The Next Step in the Evolution of Photo Printing

The PIXMA iP8500 photo printer is Canon’s first ChromaPLUS eight-color ink letter-sized format photo printer, designed for photographers and consumers seeking vivid color and precision with the highest level of photo printing quality. Canon's ChromaPLUS ink system delivers rich, true-to-life color reproduction that will satisfy even the most demanding photographer. The addition of a red and a green ink tanks raises the quality to a level achieved on professional printers providing a brilliancy rivaling the quality of positive film.

The PIXMA FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) print head utilizes an impressive 6,144 nozzles for high-speed printing over wide areas in a single pass. FINE print heads are the only consumer-oriented print heads to achieve an actual 1,200 dpi nozzle pitch. The iP8500 can produce a 4 x 6 inch borderless photo in about 21 seconds or an 8.5 x 11 inch borderless enlargement in just one minute.

The included Easy-PhotoPrint and Digital Photo Professional software allow images photographed using Canon digital SLR cameras and saved in Adobe RGB mode to be printed on the PIXMA iP8500 photo printer with accurate color reproduction using the larger Adobe RGB color space.

Direct photo printing is made possible without a computer thanks to the front-mounted PictBridge USB port. PictBridge is an industry standard for digital printers, digital cameras and digital camcorders that allows the direct printing of images from PictBridge compatible digital cameras and camcorders to a PictBridge compatible printer, regardless of brand or manufacturer, without need of a computer.

The PIXMA iP8500 has a second front-feeding paper cassette in addition to the standard auto sheet feeder located on top of the printer. The dual-paper path allows the printer to be loaded with both plain paper and photo paper or different sized papers simultaneously, so both documents and photos can be printed without the need for stopping and changing paper. You can switch easily between the two sources by using the paper feed selector switch on the front of the printer or via the printer driver.

Compatible with both Windows and Mac platforms (Windows 98, 98SE, XP, 2000, Me and Mac OS X v 10.2.1 to 10.3.x.), the iP8500 photo printer also includes the Easy-PhotoPrint (Windows/Mac), Easy-WebPrint (Windows only) and PhotoRecord (Windows only) imaging and printing software.

Pixma iP8500 Features:

• ChromaPLUS eight-color system with individually replaceable ink tanks

• Dual paper path with built-in duplex (two-sided) printing

• Fast printing: 4 x 6" borderless photos in about 21 seconds

• FINE high-performance print heads (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering)

• 6,144 ink nozzles for exceptional speed and quality

• 2-picoliter MicroFine ink drops with 4800 x 1200 dpi resolution

• Borderless printing in 4 x 6", 5 x 7", 8.5 x 11" sizes

• Computer-free PictBridge Direct USB printing

• High speed USB 2.0 printer interface

Mechanics & Performance

The iP8500 is a stylish looking, black and silver colored printer that will turn your workspace into a high-performance print shop. This is a fairly compact (18 x 11 x 7 inch) and lightweight printer that can even be placed up against a wall thanks to its front-loading and front-exiting paper path.

Setup is straight forward and can be accomplished by following the steps outlined on the included big page of directions. You first install the removable print head assembly, unwrap and install the eight ink tanks, install the driver software, connect the input cable and turn on the printer. Installation on my Windows XP machine went without a hitch even connected through a USB hub. It took a total of about fifteen minutes to unpack, setup and be ready to make the first print.

The iP8500 has two paper paths; a top-mounted auto sheet loader and an internal cassette in the bottom. Both the upper and lower paper trays can support up to 150 sheets of letter-size plain paper as well as 4x6" photo paper, 5x7" photo paper, letter-size photo paper and #10 envelopes.

You can load different media in the top and bottom trays and then select it with either the printer driver or front-mounted pushbutton. Both top and bottom trays can be loaded with plain paper, it can automatically switch between them when one runs out of paper.

The ultimate paper saver - the iP8500 features a built-in duplexer. It can easily print on both sides of plain paper or 2-sided photo papers. This will cut your paper waste in half when printing out web pages and documents and allows you to create your own "ready to be stapled" photo albums, newsletters or product catalogs.

Located on the front is the PictBridge USB port for direct printing from many of today's digital cameras and video camcorders.

Users with a PictBridge-enabled digital camera connect to the printer using their standard USB download cable. Compatible digital cameras are now available from Canon, Casio, Fuji, HP, Konica, Kyocera, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Samsung and Sanyo.

When the camera and printer are connected, the camera's color LCD is used to select the image(s) you want and what options to print them with. Usually it's as simple as select the photo and press the camera's OK button. (Shown here are the PictBridge menu screens on a Canon Digital Rebel SLR).