SDC-Printer-Reviews

Conclusion

2013-03-25T08:55:00Z

One of Canon's newest All-In-One printers, the MG6320 has been designed for home or small office use. It excels at both document and photo printing, and does so with excellent quality and speed. It features Canon's ChromaLife100+ ink system that gives you an incredibly long lasting and durable image that will last as long as any other you will find. Its other great features include Wireless networking, Snap Edge easy access to the ink tanks, 3.5-inch intelligent touch screen, and the capability to print from just about any wireless portable device including smartphones and tablets.

Controlling the printer is as easy as ever thanks to intuitive menu system and easy to use 3.5-inch Touch LCD. What makes this so easy to use is that the LCD screen will only show you the relevant options for the task that you are working on. This cuts down on confusion and streamlines your operation. The LCD itself is easy to operate, with swipe and touch motions that allow you to control the entire system, which does not have any solid buttons. With the auto opening receiving tray, you never have to worry about leaving it open if you want to print from somewhere else. This is a great feature considering the large footprint of the printer. Anything that lets you save a little space is greatly appreciated.

Inserting an SD/SDHC/SDXC, CompactFlash or Sony MS Duo memory card into the built-in card reader was our fastest way of printing and just as easy as printing from the computer if you are not going to edit your images. Once a card is inserted, the images will show up on the LCD screen. Here you can choose which images, how many and the print settings for all of the images on the card. Once you have an image printing, you can continue to search and add images to print; you do not have to wait for one to finish to move on to the next.

Canon's My Image Garden software, which is included with the MG6320 printer, makes it easy to organize and edit your images. All of the controls are easy to use and the program lets you preview all of your changes before you save them, taking all of the worry out of editing or applying filters. The easily accessible desktop menu gives you total control over the printer, including scanning with user defined or auto detection settings. PDF files can be made automatically for documents or collections of images to be emailed to others.

The overall print quality from the MG6320 is very good, making it difficult to tell an image printed from the printer at high quality compared to a processed photograph. The microscopic ink droplets and gray ink help to enhance colors and tones to give us better colors than normally found on a home inkjet printer. These images come out in a timely manner as well, which can be seen by our timing chart below. The only noticeable issue is the speed at which the printer uses ink, especially gray. While completing our tests, we were very surprised at how fast the ink goes. Another area where the MG6320 pleased us was with the overall resolution and quality of the scanner. With a maximum optical resolution of 2400 x 4800 dpi, automatic scan settings and its ability to scan thicker sources like books, it is an incredibly useful tool.

Test print times were completed using a 24-megapixel JPEG image and HP Advanced Photo media. These are actual "click to drop" times meaning the timer starts when we clicked the Print button and stopped when the paper dropped in the tray.

Input Source	Paper Size	Type	Quality	Time
Computer	4x6"	bordered	standard	0:50
Computer	4x6"	bordered	high	1:12
Computer	4x6"	borderless	standard	0:39
Computer	4x6"	borderless	high	1:24
SD card	4x6"	bordered	standard	0:30
SD card	4x6"	bordered	high	0:44
SD card	4x6"	borderless	standard	0:25
SD card	4x6"	borderless	high	0:54
Computer	8.5x11"	borderless	high	2:20
SD card	8.5x11"	borderless	high	2:09

Note: computer times measured with an AMD64 / Windows 7 computer using Wi-Fi connection, the first 17-18 seconds of our computer speed tests consisted of the time it took for the devices to communicate with each other.

Bottom Line - The Canon MG6320 All-In-One Photo Printer and Scanner produces excellent quality prints in a very timely manner. Its full wireless capabilities make it great for the home or any small office, and also allows you to print from almost any portable device and several cloud services as well. Its easy operation and automatic scanning takes all of the guess work out, helping streamlining your workflow. Coming it at US$199.99, the printer is very affordable, especially for the features and quality; just beware of the ink usage and prices of replacement ink tanks

.

Software

2013-03-25T08:45:00Z

After setting up your printer and removing all of the protective shipping tape, it is time to install the included software and drivers on you computer. This introduction screen gets you ready to take on the process. It also gives you the option to change the install menu language before you get started.

Your first major decision is what to install. By default on my Windows 7 machine, all except for the XPS drivers were selected. Unless you know that you will need these drivers or do not wish to install of the included software, you should be ready to go.

Next you will have to decide if you will install the printer via USB or a Network connection. When installing by Network, you will then be asked if your network is wireless or not. The program will then continue to install and connect your printer to the computer.

The Maintenance page lets you clean the print heads, with options for a regular or a "deep" cleaning cycle; be warned, the latter uses much more ink to clean. There are options for aligning the heads, checking the print nozzles, setting the Auto Power Off time and other Custom Settings.

Instead of installing a bunch of icons to you desktop, Canon installed this convenient quick menu which can be put anywhere on the desktop. Shown above is the expanded version, by clicking on the arrows, you can shrink both stacks of icons into the corner. This handy menu keeps all of the main functions (Vertical: Creative Park Premium Page, Scan Settings, Scan with Auto Detect, Print w/ Selected Layout, Select a Layout, Slideshow and My Image Garden. Horizontal: Useful Functions, Display Notices, Ink Model Numbers, Buy Ink and consumables, Start My Printer, Onscreen Manual).

Clicking in the bottom right corner of the quick menu brings up the main menu system with all of the options available. Here the items are broken down by category, covering everything for the printer. The categories are: Print, Scan, Web Services, Manual & Device Information and Device Settings & Maintenance.

This window is the Slideshow window that is included with the software. This can be put anywhere on the Desktop and set to run any set of images on the computer.

My Image Garden is included printing software developed by Canon. The software allows you to organize, edit and print your images with ease. You will also find plenty of easy to use editing and effects options for quick fixes and fun prints.

The image editing menu allows for automatic and manual image editing. The automatic features include a total photo fix, red eye correction and face sharpening and smoothing. When you switch over to manual you have more control over the image colors and a few basic editing features. These controls are very easy to use, and the preview option allows you to test them out without saving; so you never have to worry about wrecking an image.

A very similar looking menu controls the creative special filters for enhancing your creativity. Your filter options are Fish-eye Effect, Miniature Effect, Toy Camera Effect, Soft Focus and Blur Background. All of these effects have three levels of adjustments, and like the editing menu, you can test them out without saving; so you can see what they look like without messing up an image.

When printing from the included software, you will see the menu shown above. This menu gives you all of the options that you would have if printing directly from the printer, with well categorized, easy to understand options and settings. Choices like printing the date, bordered or borderless and print quality with or without image correction are found here.

Finally, My Image Garden has the ability to save 1 or more images in a PDF file for you. This is an easy way to create an image file that will include all of the images you would like to email someone. You will be able to send all of the images as one file that is easy to see by almost everyone as Adobe Viewer is a pretty standard, and free program.

Ink System

2013-03-25T08:25:00Z

Canon's snap-edge feature allows you to lift just the very front edge of the printer, giving you access to the ink tanks. Once open the print head will center itself in the middle for easy access. The individual color tanks snap in and out easily and the red LED light on the front assures that you have them installed correctly. When a tank is low, the LED will blink so you can easily find the color you are looking for.

Taking a closer look at the ink tanks, it is easy to see that Canon features a few extra tanks than most printers. It starts with the dye based and pigment based black inks. The pigment based will handle most of your document printing while the dye based is for photos. The other that might stand out is the gray tank. This gives the printer a greater range of colors and tones that it can produce, even in black and white images. Finally we see the traditional Cyan, Magenta and Yellow cartridges that will create the rest of your color tones. The individual color ink tanks give you the freedom to change the colors that run out, unlike some tanks that include all three color inks in one tank.

The Fine Print Head, found in the MG6320, is the first part of Canon's high quality printing process. With 1pl and 5pl nozzles, it has the ability to quickly and accurately print images and documents, giving you the incredible 15 imp black & white or 10 imp color speeds. Concentrating more of the finer nozzles allows the printer to slow down and greatly increase the quality of the print, using microscopic droplets of ink.

The new MG6320 uses Canon's ChromoLife100+ dye based ink system. These inks hold up incredibly well to most standard storage environments. They are more resistant to heat/humidity, environmental gases and they resist fading in most lighting conditions.

