Canon’s new 2002 photo ink-jet printers

1st January - 2002
By Ian Burley

 

    Photo ink-jets

    Canon’s latest photo printer models include the S820D, which had been announced in Japan several months ago, the ultra fast S900 and the larger A3 format S9000. Common to all the new models are separately replaceable ink tanks for each of the six (including black) inks, borderless printing and USB connectivity plus support for Windows 98/ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Mac OS. Canon claims its photo inks have a 25 year light fastness rating when printed onto Canon Photo Paper Pro PR-101 media.

    S820D

    The S820D is basically a modified version of the current S800 A4 format ink-jet photo printer. It has the same 2400x1200 dots per inch (dpi) printing resolution as the S800, the printer we rate as the overall best print quality ink-jet printer for photos. It also shares the same print head and separate ink tank per colour system as the S800.

    New features include a memory card reader and control panel for printing, if necessary, without a host PC, directly from memory cards or from the new Canon S30 and S40 digicams, using a special cable. Memory card printing is supported via a PCMCIA slot and a Compact Flash card adapter is supplied. Printing from any DPOF compatible memory card should be possible using an appropriate PCMCIA adapter. DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) is an agreed standard for digital camera image storage and is supported by most up to date cameras. An optional colour LCD screen is available for previewing images before printing. Borderless printing is another new feature.

    Canon claims the S820D is “the world’ first truly connectable direct photo printer.” This rather ignores the current Canon CP-10 printer and various HP Photosmart printers that can print directly from digital cameras that support HP’s Jetsend infra red printing protocol.

    Canon’s S800 has been criticised for being quite expensive to buy and we note that the S820D, with all its added features, is about the same price as the original list price of the S800 - £329 inc.VAT. If any criticisms of the S800, Canon hasn’t followed Epsons’s lead in providing roll paper support and the styling, which looks more 1970s Detroit than 21st century Japan, is not to everyone’s taste – but that’s just a small quibble on our part.

    The original S800 is not listed in the 2002 catalogue, so we must assume it’s on the way out. The new S900 might explain why.

    S900 - faster still

    According to our own test results, the current Canon S800 was, by far, the fastest photo ink-jet printer on the market. Not content with that accolade, Canon has produced the S900 and it’s almost twice as fast again as the S800, being able to print an A4 photo in just over one minute.

    This feat is made possible by the introduction of a print head with twice as many nozzles – 3072 in all – compared to the S800. Canon claims this is ten times as many nozzles as any print head produced by any of its competitors. That amazing print head can pump out no less than 73.7 million MicroFine droplets per second. Once again, borderless printing is a key feature of the S900.

    The S900, unlike the slightly odd-looking S820D, is much closer in appearance to the original S800 and the BJC-8200 Photo before that. The S900 is also supplied with a generous software bundle. This includes Canon PhotoRecord, which enables multiple image layout and auto-scaling to different paper sizes. You also get Canon’s ZoomBrowser EX software, similar to the ZoomBrowser software supplied with Canon digicams. ZoomBrowser provides image preview, editing and archiving tools. Canon PhotoStitch, for joining several images seamlessly, also is included.

    It may be the Ferrari of ink-jet photo printers, but like the cars, you will have to pay for that performance as the S900 is priced £329 inc.VAT, the same price as the all singing and dancing, but slower, S820D. Epson’s top of the range A4 ink-jet photo printer, for example, is much more affordable at under £200, though it’s considerably slower.

    S9000 - larger format at last

    While the S800 has been winning awards for its print speed and quality, Canon hasn’t been able to offer an A3 version, until now. The S9000 is an A3+ version of the new super-fast S900. The S9000 is priced £459 inc.VAT.

    Having seen these new printers in operation, we can say that we’re very impressed. A full A4 photo emerging in just over a minute from the S900 and S9000 models, without any apparent compromise to the print quality excellence demonstrated by the S800, is a truly commendable feat on Canon’s part. It’s a shame these printers can’t be more affordable than they are, though clearly they do represent value for money.

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