Canon CP 300 Photo Printer :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Awesome printer...

2004-02-24
So here is my review of the Canon CP-300 printer. It is a bit long, but you should learn everything you need to know about this product in that time. Here goes.

I was supposed to get this for christmas, but it was on backorder for quite some time, and it has just arrived today, February 23. I was impressed with the product before even setting it up; the packaging job canon did was nice and protected everything through the shipping process.

The printer itself is fairly small, but it would seem to be a pain to carry around all the accessories. Anyway, the print quality is awesome, [much better than] my epson c80 inkjet. Dye sub/thermal technology is amazing, you really can't tell the difference between it and photolab prints. I haven't used the battery yet, but I plan on it in the near future, and a highly portable photo printer is definitely a plus. The computer drivers installed on XP pro without a hitch.

There was one problem I had, but I can't blame it on the printer. My Canon powershot s110 was an older model, and the firmware needed updating. So I followed canon's instructions exactly, and it seemed to work. But now when I switch my camera to replay mode, it totally freezes up with a black screen, and I have to pull out the battery and put it back in. It is tempermental, sometimes it freezes, sometimes it doesnt. So I haven't been able to test the printing directly from the camera yet.

Some other quirks related to the printer are the availability of printing media. Not many local retailers carry the supplies, if not any. Canon needs to push their print media into the stores, and maybe once this product gets more popular, the media prices will drop. I don't really mind the cost of the media, as it costs about the same as one of the four color cartidges for my epson, and you get 36 prints out of it.

The construction of the product feels very solid, no rattling when shaken, plastic doesn't creak when you put pressure on it. One thing to be careful of is dust and stuff in the air. If you are printing outside or in some other dusty place, you might get peices of [dust] from the air stuck to your prints. Some dye sub printers are enclosed to avoid this, but for the sake of size, this one isnt. The media comes out the back and front of the printer through each of the four passes, where dust has the opportunity to get stuck between the layers of ink, so watch out for that. The printer is quite fast, taking probably the same amount of time an inkjet would. Each pass is fast, but it has to do four of them. First it prints the yellow parts of the image, sucks it back in, then prints then the red, sucks it back, then the blue, sucks it back, then the shiny, protective coating. This process is superior to an ink jet. Skin tones come out perfect and no dither or dots are visible anywhere in the print.

This printer is perhaps the best small, high quality 4x6 photo printer you can get for your money at this time. I would strongly reccomend it to anyone considering it. I hope this review helped you in your decision.

Fantastic Printer 2004-01-14
This printer is everything I expected it to be and more. The quality of the prints are awesome - indistinguishable from real photographs, except for the lack of "Kodak" or "Fuji" printed on the backside. The print speed is as advertised, and its incredibly easy to use. I would highly recommend this printer to anyone who wants an easy solution for quality prints.

If I had to list drawbacks:
- Limited to 4x6 or credit card size photos
- Paper/Ink only available online (haven't found a local retailer yet...)
- Price per photo (~56 cents for the 4x6 prints) more expensive than online orders (ie., shutterfly), but you get instant results, and no S&H. :-)

If these are not a problem for you, then this is the printer you want. Get the CP-200 if you don't care about the rechargeable battery and credit card tray (I think you can order the latter separately...). The CP-300 is about $100 more, but worth it, in my opinion.

Possibly the best quality photo printer for the consumer 2004-01-08
I would have given this a 5 if only full size paper (8.5 X 11) was supported. I was luckly to receive this online for Canon's list price and not some USED one asking more. Seems like price hikimg on a hot item which as I write, is vitrually back-ordered on every reputable 0n-line dealer. Try ordering "Red" label from dealers claiming "in stock". Those are the dealers rated 1 and 2 stars reliabilility on some sites. I was almost ready to buy the CP-200 with the car adaptor when I stumbled on a known and trusted west coast dealer at 279.99 complete, shipped Second Day Blue at no extra charge. But the most impressive aspect was the print quality, which puts any One-Hour-Photo to shame and the direct plug in to my Canon A-70 eliminating printer slots for all sorts of media and true portability with the recharable lithium ion battery. The Power Shot's LCD panel allows only the prints you want freeing up Compact Media file space erasing the bad shots as I go. The CP-300 does come with computer drivers for use with a computer (forget Canon's imaging software, Microsoft's Digital Picture Pro or even Picture It! Photo Premium 9.0 is a sub$100 set-back). The only other feature which lacks a 5 ratimg is their increbibly useless software. I have never made my own greeting card but have more software than Hallmark to make them. And just can't seem to find the time for T-Shirt tranfers. Any printer that needs an iron for a project seems a little desperate on features.

Awesome Printer! 2003-12-31
I just received my Canon Powershot S50 and this printer. The pictures are awesome. They are clear like photos and they print very quickly. I was able to set it up myself, which means it was very easy!!

Does the job...but... 2003-12-30
My wife got me one of these for Christmas. I own a Canon G2 camera and I have a Canon i850 printer. I mainly use them for pictures of my kids school activities.

My wife knows that I like cool gadgets. I always take dozens of pictures at events and this would allow me to share them with the other parents... instantly.

I'm giving the printer 4 stars becuase it does its job very well. The picture quality is excellent - better than I expected - and it is simple to hook up and use.

There are several reasons why I didn't give it 5 stars.