When these inks are combined with the latest Fine Print Heads and select Canon Photo Paper, the full ChromaLife100+ system comes into effect. With all of these combined, prints are capable of lasting 100 to 200 years when stored in an archival quality album in the dark. When combined with Photo Paper Plus Glossy II PP-201, these images could last up to 300 years in the same conditions.

This ink system has also been shown to resist fading for up to 20 years, twice as long as the previous inks. Gases in the air, including Ozone (O3), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur oxide (SOx) all cause inks to fade over time.

Specifications

2013-03-25T08:10:00Z

Printer
Print Speed (up to)	4" x 6" Borderless Photo: Approx. 21 seconds Black:ESAT (Black) Approx. 15.0 ipm10 Color:ESAT (Color) Approx. 10.0 ipm10
Number of Nozzles	Color: 5,632 / Pigment Black: 1,024 / Total: 6,656
Picoliter Size (color)	1, 2 and 5
Print Resolution (Up to)	Color:Up to 9600 x 2400 dpi Black:Up to 600 x 600 dpi
Ink Compatibility	PGI-250 PGBK XL Pigment Black CLI-251 C XL Cyan CLI-251 M XL Magenta CLI-251 Y XL Yellow CLI-251 GY XL Gray CLI-251 BK XL Black PGI-250 PGBK Pigment Black CLI-251 C Cyan CLI-251 M Magenta CLI-251 Y Yellow CLI-251 GY Gray CLI-251 BK Black
Paper Sizes	4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10," Letter, Legal, U.S. #10 Envelopes
Paper Compatibility	Plain: Plain Paper, Canon High Resolution Paper; Super High Gloss: Photo Paper Pro Platinum; Glossy: Photo Paper Plus Glossy II, Photo Paper Glossy; Semi-Gloss: Photo Paper Plus Semi-Gloss, Photo Paper Pro Luster; Matte: Matte Photo Paper; Envelope: U.S.# 10 Envelope CD/DVD: Printable CD/DVD/Blu-ray Disc Chlorine-free paper can be used
Printer Features	AirPrint5, Auto Duplex Print, Auto Photo Fix II, Borderless Printing6, Calendar Print, CD/DVD Printing, Disc Label Print, Document Printing, Full HD Movie Print7, Fun Filter Effects, Grayscale Printing, Google Cloud Print3, My Image Garden, Mobile Device Printing12, Photo Direct Printing (Memory Card)13, Photo Printing, PIXMA Cloud Link4, Red-Eye Correction, Template Print, Trimming Print, Quiet Mode, Web Template Print, Wireless Printing1, Evernote
Output Tray Capacity	Lower Cassette: 125 Sheets Plain Paper Upper Cassette: 20 Sheets Photo Paper (4" x 6")
Copier
Copy Speed (up to)	FCOT(Color): Approx. 14 seconds
Reduction / Enlargement	25% - 400%
Copy Features	4-on-1 / 2-on-1 Copy, Auto Exposure Copy, Auto Photo Fix II, Borderless Copy, Disc Label Copy, Fade Restoration, Fit-to-Page, Frame Erase Copy, Multiple Copy: 1-99 Pages, Photo Reprint, Preset Copy Ratios, Two-sided Copy, Zoom
Scanner
Scanner Type	Flatbed
Scanning Element	Contact Image Sensor (CIS)
Max. Resolutions	Optical:2400 x 4800 dpi Interpolated:19,200 x 19,200 dpi
Scanner Features	Auto Scan Mode11, Attach to E-Mail Scan, Network Scan, Push Scan, Scan to Memory Card, Wireless Scanning
Color Depth	48-bit input/24-bit output
Max. Document Size	8.5" x 11.7"
Photo Connect
Media Card Support	SD™ Memory Card, SDHC™ , MultiMediaCard®, MultiMediaCard® Plus, CompactFlash®, Microdrive®, Memory Stick Duo™ and Memory Stick PRO Duo™. The following can be used with the addition of a special adapter sold separately: miniSD™ Card, miniSDHC™ Card, microSD™ Card, microSDHC™ Card, RS-MMC™, MMC mobile™, Memory Stick Micro, xD-Picture Card®, xD-Picture Card® (Type M), and xD-Picture Card® (Type H)
General
Other Features	3.5" LCD Touch Screen, WiFi LED, 6-color Ink System with Gray Ink, CREATIVE PARK PREMIUM16, Dual Color Gamut Processing Technology, Snap Edge, Quiet Mode, Advanced Media Handling, Self-Opening Output Tray, QuickStart
OS Compatibility	Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows® 7, Windows 7 SP1, Windows Vista SP1, Vista SP2, Windows XP SP3 32-bit, Intel processor, Mac OS® X v10.5.8, 10.6, 10.7
Standard Interface	Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b/g/n), Ethernet, Hi-Speed USB, Card Slots
Dimension (W x D x H)	18.4" (W) x 14.6" (D) x 5.9" (H)
Weight	18.4 lbs.
Warranty	1-Year limited warranty with InstantExchange program. 1-Year toll-free technical phone support14

Canon Pixma MG6320 Review

2013-03-25T08:01:00Z

Canon continues to produce high quality home all-in-one printers with the addition of the Pixma MG6320 inkjet printer. This affordable and incredibly easy to use printer features WiFi and ethernet capabilities to handle all of the printing in your home from one location. It uses 6, Chromalife 100+ ink cartridges, including a gray cartridge for enhanced color tones and black and white images. Its 1 Picoliter technology allows the MG6320 to produce incredibly high quality images with a maximum resolution of 9600x2400 dpi (dots per inch). Even with this high resolution, the printer can pump out a 4x6 borderless photo in approx 20 seconds.

Controlling the MG6320 is incredibly easy thanks to the great touch screen operation that Canon has implemented. With just a touch or a swipe, you have complete control. Since there are no actual buttons, the only controls that you have access to are the ones that are needed for what you are working on, reducing confusion and streamlining the printers operation. It also features two paper trays, allowing you to keep regular and photo paper loaded at the same time. The MG6320 also features Auto Duplex Printing, which prints to both sides of the paper, cutting your paper usage in half.

Canon has taken the wireless printing features to a new level, as the MG6320 works with WiFi, PictBridge WLAN, Goolge Cloud Print, Pixma Cloud Link, Canon Easy PhotoPrint, and Apple AirPrint, which almost makes your computer obsolete when it comes to quickly printing photos. These features allow you to connect directly from almost any smartphone, tablet or some Canon digital cameras without using cables. Some of these features like the Google Cloud link will require you to set up an account for this service. Directly inserting your memory cards into the front of the printer is another way to quickly select and print images quickly. If you do plan on using a computer, Canon has included their new "My Image Garden" software to help you organize and print your images in fun, easy and creative ways.

Features:

1pl technology
6 individual ink cartridges
9600 dpi max resolution
Auto Duplex Printing
Intelligent touch system
CD/DVD printing
Air Print
Google and Pixma Cloud Printing
Mobile Device Printing
AirPrint
3.5-inch Touch LCD
WiFi
Energy Star
Ethernet Wired LAN
My Image Garden Software
Approx 21 second 4x6 photo print
ChromaLife 100+ ink
Hi-Speed USB

In the Box:

PIXMA MG6320 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-In-One
CD/DVD Printing Tray
Manuals and other documents
Matte Photo Paper (For Automatic Print Head Alignment)
Setup CD-ROM
Setup Ink Tanks
Power Cord

The Canon Pixma MG6320 is available now with a MSRP of US $199.99.

Mechanics & Performance

The very stylish and somewhat bulky MG6320 features smooth lines and a shiny black finish that will look great in any office or computer room. While it is big, its wireless capabilities allow you keep it out of the way and print from anywhere in the house. The two paper trays allow you to keep both photo and plain paper loaded and ready to go all the time. It's snap edge feature allows you to lift a small section on the front of the printer to access and change the ink cartridges.

Setting up the printer wirelessly was incredibly easy with the included instructions. They walk you through the entire printer setup step by step. Complete with a diagram for each step, they are easy enough for anyone to follow. Once the printer is set up with ink and paper, you can connect to your household wireless network and then connect your computer just by searching for it. If you want all of the special software loaded on the computer, just insert the setup disk and it will walk you through the setup and driver installation (Windows 7 and up will automatically download the drivers if you do not use the CD).

