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(More customer reviews)I had been looking for a printer that would do a good job of printing both text and photos. It is clear that a firehose full of ink can't match a laser in terms of text crispness and accuracy. But, although I was not going into the the bogus diploma business, I needed an affordable printer with decent text and color and that means an inkjet.
2 picoliter nozzle sizes have been available for some time and I thought that 1 picoliter units were sure to come and that spec might deliver good text output. When I saw the ads for the Canon iP5200 (i.p., u.p.. ?), I did the research and bought one through Amazon.
The text is indeed very nice, better than my old Canon i455 printer and seems to be limited only by the paper's roughness factor. This printer deserves the best paper, at least for professional documents. It will print out 4-point fonts perfectly and would likely go lower, but 4 is the lowest I have. Other reviewers on other sites have also given this unit high marks for text.
Text quality is objective; you could measure it if you had a teeny-tiny tape measure. Photo quality is more subjective. People that can't see their own shoes have all sorts of opinions on color quality.
Every digital camera has settings that can alter color emphasis and of course processing programs do the same. It is hard to determine if printed colors are the result of a camera's settings or those of the printer. The same is true when printing scans of slides as the 4x5 Velvia film I use is itself upfront colorful. My S3 Nikon has a landscape setting that, among other things, makes sure that green foliage is green. A shot of my yard makes it look like Hawaii. The portrait mode gives very nice skin tones, no colors emphasis at all. Very accurate.
I think most cameras emphasize colors and contrasts a bit because most people like that. Generally the "automatic" setting is configured to produce a snappy colorful small print. Check out the tvs in your local box store; most are set at high brightness and color settings, really unnatural, but they tend to standout from those more "honestly" set. Often the tvs they are trying to move are really set high.
Some cameras, like the Canons, tend to have higher sharpness settings automatically applied in the camera, while other brands expect you to determine and set your own levels later in the process. This factor can effect printing. And there are other factors and filters and... no limits in the digital world.
All that is just to say that printed colors are only partially due to the design of the printer itself. I find no fault with the colors on the iP5200. Bright color comes out snappy and moody shots glower darkly. If the shots are good and the sharpness settings are carefully applied, the prints are very sharp, detailed and pleasing in every way. Those that have seen the prints are very impressed with their technical quality. Small picoliters are not everything, but they work for me.
The 5200 uses just three color cartridges and two black one for photos and text. While there is a case for more colors (I suppose 25 colors would be better than 5 or 7 or...) it does not seem to me that any part of the color spectrum is weak or lacking in any way. Other reviewers have mentioned that Canon is way ahead in terms of economical ink usage. Others have said they have printed zillions of photos and the tanks are hardly down. I have not printed a huge volumn, but clearly it is better than my older Canon. That and the fact that there are only five tanks means that this printer should be economical to operate.
The ability to refill tanks, or not because of anti-refilling technology, is a hot-button issure in printer reviews. To some, the inability to refill is a deal killer. Others cite terrible problems with aftermart ink. With only five tanks, superior ink conservation and with my plan to take any large volumns to the commercial printers, I do not think I will go broke buying Canon ink. I am a problem solver, but hate problems.
One thing to remember is that to access the 1 picoliter standard you cannot just use the "best photo" setting when in the print menu. You have to select the "detailed" slider bar and you cannot slide that knob all the way unless you also select the Pro paper option. All my results are based on using Canon pro glossy paper.
Finally (you say), is this the best printer for you? For me it was because of the combination of text quality, print quality and price (I opted for free shipping also). My feeling is that vastly more expensive printers with many more tanks must have some advantage in the photo printing area. However, the cost of the inks, problems with clogging, etc. on some of those models is more than I would want to deal with.
My feeling is that if you are going to try to squeeze out theoretical details on photos of aliens landing on the White House lawn, or if people really might buy your photos, or if you are printing hundreds of photos, you are far better off getting real prints on actual photo paper printed on machines that cost many 10s of thousands of dollars. These services are available on-line, at box stores and at larger independent print shops. I try to use the local independents as much as I can.
The software works very well on my OS10X Mac. I download the images straight into iPhoto and then the printable images are moved through Adobe Elements.
To me, the iP5200 is a really good product and I recommend it. I did like that black case on the iP5000 model, though and I have not had it long enough to tell you anything about its reliability.
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Looking for an unbeatable combination of blazing speed and high resolution? The PIXMA iP5200 Photo Printer can produce a beautiful photo lab quality 4" x 6" borderless print in about 36 seconds. Plus, its USB 2.0 Hi-Speed interface enables the fastest photo transfers possible from your computer. This is one super-charged printer.
Exceptional performance doesn't stop there. The iP5200 photo printer delivers an amazing resolution of up to 9,600 x 2,400 color dpi, for detail and clarity unmatched by comparable printers. To achieve this, Canon Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) uses a next-generation 3,584-nozzle print head that ejects precise, consistent droplets as small as one picoliter. Also, the ContrastPLUS 5-color ink system--four dye-based inks and a pigment-based black ink-- produces true-life photos with a wide color palette, along with laser-quality text.
Want to print directly from your PictBridge compatible digital camera or DV camcorder? It does that, too--just connect and print! This PC-free process saves time and eliminates the need to be tied to your computer. And if needed, the iP5200 photo printer will even brighten subjects' faces automatically, for better results when printing direct.
The iP5200 photo printer provides you with smart printing options built-in. The dual paper path allows you to keep photo paper stored in one tray and plain paper in the other, so you can print photos or documents without having to switch paper. To save paper, you can print two-sided using the auto sheet feeder or the paper cassette. You can even create two-sided photos using Canon Photo Paper Plus Double Sided in 5 x 7 and 8.5 x 11 -inch sizes.
The Canon ChromaLife100 system combines the PIXMA iP5200 Photo Printer's FINE print head technology and newly developed inks with select Canon photo papers, with results rivaling that of many conventional photos. These beautiful photos will also last up to 100 years when stored in an archival quality photo album.
What's in the Box: PIXMA iiP5200 Photo Printer, PIXMA iP5200 print head ink tanks: PGI-5Bk black, CLI-8Bk black, CLI-8C cyan, CLI-8M magenta, CLI-8Y yellow, power cord, easy setup instructions, document kit, Canon Photo Paper Pro for Borderless Printing 4"x 6" sample pack
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