing as perfect as possible.

The actual print quality is outstanding, especially considering that it outputs a full page 8.5 x 11 inch print at the highest quality possible in about five minutes. The same photo print takes from seven and a half to eleven and a half minutes on the Epson 780 printer. The prints are very comparable to those made on an Epson photo printer at 720dpi or 1440dpi (microweave on and high speed off). There is more shadow detail visible at 1440dpi or 2880dpi on the Epsons but it takes at about twice the printing time and uses a lot more ink.

Installation on my Windows 98 machine was quick and simple and the printer was good to go within minutes of taking it out of the box. The driver software is designed so that even novice users can be cranking out photo-quality prints quickly. And when you're not printing photos the S800 is more than capable of being an all-purpose color and text printer too.

Price, performance and economy, the Canon S800 Photo Printer is an excellent value.