Dual paper trays on the bottom of the printer allow you to keep two sets of paper in the printer and ready to go. The bottom tray will handle plain paper, up to legal size, and can hold up to 125 sheets of lightweight plain paper. The top tray is a little smaller, handling sheets up to 5x7. The adjusters on the tray snap into each position for easy changeovers. This tray does not hold near as many sheets, especially when loaded with good quality photo paper, so it will need refilled more often. The bottom tray can also be set for smaller paper, so you may want to use that one if you planning on printing a large number of photos. Underneath the top tray you find the CD/DVD tray that snaps into place. To use it, you have to take out the tray and pop it off, then follow the loading instructions to run it through the printer.

Printer Controls

The printer's user interface does not include any actual buttons that you can push. When the printer if off, everything that you see above will disappear. There are a few touch-sensitive buttons around the 3.5-inch touch LCD screen, but the entire menu system will show up on the screen. The great thing about this screen is that it is very easy to touch and swipe, making control very easy. The intuitive menu system only gives you options and settings that are appropriate for what you are doing. This helps streamline operation and keeps things simple.

Print From Memory Cards

Printing directly from the memory card is also simple. The MG6320 is capable of reading SD/SDHC/SDXC, CompatFlash, MicroDrive, Memory Stick Duo and Pro Duo cards. There is also an available adapter that can allow several other types of cards to be connected as well. Your images and basic settings will show up on the LCD screen. Here you change quality, border/borderless, red-eye fix and auto picture correction settings for each image. You can also select a number of images and sizes to be printed for each image on the memory card, so you can set up what you want, then walk away and the printer will take care of the rest.

Flat Bed Image Scanner

On top of the printer is the flatbed scanner. This is used to scan images and documents to your computer or just to make black & white or color copies. It's high quality 2400x4800 dpi optical resolution is great for scanning images and important documents. There is an auto scan mode that will determine the type of document you have and choose appropriate settings. Other settings include Attach to Email Scan, Network Scan, Scan to Memory Card and Wireless Scan.

Canon Software & Steve's Conclusion

2012-03-26T08:05:00Z

After you've successfully installed the print driver and software, the Canon Solution Menu EX software screen pops up on your desktop. Here you can choose:

Photo Print
Canon Web Service
Help & Settings
Start Application
Online Shipping
Information

Depending on which of the above you click on opens up various options to your left. Under Photo Print, you have various printing options, including still photo, Movie print, a calendar, etc.

On the right hand side of my desktop, I noticed a new widget with four options; Layout Print, Photo Print, Show Main Screen (which is the one displayed above), and Hide Shortcut menu. This is a handy little widget that allows you to quickly start printing, and I was glad to see a hide option.

Selection the Photo Print option from either the main menu or the shortcut widget will bring up the Canon Easy-PhotoPrint EX software. Within just three steps you can be on your way to printing photo lab quality prints. The first screen gives you a file tree on the left for you to navigate to the folder that contains the photos you want to print. On the left is an explorer type window with thumbnails of you photos. Clicking on a thumbnail will add it to the queue along the bottom, and under each thumbnail is a counter that allows you to choose how many prints of that particular photo you want printed.

Next you need to choose the paper size and media type. The available media types on the right all depends on what you choose on the left.

Once you've selected the files and the media properties, now you choose the layout. You can choose bordeless, bordered, Index options, etc. You can also preview each photo by clicking on the thumbnails in the queue below. The order that the photos are displayed in the queue below is the order in which they will be printed. Once you've made all of your selections, be sure that you have the correct paper in the printer, and click the Print button to begin. At any time you can jump back to the previous pages to change the paper type, add/remove images from the queue, etc.

While the Pro-1 prints your masterpieces, the familiar dialog/status box is shown with information on which print of the total pages is being printed, ink levels, etc.

Steve's Conclusion

Canon's PIXMA Pro-1 is a professional series ink-jet printer that is designed for a wide variety of photogs. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a budding semi-pro, the Pro-1 gives you the ability to display your work on your own walls, present it to clients, or the local photo gallery with quality that meets or exceeds your local or online photo lab. The Pro-1 succeeds the Pro9500 Mark II, which some worthy upgrades; namely the new tubular 12-ink system, 2.5x larger ink tanks, and the addition of 5 new monochrome inks (Photo Black, Matte Black, Gray, Dark Gray and Light Gray).

While the Pro-1 takes up quite a bit of desk real estate, it does so with style thanks to its blocky, yet sophisticated exterior. Like all of Canon's PIXMA models, the Pro-1's rear feed and front paper trays fold into the body, giving you a that compact appearance, which is helped with its black and dark grey color scheme. This combination makes the Pro-1 appear to be much slimmer than it really is. Weighing in at 60+ pounds, you need to make sure you have a beefy table or desk to hold the printer up. We also recommend you have someone lend you a hand when initially unboxing the printer, or anytime you plan on moving it. I wasn't fortunate enough to have help, and my back was not happy after lugging this thing to my office and unpacking it.

Setting up the printer and installing the driver and Canon software was simple and straight forward. Thank to the handy Getting Started guide that's supplied with the Pro-1, anyone can easily setup this printer. It took us about 45 minutes to an hour to setup the Pro-1 from start to finish, however this time included taking some of the product photos, along with the screen captures needed for our Print Driver and Software pages. So, the typical person should have no problem setting up the Pro-1 in about 30 minutes or so.

With the Pro-1 using Canon's FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) Technology, the print head is able to deposit precise and constant 4 picoliter ink droplets, and thanks to the large auto and manual feed tray, it can create photo lab quality prints of remarkable quality on a wide variety or print mediums; including Fine Art paper. The 12-color LUICA ink system provides a color gamut that is unmatched by any other printer in this price range in our opinion, and the new Monochrome ink set produces rich blacks, greys, and metallic tones. Lastly, Canon's Chroma Optimizer helps ensure your prints are the best that they can be by reducing any differences in ink droplet dimensions, giving you a more uniform pattern that appears flatter and smoother. This helps the print to more evenly reflect light, which enhances the entire image.

While we believe that print quality and cost are the most important aspects to consider when looking at a printer, speed is also important. The Pro-1 claims to be a speedy printer, and for the most part that seems to be true. However, Canon made claims in the Pro-1's press release, and on their website, that the Pro-1 can spit out a 13x19-inch (bordered) print in just 4:20. We were not able to reproduce that time, however we got pretty close. Either way, the Pro-1 can churn our some amazing prints in no time at all, however it's not going to win and land speed records. Below is a break down of the timing results we achieved using various paper types and sizes, printing full resolution images from my personal Canon EOS 50D, Sony's SLT-A77, and NEX-5N.

Paper Size	Print Type	Paper Type	Time
4x6"	borderless - color	Canon Photo Paper Glossy II	1:22
8.5x11"	borderless - color	ILFORD Galerie Smooth Gloss	5:45
8.5x11"	borderless - B&W	ILFORD Galerie Smooth Gloss	5:45
8.5x11"	borderless - color	ILFORD Galerie Smooth Pearl	4:18
8.5x11"	bordered - color	Canon Photo Paper Pro Matte	3:16
A3+ 13x19"	Borderless - color	Moab Semi-gloss	8:02
A3+ 13x19"	Borderless - B&W	Moab Semi-gloss	7:07
A3+ 13x19"	Bordered - color / HDR	Moab Semi-gloss	4:51
A3+ 13x19"	Bordered - color	Museo Fine Art Silver Rag	5:22

(Pentium D / Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit / USB 2.0 / Canon Easy-PhotoPrint EX software)

Bottom line - Canon has created a very appealing large carriage printer with their new PIXMA Pro-1. This printer would make an excellent choice for both professional and semi-pro photographers, and even those enthusiasts with deep pockets. During our tests, the Pro-1 was able to produce stunning prints from 4x6 inches all the way up to borderless 13x19s, with color saturation and black density that is unmatched in this price range. While this printer is no slouch, our timing test results were a bit slower than past models we've tested; which comes as a surprise to us since the ink tanks no longer ride on the print head, thus shedding some additional mass. The PIXMA type body is stylish, and uses the same compact technology that we've become accustomed to from this line of printers, with the printer folding up into itself leaving you with a stylish cube on your desk when it's not in use; well rectangle actually. Furthermore, with a MSRP of just $999 USD, which includes ink, the Pro-1 is quite affordable when you consider the output quality of this rig. Not to mention the ink tanks are 2.5 times larger, while not being 2.5 times more expensive; on average, we found the individual tanks for $35 online. That said, we give the Canon PIXMA Pro-1 a glowing recommendation for anyone who's looking to create photo lab quality prints from their own home or office, while not breaking the bank with the initial investment.

Printer Driver

2012-03-26T08:04:00Z

Printer Driver (Windows 7 was used for the following illustrations).

When you pop the Canon PIXMA Pro-1 Setup CD-ROM into your PC, this auto-play screen will appear if you are using Windows 7. You have options to choose Easy or Custom Installs, or you can Exit the app.

Selecting the Easy Install (recommended) will bring you to the next screen. Here is displays everything that will be installed on your PC, along with the available hard drive space, the amount of required disk space, and lastly the estimated installation time; "10 to 20 minutes".
Click Install to start this process.

Next you need to clarify how you will use the printer to communicate with your PC. You can choose to connect the printer to your PC via USB, or use the Ethernet port to use it as a network printer. We chose USB for this evaluation.

Next you need to accept the Canon License Agreement.

Once you accept the License terms, this screen is displayed that notes that you need to make sure that any anti-virus or firewall you have in place will allow all of the wizard install processes to complete. The Windows 7 machine we used for testing the Pro-1 uses AVG anti-virus, and we had no issues with permissions while installing the print driver and Canon software. Clicking next will start the actual install process.

Once installation starts, this status box is displayed with an approx. countdown until completion.

Once you've installed the printer driver and software, you now have to setup your Pro-1 printer. The first step is to plug the USB cord in (when using USB method instead of Ethernet). Note that Canon does Not supply a USB cable. Before this point, you should have already installed the print cartridges and print head, and the printer should be powered On.

Next you need to align the print head. Canon includes 4 sheets of the special print alignment paper, which you will use 2 sheets of when doing the initial alignment. Insert the paper, then click Execute.

Once we clicked execute, it took the printer about 15 minutes to "prime" the ink delivery system, then another 7-8 minutes for the print head alignment process. Canon quote a process time of 7-8 minutes, which is what we noted after the initial priming of the ink system. The screen above is shown once the alignment has begun.

Congratulations, your Pro-1 is now setup for USB printing! However, you still have about three screens left before the installation process is actually complete.

You get the option to Register your new printer with Canon, which is recommended in case you need any support from them in the future.

Then they ask if you agree or disagree with participating in their Extended Survey Program. By agreeing, you'll be sharing information over the internet with Canon on their products, what settings you're using, what OS, etc. This is up to you, however we chose to agree to this program.

Installation is now finally complete. It took use about 45 minutes to and hour to unbox the Pro-1, remove all the packing tap, install the ink cartridges and print head, and install the print drivers and Canon Software. This time also includes taking photos and screen captures during the entire process; so your mileage may vary.

Printhead & Ink Tank System

2012-03-26T08:03:00Z

The PIXMA Pro-1 is the first printer from Canon to offer their unique tubular ink delivery system, when offers several benefits over their typical design when the ink tanks ride on the print head itself.

In this schematic (provided by Canon - click to enlarge), you can see how the ink delivery system works. Instead of the tanks hitching a ride on top of the print head, they are conveniently located at the left and right sides on the front of the printer. The ink is then feed into the tubes and delivered to the print head. The pros of this system are the ability to offer larger ink tanks (2.5 times larger in this case), less mass on the print head for faster operation, and easier ink tank changes. The only con we really see is that the first time you setup the printer, you have to prime the ink system; fill up these tubes. This means you'll get less prints per cartridge then you will once the system is initially primed.

Normally we would take a close-up shot of the camera's print head, however I chose to forgo this with our Pro-1 review. Due to the print head being delicate, and me not wanting to risk getting some sort of dust lodged in the nozzles, I skipped this picture and installed the print head as quickly as I could.

The print head itself offers 12,288 nozzles (1024x12), with a droplet size of 4 picoliters. The head is compatible with PGI-29 inks. The print resolution for both Color and Black is 4800x2400 dpi.

Here we can see some of the ink tanks installed on the left side of the printer. Everything's color coded, and each port has the color and ink cartridge label at the top, so it's very hard for you to put the wrong cartridge in the wrong slot; user error can be the only explanation if you do. Once the tank locks in place, a small Red LED lights up at the top of the cartridge. This indicates that the tank is seated, and has ink. When an ink tank is ready to be replaced, on top of the Alarm lamp flashing, the small Red LED on the top of the in cartridge will also blink to inform you which of the tanks needs replaced. These tanks continue the use of Canon's prism technology to allow the printer to monitor ink levels constantly.

To open the ink tank compartment there is a handy button located on the top right of the printer. Pressing it will release the doors, which fall downward on their own. The button will flash blue as the doors are opening (not shown above).

Here we have a close up of one of the Pro-1's ink tanks. Like we have already mentioned several times in this review, Canon notes that these tanks hold approx. 2.5 times (157%) larger than the tanks used with past models. They also use Canon's LUCIA pigment inks, which Canon claims this ink system "expands the color gamut with improved saturation of colors and darker, deeper blacks which allows the professional photographer to achieve new levels of skin tone reproduction, accuracy and quality, so your prints exhibit stunning detail." Another benefit of LUCIA inks is that they are resistant to fading for a 100 years (when stored in archival quality photos albums, etc.), meaning your prints will last over a lifetime (depending on the material used for printing, storage technique, etc.).

Here's an up-close look at the connector port on the ink tank, which is used for the printer to communicate with the ink tank to determine ink levels, etc.

On the back you can see where the tubular ink system connects to the cartridge, with the o-ring type seal to ensure there are no leaks.

As you're printing, Canon's software will display a small status box that gives you details on the current print job(s), including how graphical ink level indicators of each of the 12 inks tanks, what page of the total pages is printing, etc.

Clicking on Ink Details will bring up this screen showing a closer look at the ink level indicators.

Specifications

2012-03-26T08:02:00Z

PIXMA Pro-1 Specifications
Print Resolution	Up to 4800¹ x 2400 dpi
Print Engine	Inkjet, 12 Single Inks, LUCIA ink system with Chroma Optimizer. Minimum 4pl droplet size & FINE print head.
Photo Lab Quality Speed	A3+: Approx. 2m 55s (Standard)¹
Ink Cartridge Configuration	12 separate ink tanks: PGI-29PBK, PGI-29MBK, PGI-29DGY, PGI-29GY, PGI-29LGY, PGI-29C, PGI-29PC, PGI-29M, PGI-29PM, PGI-29Y, PGI-29R, PGI-29CO
Ink Tanks Life	10x15 photo¹ Photo Black: 1300 photos* Matte Black: 1925 photos* Dark Grey: 710 photos Grey: 724 photos Light Grey: 1320 photos Cyan: 1940 photos* Photo Cyan: 1445 photos Magenta: 1850 photos* Photo Magenta: 1010 photos Yellow: 1420 photos Red: 2370 photos* Chroma Optimizer: 510 photos A3+ photo² Photo Black: 111 photos Matte Black: 505 photos* Dark Grey: 119 photos Grey: 179 photos Light Grey: 352 photos* Cyan: 230 photos Photo Cyan: 400 photos* Magenta: 281 photos Photo Magenta: 228 photos Yellow: 290 photos Red: 454 photos* Chroma Optimizer: 90 photos *EstimatedSupplemental Yield
Media Type	Plain Paper, Fine Art Paper "Museum Etching" (FA-ME1), Fine Art Paper "Photo Rag™" (FA-PR1), Photo Paper Pro Platinum (PT-101), Photo Paper Plus Glossy II (PP-201), Photo Paper Plus Semi-gloss (SG-201), Matte Photo Paper (MP-101), High Resolution Paper (HR-101N), Photo Stickers (PS-101), Other (Fine Art Paper, Fine Art Paper 2, Glossy Photo Paper)¹
Media Input	Rear Tray: Max. 150 sheets Manual Feeder: 1 sheet Direct Disc Print Tray: 1 printable CD, DVD or Blu-Ray Disc
Media Size	Rear Tray: A3+, A3, A4, A5, B4, B5, Letter, Legal, 25x30cm (10x12"), 20x25cm (8x10"), 13x18cm, 10x15cm Manual Feeder: A3+, A3, A4, Letter, 36x43cm (14x17"), 25x30cm (10x12"), 20x25cm (8x10")
Media Weight	Rear Tray: Plain paper (64 to 105 g/m²) and supported Canon special media up to approx. 300 g/m² Manual Feeder: Canon special media up to approx. 350g/m² and 0.6mm
DVD / CD Printing	Available as standard
Two Sided Printing	Available by manual operation only
Borderless Printing	Yes (A3+, A3, A4, Letter, 36 x 43cm, 25 x 30cm, 20 x 25cm, 13 x 18cm, & 10 x 15cm sizes)¹
INTERFACE AND SOFTWARE
Interface Type - PC	Ethernet: 10/100Mbps (auto switchable) Hi-Speed USB 2.0 (B port)
Interface Type - Camera	Direct Print Port: Camera direct photo printing from PictBridge compliant digital cameras & camcorders
Interface Type - Mobile Phone / PDA	Photo printing via PictBridge
Supported Operating System	Windows 7 (32 and 64bit), Windows Vista (32 and 64bit), Windows XP SP2, SP3 Mac OS X v10.4.11 - 10.7
Minimum System Requirements	Windows 7: 1GHz or faster CPU, 1GB RAM (32bit) / 2GB RAM (64bit) Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit): 1GHz or faster CPU, 512MB RAM Windows XP SP2, SP3: 300MHz or faster CPU, 128MB RAM Browser: Internet Explorer 6 or higher CD-ROM Drive Display: 800 x 600 or better Mac OS X v10.6: Intel Processor, 1GB RAM Mac OS X v10.5: Intel or PowerPC Processor (G4, G5, 867MHz or faster) Mac OS X v10.4.11: Intel or PowerPC Processor (G5, G4, G3), 256MB RAM Browser: Safari 3 or higher CD-ROM Drive Display: XGA 1024 x 768 or better
Driver Features	Borderless printing, Greyscale printing, Vivid Photo, Clear Coating, Manual Colour Adjustment, Linear Tone, Photo Noise Reduction, Photo Optimizer PRO, Photo effects, Collate, Multiple page per sheet print, Booklet print, Poster print, Scaled print (20-400%), Fit-to-Page print, Quiet Mode, Auto Power Off¹
Software Included	Easy-PhotoPrint EX with HD Movie Print¹, Easy-PhotoPrint Pro², Easy-WebPrint EX³, Solution Menu EX, Colour Management Tool Pro (download)
GENERAL FEATURES
Power Source	AC 100-240V, 50 / 60Hz
Power Consumption	Standby: Approx. 1.6W Off: Approx. 0.4W Printing: Approx. 24W¹
Temperature Range	Operating environment: 5° - 35° C
Humidity	Operating humidity: 10 - 90%RH (no condensation)
Acoustic Noise Levels	Approx. 35.5 dB(A)¹
Dimensions (W x D x H)	695 x 462 x 239 mm
Weight	Approx. 27.7 kg

Canon Pixma Pro-1 Review

2012-03-26T08:01:00Z

Review posted 03/26/2012

Canon's latest professional series printer, the PIXMA Pro-1, is aimed directly at photo enthusiasts and professional photographers, with features and a price point that both will appreciate. The successor to the popular Pro9500 Mark II, the Pro-1 is now the Flagship model in Canon's Professional Photo Printer line up. On top of various other upgrades over past models, the biggest improvement is the Pro-1's new 12-ink system, which incorporates a tubular ink delivery system, an all new FINE Print Head (4800x2400 DPI), as well as 5 new monochrome inks (Photo Black, Matte Black, Gray, Dark Gray and Light Gray). Canon claims this new ink system combination, along with their new Chroma Optimizer, allows the Pro-1 to produce stunning color photos, along with unmatched black density for creating beautiful B&W photos with smoother gradations, and less graininess.

The tubular ink system has several advantages over past systems where the ink tanks rode on the print head itself. For one, the reduced mass on the print head allows it to move faster, thus improving printing speed. Canon notes that the Pro-1 can churn out a bordered 13x19-inch print in just 4 minutes and 20 seconds; which is about 1.8x faster than the 9500 Mark II. Secondly, because the ink tanks are not restricted in size by having to fit on top of the print head, Canon was able to increase their size by approx. 157% (about 2.5 times larger), giving you greater ink tank life; without a 157% increase in the price of these new larger tanks.

Canon PIXMA Pro-1 Main Features:

12-color FINE print head with 4 picolitre Micro-Nozzles
LUCIA 12 Pigment Ink System
OIG (Optimum Image Generating) System carefully calculates the best results for each print mode and paper type used, giving you optima results no matter what you're printing
New tubular ink delivery system; ink tanks no longer ride on the print head
Individually replaceable ink tanks are 157% larger than with past models
5 new monochrome ink tanks for unmatched black density (Photo Black, Matte Black, Gray, Dark Gray and Light Gray)
Chroma Optimizer
Top rear, Auto feed loading tray for semi-gloss and glossy media
Manual paper feed on the back for fine art media
Photo lab quality 13x19"color prints in approx. 4 minutes and 20 seconds; 11x14" in 2 minutes an 55 seconds; or 8x10" in 2 minutes and 10 seconds
Support for fine art paper up to 13 x 19" sizes
Easy-PhotoPrint software for Windows
USB 2.0 high-speed interface (Windows Vista/7 or Mac OS X)
Direct USB printing from most modern digicams and dSLRs via PictBridge
Ethernet port for network printing

The Canon PIXMA Pro-1 is available now with a bargain prince of just $999 USD. See our buy box below for the most current online pricing from various vendors.

Unboxing

When FedEx dropped off the Pro-1 box at my doorstep, I was shocked at how much this thing weighs. I nearly threw my back out trying to pick the monster up to bring it inside for safe keeping. According to the FedEx label, the box weighted in at 77 pounds. Once I got it to my office, I was worried the desk / table I had setup aside for the printer would hold the thing up.

Opening the box reveals a wealth of packing materials, a slim box containing the manuals, software CD-ROM, the print head alignment paper, etc., and the ink tanks and print head wrapped in protective materials.

Once you've removed the printer from the box (I highly recommend you get someone to help you), these are the main components you're left with; the printer body, print head, and 12 ink tanks (not taking into account the Disc printing tray, manuals, power cable, and such). Thankfully the printer body, which weighs over 60 pounds, is in a thick plastic bag. This allowed me to carefully lift the body out of the box by myself, without any problems. Having an extra hand would have been a huge help though, and much less stressful.

Features & Controls

Once you've removed all of the orange protective tape, installed the ink tanks, and the print head, you're about half-way through the setup process (which we'll get into more later). Here is what the printer looks like closed up in "stand by" mode. This printer is sexy in every way, and we give kudos to Canon for its elegant, yet simple, design.

Here we can see the Pro-1 opened up and ready to work. This is a large printer, which takes up approx. 27.25x18.5x9.5 inches (WxDxH) when it's fully closed up. Opening the rear paper feed and the front catch tray extends the depth from 18.5" out to approx. 35.5", and the height jumps from 9.5" inches up to 16". That's a lot of desk space, and you'll want to ensure you have a nice sturdy table or desk for the Pro-1 to sit on due to it weighing in at 60.9lbs.

Here we can see a close-up of the rear auto paper feed with the feed slot cover open to expose the paper guides. It's always best to raise this cover when inserting paper, just be sure you close the cover, otherwise you'll get a prompt from the printer to close it before it will print. This rear tray can accept paper from sizes of 4x6" up to 13x19". Below is a chart from Canon that shows the compatible paper sizes. The number of sheets you can load depends on the paper size (plain paper=150 sheets, 4x6=20 sheets, 5x7 - A4=10 sheets, 10x12 and 13x19=1 sheet).

The manual feed tray is hidden behind the auto feed tray on the back. This try is used for manually feeding heavier paper types one at a time, as well as 14x17" media. 4x6 and 5x7 paper sizes can not be fed through the manual feed.

Another view of the manual feed tray.

Here we have the front tray fully extended. It extends approx. 9" from the front of the printer's body, however it has a total surface length of almost 16". When printing 13x19s, they hand over the front just a tad. The max capacity of this tray is rated at 50 sheets (with plain paper).

Looking in the printer from the paper tray reveals the Disc feed door.

Flipping it down using the tab to the right allows you to insert the included Compact Disc printing tray for adding labels to your CDs, DVDs, etc.

Here's a top view of the tray partial inserted in the disc feed. You can do one disc at a time, and Canon notes to, "obtain a 4.72 inches / 12 cm or 3.15 inches / 8 cm printable disc with a label surface compatible with inkjet printing.".

They also include an adapter for printing on 3.15 / 8 cm media.

The printer has only two controls, which are located on the front of the printer; upper right in this photo. From left to right, we have the Resume/Cancel button, and the main Power button. Above each button is a small LED lamp, which help communicate to the user what the printer is doing, or if a problem has occurred. To the left you can also see the printer's USB port.

Power and Alarm lamp indicators:

POWER lamp is off: The power is off.
POWER lamp lights white: The printer is ready to print.
POWER lamp flashes white: The printer is getting ready to print, or printing is in progress.
Alarm lamp flashes orange: An error has occurred and the printer is not ready to print.
POWER lamp flashes white and Alarm lamp flashes orange alternately: An error that requires contacting the service center may have occurred.

To the left of these controls is the Pro-1's USB 2.0 port. This port is used when one wants to print directly from their camera using the camera's USB cable. You can use any PictBridge or Direct Print compatible camera, and all printer settings will be handled via the camera's interface. Here you can see my EOS 50D plugged into the Pro-1.

While my 50D was plugged into the Pro-1, here are the screens I was given for direct printing. Entering playback with the camera connected to the printer would activate the Blue LED on the Live View / Print button. Pressing this button will start printing immediately, however be warned that you should always check that the settings are correct for paper size, type, etc., before pressing this button. Pressing the Set button brings up the available printing options, like the paper settings (Size, type, border settings), number of copies, trimming, etc. Selecting the Print option will then start printing.

Steve's Conclusion

2010-03-08T08:05:00Z

Epson's Artisan 810's sleek black shell will look stylish in any office or home.The 810 is quiet, but not reserved, aggressive but not intimidating. With a host of capabilities, this All-In-One can hold its own in any situation. Can I print form any computer without a host of cords running everywhere? Check! Can I print all two-sided documents to save paper? Check! What about other media, can I print on anything besides paper? Well, not a brick, but if you like to create CD or DVD covers then; Check! The 810 can send color faxes as well as traditional B&W, the feed tray can hold up to 30 letter sized sheets of paper for faxing or scanning and two paper trays will keep you from having to change paper every time you want to go from printing a report to making a 4x6 or 5x7 picture. What, you need a picture fast and the computer isn't on? Just pop the card out of your camera and into the universal card reader or slap the Flash drive into the USB slot or even hook up via PictBridge and your picture is already almost done. But wait! You say, "my iPod is running low", even this can be remedied by the 810; just plug it in to the USB port and charge it up.

We had fun with the 810, that is once we got it running. Wanting to test the wireless aspect of the printer was a bit of a struggle. In the end it came down to the settings on our router needing to be changed. Not wanting to lose anyone to technical talk, our router was running WEP security settings and had to be changed to WPA settings for everything to communicate properly. Another piece to the struggle was that the installation software that was included on the CD-ROM was not supported by Windows 7. There is no paperwork included to notify the consumer of this, but fortunately we discovered at the Epson website this was the case. We were able to download the proper drivers at Epson for Windows 7 and once that was straightened out loading the driver and software was fast and easy.

The 810 has a very large 7.8-inch wide view display (which includes an actual 3.5-inch LCD) that was very easy to operate. The display can articulate up and has several stopping points up to 90°. All the controls on the touchscreen and well laid out. My fingers are fairly large, however I had no problem navigating through the screens and setting up the wireless information.

Printing from a flash memory card is quick and easy. Just insert the card, view images on the 3.5-inch LCD, set your printing preferences and print - it's just that simple. You can trim (crop) photos before printing if desired, just select the Trimming option and follow the on-screen prompts. There are also options for photo correction, removing red-eye, scene detection, sepia and black&white.

We found the bundled software to be average. The necessary scanning and faxing software worked well, but Epson adds on third party software for management of documents and images as well as the program for creating things like photo calenders and scrapbook templates.

I was very pleased with the 810's print quality. We created all of our test pieces with Epson Photo Paper, and the results showed prints that you'd have a hard time discerning whether or not they were printed by a professional quality photo printer or the local photo lab. This was not just our 4x6-inch prints either, even our borderless 8.5x11-inch prints look awesome.

Test print times were completed using an Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy. These are actual "click to drop" times meaning the timer started when we clicked the Print button and stopped when the paper dropped in the tray.

Input Source	Paper Size	Type	Quality	Time
Wireless	4x6"	borderless	standard	0:28
Wireless	4x6"	borderless	high	1:24
SDHC card	4x6"	borderless	standard	0:28
SDHC card	4x6"	borderless	high	1:24
Pictbridge	4x6"	borderless	standard	0:24
Pictbridge	4x6"	borderless	high	1:24
Wireless	8.5x11"	borderless	standard	1:12
Computer	8.5x11"	borderless	high	3:40
SDHC card	8.5x11"	borderless	default	1:13

Note: computer times measured with an Intel Centrino Duo Core/ Windows 7 computer using Wi-Fi connection. The first few seconds of our computer speed tests consisted of the time it took for the devices to communicate with each other. The Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS was used for PictBridge tests, and a 4GB SDHC card was used in the card reader timings.

There is a lot to like about thee Artisan 810. Our test prints that came from it look spectacular. We also have a tip for you to save some ink and money. We found no real need to print in the higher resolution setting, just be sure the "fix picture" tab is checked in the printer preferences when using normal quality. This seemed to yield smooth, well blended pictures. When comparing prints side by side, the normal quality prints simply "looked better" to our office. The high resolution setting did produce photos with deeper contrast, but this is not always desirable. I liked that the paper tray held a good supply of two different kinds of paper. Other cool features are the CD/DVD tray for printing labels, the 30 sheet auto feeder for the fax/copy functions, and the large 7.8-inch display. There are things to dislike too. A big one was that we tried to print on photo papers other than Epson brand with dismal results, so don't expect to save money there. Also, the slow printing speeds for the higher resolution setting were disappointing. Another drawback is that there is no external paper feeder,which for the price, should not have been overlooked. The coloring book feature was ok, but its very hit or miss depending on the image you use, but it was a good effort.

The bottom line - You will love the pictures you get from the 810. The inks are rich and vibrant and dry quickly for smudge proof prints. We think It is a great multi-featured All-In-One machine despite a few drawbacks.

Bundled Software

2010-03-08T08:04:00Z

Artisan 810 Windows Driver and Bundled Software

Here you can see the install screen that pops up when you insert the included software CD-ROM in your PC. I have to note here that the drivers needed to run on Windows 7 had to be downloaded from the Epson website.

Once instillation begins you will have to choose which driver you are going to use. The choice is between connecting directly from the computer to the printer or using a network connection. Again, in our case, due to running Windows 7, we had to download the version shown above from the Epson website.

We had quite a time getting past this point. The printer was easy enough to configure for the router, but the three computers in the room could not locate the printer. In the end it was due to WEP settings. We had to change from WEP to WPA security in order for everything to finally communicate. At this time all computers are communicating well with the printer. I only mention this so that others may save some time in their setting up of the wireless feature on a secured network. If you have an open network, you can disregard this.

Selecting Printer Settings brought up the 810's Printer Properties. As you can see you have many options to select from. A nice feature on the main page is being able to keep an eye on the ink tank levels. In addition, for those who may not have the desire or programs to edit their photos, there are "touch-up" selections that will do things like fix red-eye, etc. The Advanced tab leads to more options in the color management section. Epson does offer a variety of specialized papers for both documents and photographs. The paper options lists several of them as a way to set the printer up for specific media. The 810 can also print to ink-jet printable CDs and DVDs.

The maintenance tab allows you to perform various tasks to adjust or clean your print head as well as give status reports.

As far as the bundled software goes, I was able to use the enclosed software disk to install those. We will briefly break down each of them next. Depicted above are the short-cut icons that are placed on the desktop as the software is installed.

Airsoft Print Creations will allow you to create cool things like greeting cards, photo books and calendars. It is an online service that gives you access to a multitude of templates for free as well as some that will have a fee to use.

Also bundled in the software is a link to MyEpson, this is a website that is basically the Epson website that serves as a store where you can purchase supplies for your printer, register your new printer purchase and a nice feature (and why I am mentioning it) a series of tutorials for things like printing on CDs, photo restoration and other craft projects.

A sample of photo restoration.

The Epson scanner homepage is made up of three options. Home Mode is the basic scanner setting, and offers the least amount of selections for tweeking a project. Office Mode is next and Professional Mode offers you the most choices in a scan.

Below are some of the adjustments that can be used to make specific changes to scanned documents or photos. These are accessed in Professional Mode. These adjustments include: Histogram, Tone Curve Correction, Image Adjustments and Color Palette.

The Artisan 810 also has the ability to print on Ink-jet printable CDs and DVDs. Pressing the CD button on the front panel will eject the special printing tray used only for CDs and DVDs. Below you can see the CD tray.

The Epson Print Cd software is very diverse in its ability to create label artwork. Also if you prefer a different design software that artwork can be imported into the Print CD program. Below are some images of options available to use.

The Presto® PageManager 8 Standard software comes bundled with the All-In-One, this program serves as a way to organize files and has functions that will print as well as scan.

Ink System

2010-03-08T08:03:00Z

The Epson Artisan 810 uses Epson's patented Claria Ink system. Claria is a dye based ink that is absorbed into the paper coating and is said to resist scratching. The 810 utilizes a 6 cartridge system where each color is kept individual, the benefit is that you only replace the color you are running low on.

Here you see the cartridges and their location on the printer. Epson boasts the highest capacity cartridge available providing 60% more prints than a standard cartridge. They also claim the ink to be smudge proof, water and fade resistant as well as claiming that they stand up to humidity and moisture spills. Lastly, the Claria ink is also said to last 200 years in prints stored in a photo album, or 98 years on display.

Specifications

2010-03-08T08:02:00Z

Printing Technology

Ultra Hi-Definition Printing
Advanced MicroPiezo® 6-color ink jet printing with DX5™ technology

Ink Palette

Black, Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta and Yellow

Ink Cartridge Configuration

6 individual ink cartridges

Ink Type

Claria Hi-Definition Ink (smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant photos)

Fade Resistance / Print Longevity

Up to 200-year album storage, up to 98 years under glass
Lasts up to 4x longer than photo lab prints¹

Minimum Ink Droplet Size

5 ink droplet sizes, as small as 1.5 picoliters

Maximum Print Resolution

5760 x 1440 dpi

Maximum Print Speed

Black
Up to 38 ppm²
Color
Up to 38 ppm²

ISO Print Speed

Black
9.5 ppm²
Color
9.1 ppm²

Maximum Copy Speed

Black
up to 38 cpm²
Color
up to 38 cpm²

4" x 6" Photo

4" x 6" photo in as fast as 10 seconds²

Scanner Type

Color flatbed (CIS line sensor)

Optical Resolution

4800 dpi

Maximum Resolution

9600 x 9600 dpi interpolated

Scanner Bit Depth

48-bit color

Copy Quality

1 - 99 copies (PC-free)

Maximum Copy Size

8.5" x 14" (Legal) with Auto Document Feeder

Copy Features

Auto background removal for text
Fit to page, reduction and enlargement (25 -- 400%)
Photo reprints and enlargements
Copy onto CDs/DVDs
Color restoration of old, faded photos
Scan to memory card or USB flash drive
Scan to PDF
Scan photos and convert to coloring book pages
Scan to PC
Scan to network
2-sided copies with duplexer
Copy Modes: Color, Black/White, Text, Graphics, Photo

Special Features

7.8" touch panel
3.5" LCD
30-page Auto Document Feeder to copy, scan, and fax
Automatic 2-sided printing
Auto Photo Correction of digital photos with on-screen preview
Two input paper trays, main tray adjustable up to 8.5" x 14", Photo tray 4" x 6" and 5" x 7"
View a photo slide show on the built-in 3.5" color LCD

PC-free Printing

Auto Photo Correction
Select and print photos
Crop, rotate and enlarge
View and print-by-date
Print your own picture packages, passport and photo ID
Select multiple photos to print on a single page
Print your own school papers, college-ruled, wide-ruled and graph paper
Make personalized note paper using your own photos
Create coloring book pages using your photos
Photo index sheet
Photo greeting cards
Print movie clips
Charge portable devices⁶
Print from your iPhone

Layouts

Borderless
Classic borders
Picture packages
Photo ID
2-up,4-up, 8-up, 20-up, index 20-up
Index sheet
Jewel case index, upper 1/2, lower 1/2
CD photo layouts (single, quarter, variety)

Compatible Memory Cards

SD™
- SD Memory Card™
- MiniSD™ ⁴
- MicroSD™ ⁴
- SDHC™
- Mini SDHC™ ⁴
- Micro SDHC™ ⁴
xD-Picture Card™
- xD-Picture Card Type-M™
- xD-Picture Card Type-M+™
- xD-Picture Card Type-H™
Memory Stick®
- Memory Stick
- Memory Stick Duo™ ⁴
- Memory Stick PRO™
- Memory Stick PRO Duo™ ⁴
- Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™ ⁴
- Memory Stick Micro (M2)™ ⁴
- Memory Stick MagicGate™
Compact Flash®
- Compact Flash Type I, II
- Microdrive®
MultiMedia Card™
- MMCplus™
- MMCmobile™
- MMCmicro™

Supported Digital Camera Technologies

Epson PRINT Image Matching®, Exif Print

Direct CD/DVD Printing

Ink jet printable CD/DVDs

Direct Camera Connection

PictBridge™ port (cameras/phones), DPOF

PC-Free Filters and Image Enhancements

Auto Photo Correction with advanced face detection, preview on LCD, red-eye removal and photo restoration

PC- Free Paper Support

Plain (8.5" x 11"), Photo (4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", 8.5" x 11", 16:9 wide), Ink jet printable CDs/DVDs

Fax Capabilities

Black-and-white and color
Includes PC Fax software (For sending faxes, on Windows only)

Fax Speed

Modem: 33.6 Kbps -- as fast as 3 sec per page

Fax Memory (pages)

Up to 180 pages

Fax Speed Dials (max)

60 (max.)

Paper Handling

Input Paper Capacity
Main Paper Tray: 120 sheets plain paper, 10 envelopes
Photo Tray: 20 sheets Premium Photo Paper Glossy
Output Paper Tray Capacity
30 sheets
Secondary Paper Tray Capacity
20 sheets photo paper

Maximum Paper Size

Plain (8.5" x 11"), Photo (4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", 8.5" x 11", 16:9 wide), Ink jet printable CD/DVDs

Paper Sizes

3.5" x 5", 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", 8.5" x 11", 8.5" x 14", A4, B5, A5, A6, half letter, executive, user definable (3.5" - 44" in length)

Borderless Photo Sizes

3.5" x 5", 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", 8.5" x 11", 16:9 wide

Paper Types

Plain and Epson Bright White Paper
Photo Paper Glossy
Premium Photo Paper Glossy
Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy
Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster
Premium Photo Paper Semi-gloss
Presentation Paper Matte
Premium Presentation Paper Matte and Matte Scrapbook Photo Paper (letter)
Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte

Envelope Types

No. 10, plain paper, bond paper, air mail

Input Paper Capacity

Main Paper Tray
120 sheets plain paper, 10 envelopes
Photo Tray
20 sheets Premium Photo Paper Glossy

Recommended Ink Cartridges

98 High-capacity Black
99 Cyan
99 Magenta
99 Yellow
99 Light Cyan
99 Light Magenta
See Note ⁴

Ink Yield Information

Click for information regarding cartridge yields

Weight and Dimensions (W x D x H)

Weight:
23.1 lb
Printing:
18.3" x 25.8" x 7.8"
Storage:
18.3" x 18.0" x 7.8"

Case Color

Black

Connectivity

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, compatible with 802.11 n, Ethernet - 10/100, Hi-Speed USB 2.0, PictBridge, Bluetooth Photo Print Adapter (optional)

Operating Systems

Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, Windows XP, Windows XP x64, Windows 2000 Mac OS® X 10.3.9, 10.4.11, 10.5.x and 10.6.x(PowerPC® or Intel® processor). For the latest information regarding snowleopard, please visit www.epson.com/support/snowleopard

Software Included

Epson printer driver, Epson Print CD, Web to Page, Epson Scan, ArcSoft® Print Creations™, Epson scanner drivers, Presto®, PageManager®

Color Management

Auto Photo Correction and ICM

Sound Level

34.8 dB

Temperature

Operating
50 ° to 95 °F (10 ° to 35 °C)
Storage
4 ° to 140 °F (-20 ° to 60 °C)

Relative Humidity

Operating
20 - 80%
Storage
5 - 85% (no condensation)

Safety Approvals

Safety standards UL60950-1, CAN/CSA C22.2 No. 60950-1, EMI FCC Part 15 subpart B class B, CAN/CSA-CEI/IEC CISPR 22 class B

Power Requirements

Rated voltage
120 VAC
Rated frequency
50 - 60 Hz
Rated current
0.8 Amp

Power Consumption

Approx. 26 W ISO 10561
Approx. 5.5 W (Sleep Mode)
Approx. 0.3 W (Power Off Mode)
ENERGY STAR® compliant

Options

Bluetooth photo print adapter

Warranty

2-year limited warranty and toll-free customer support with product registration⁵

Notes

¹ Based on accelerated testing of prints displayed under glass in indoor display conditions or in album conditions. Actual print stability will vary according to media, printed image, display conditions, light intensity, temperature, humidity and atmospheric conditions. Epson does not guarantee the longevity of prints. For maximum print life, display all prints under glass or UV filter or properly store them.
² Maximum pages/copies per minute (PPM/CPM) are measured after first page with text patterns in Draft Mode on plain paper. Color photo in Draft Mode on Premium Photo Paper Glossy measured from start of paper feed. Laser quality black and color print speeds are determined in default, single-side mode in accordance with ISO/IEC 24734. Actual print times will vary based on system configuration, software, and page complexity. See www.epson.com/printspeed for details, including complete ISO reports.

³ Adapter required
⁴ We recommend the use of genuine Epson ink cartridges. The use of other products may affect your print quality and longevity and could result in all-in-one damage. Cartridge yields are based on continuous printing of a suite of five black and color pages as required by ISO/IEC 24711 and 24712. Actual yields will vary considerably for reasons including images printed, print settings, temperature and humidity. Yields may be lower when printing infrequently or predominantly with one ink color. A variable amount of ink remains in the cartridges after the "replace cartridge" signal. Part of the ink from the first cartridges is used for priming the all-in-one. Ink is used for both printing and print head maintenance. All inks are used for both black and color printing. For more information about yields for this all-in-one, see www.epson.com/cartridgeinfo.
⁵ One-year limited warranty to all purchasers; toll-free support and second-year warranty require registration within 60 days of purchase. With registration, Epson provides free customer phone support for the life of the product. Under warranty, calls are toll free. Offer valid only in the United States.
⁶ User supplied cable required to fully or partially charge USB devices (such as cell phones and MP3 players) that comply with USB 2.0 standards, rated 500 mA or less.

Epson Artisan 810 Review

2010-03-08T08:01:00Z

Epson has introduced a new printer to the Artisan line; the Artisan 810. This All-in-One machine serves as printer, fax, scanner and copier. The 810 is a stylish, sleek, jet-black machine packed with features, including the ability to print directly from an I-Phone or I-Pod Touch. It has a large 7.8" wide articulating display and the large screen offers up easy to read and easy use menus and touch-buttons. The 810 also offers the ability to charge your cell phone or MP3 player via USB.

To help improve your overall experience, Epson has included things like built-in WiFi, Bluetooth compatibility, on-board photo correction, speedy 4x6 photo printing, direct to CD/DVD printing, and two-sided document printing. Also, fun features like Coloring Pages, where you can turn an image into a coloring page and create your own coloring books. And, with just a press of a button (or two), you can create ruled or graph pages. The paper tray can manage two different sizes at a time and the automatic document feeder can manage 30 pages at a time.

Epson Artisan 810 Key Features:

Smart 7.8" touch panel

3.5-inch high-res color LCD for preview and editing

Built-In WiFi and Ethernet networking

Onboard memory card slots for printing without a computer

Ultra High Definition prints

Print directly to CD's and DVD's

Two-sided printing

Fast color faxing

charges portable devices

Print from an I-Phone or I-Pod Touch

30 page auto document feeder

Auto-photo correction with on-screen preview

8.5 x 11 borderless printing

Fax memory of up to 180 pages

Advanced MicroPiezo® 6-color ink jet printing with DX5™ technology

The Epson Artisan 810 is available now with an MSRP of US $299.99.

In the box you'll find:

Epson Artisan 810 All In One Printer
Duplexer for automatic 2-sided printing
One 98 High-capacity Black Ink cartridge (T098120)
One 99 Cyan Ink cartridge (T099220)
One 99 Magenta Ink cartridge (T099320)
One 99 Yellow Ink cartridge (T099420)
One 99 Light Cyan Ink cartridge (T099520)
One 99 Light Magenta Ink cartridge (T099620)
Set up and instructions manuals
CD-ROM containing drivers and creativity software (Windows® and Macintosh®)
6' Power cable
6' Telephone cord
Epson Preferred invitation
A USB cable is NOT included

Mechanics & Performance

The 810 is a very nice looking unit, with a modern black finish. Measuring 18.3" (W) x 25.8" (D) x 7.8" (H) and weighing in at a hefty 23 pounds, the 810 will occupy a good amount of real estate on your desk. With the option of using either of the two paper feed sources, you have several possibilities for quickly changing from one paper type or size to another.

We experienced quite a bit of frustration setting up the drivers for this printer. There were two major roadblocks that we encountered. First off, the included software disk does not support Windows 7, which is not mentioned in the quick launch instructions or on the CD. We did find the proper drivers at Epson's website after a little digging. The second was getting the computers on our LAN to find the printer through the wireless network. In the end our wireless security type had to be changed in order for everything to work properly. We had to change from a WEP to WPA. After that things sped up and we were WiFi-ing in no time.

Here you can see the dual paper tray on the 810. The bottom tray is adjustable up to 8.5"x14" and the photo paper tray just above that can be adjusted for 4"x6" or 5"x7". Paper capacity for the trays is 120 sheets or 10 envelopes in the lower tray and 20 sheets of photo paper in the upper tray. The tray can slide out completely which makes it easy to fill and adjust.

Above you can see all of the printer controls, when it is powered up you can just flip the screen up for use, then when the task is done just press the UNLOCK button and the screen will fold back down.

The menu selections are pretty much self explainitory and the large touch screen buttons were easy to read/use.

Print from Memory Cards

Located on the front of the printer is the card slots that are used for direct printing without using your computer. The top slot is for pretty much every type of memory card available today including SD, Sony's Memory Stick & MagicGate cards and the xD card used by Olympus and FujiFilm. The lower slot receives the Compact Flash I&II and Microdrive type media used by dSLR cameras.

Located just to the right of the card slots is the USB jack that can be used for printing from a camera via PictBridge, a Flash Drive or charging any electronic device that can use a powered USB port (cell phones, IPods, and some point-n-shoot cameras).

Flat Bed Image Scanner

The flatbed scanner is used for faxing, scanning and copying. The lid can be lifted for direct placement, or, with the lidd closed you can use the auto feeder.