1) The ink has to match the paper size. The ink in the box was type L, the paper was postcard (4x6). I've exchanged emails with Canon and they are telling me that this is a 'grey market product' for sale outside of the USA. I disagree... the box and the warranty card both say USA and Canada... Canon just screwed up and put the wrong ink in the box. They have agreed to send me the correct ink.
2) It will only work with Canon's special ink/paper packages. The cheapest I've seen them online is $15 for 36 prints, Office Max has them for $24... so you're paying a premium for the convenience of instant prints.
3) As another reviewer said... the printer&battery pack, charger, spare ink&paper, paper cassette is a lot to carry around.
4) My camera didn't recognize the printer - after a little research I found that I needed to upgrade the firmware on the camera - no biggy - I've done this before but not something a novice user is going to undertake.
5) While you can crop the image before you print it from the camera there are no other adjustments that can be made. Ok... I don't expect all the features of photoshop in my digital camera but it would be nice if I could do the basics like contrast/brightness/gamma/color balance. Maybe these will be in the next firmware version.

Goodbye inkjet photo prints 2004-10-12
I've gone through a number of HP inkjet photo printers. Printing my own photos was somewhat of a novelty, but I had to concede that none rivaled prints done at a photo lab. Finally after struggling with ink costs, paper costs, and less than impressive print quality, I started to use ofoto.com. Recently, I got the bug again and invested in the CP-220. This little unit puts all of the other ones that I've owned (three HP printers) to shame. Durable prints, great color, compact design, PictBridge, etc. make this printer a hands down winner!

To those of you that travel and would like to bring your printer with you, consider the CP-300... same printer, but comes with a Li-Ion battery pack so you don't need AC power.

Incompatible with HP Photosmart Software 2004-05-30
I ran into a problem where the paper type selection was unavailble. Canon technical support was less than helpful. I figured out that the HP Photosmart software that's installed for my HP P1000 printer was causing the problem. After I exited the HP software in the system tray, the Canon printer began working fine. Canon's response was sometimes software is incompatible. I've found several reports on the web with people having the same problem, so Canon should know about it. The only reason I'm rating it as a 3 is because the picture quality when it actually prints from the PC is excellent. The results weren't quite as good printing directly from a Canon S200 camera; the picture wasn't as sharp.

Good quality photos, but-- 2004-05-27
These Canon card printers do a fine job if you are printing directly from the camera -- or it is the only printer you own if trying to print from your computer. I bought the printer to do snapshots, while I own several other printers for documents and larger photographs. Even if you only have Adobe Acrobat on your system, the printer will not work. It is useless to me.

Wonderful Printer, but........ 2004-04-11
I have had this portable printer only a few days, and have only printed 18 prints on it so far, all on the Card Size photo paper. These little pictures are really neat, and will be a conversation item at family gatherings, I'm sure. The color you get is phenomenal, as true as any photo coloring I have ever seen, even on commercially developed film. My only complaint with it is that is is not easy for me to use. Evidently others have not had this problem, if what I have read in the other "Customer Reviews" is correct. Perhaps that is because all the others appear to be men who have written the reports and I am a female and perhaps not as "technical savvy" as the guys, as well as being older than most, if not all, of them, since I am a great grandmother, and my generation wasn't exposed to electronic technology at an early age and we did not grow up with a lot of electronic gadgets, but I love them, all the same!
I hooked my Canon G5 camera to the printer, as per instructions, and had no problems there, (I had my dear husband's assistance with all the cables) and got the ink cartridge and paper tray loaded into the printer with no trouble, but my problem started when I got to the point of sending instructions from the camera to the printer. I did get it done, obviously, since I printed 18 pictures, but sending the correct message to the printer didn't always work correctly! I got nine prints of a photo that I didn't even know that I had asked for! I had not chosen that particular image to print, yet it kept pumping them out! By fiddling with the controls on the camera I was able to print a few photos that I did choose, but the Menu on my Canon G5 does not make it simple. You don't choose any of it on the actual printer, other than what size photos you want and that is determined by the size photo paper that you load into it, everything else is done with the Menu screen on your camera. I have three other digital cameras, but only one of a Canon Digital Camera. I am not sure if I am going to be able to use the other cameras, an Olympus Stylus 300, the Minolta Dimage 7i or the Gateway T50 with this printer or not. I hope that I will be able to, but I don't think they have the "PictBridge" feature that newer digital cameras are equipped with now, though none of my other digital cameras are very old, it is just that this "PictBridge" feature that enables the cameras to work with all printing mediums is very recent. I do like this little printer and will keep it, it wil be great when we go on vacation and it will definitely accompany us, but I wish it were easier to use. If any of you reading this has any tips that might help me, e-mail me with the info most definitely! Also any information on whether or not the printer works with other than Canon cameras or cameras without the "Pict-Bridge" feature. Thanx for any incoming corespondence and helpful information. Sincerely......Alphia D. Larkins aka Mimi3plus3@aol.com

Fun, Functional, and Surprisingly Versatile! 2004-04-06
I own a Canon A70 digital camera and wanted a non-inkjet photo printer for lab-quality photos. The CP 300 exceeded all of my expectations. The 4x6 paper comes ready with post card formatting on the back for an absolutely perfect road trip tool! Just take the photo, print it in the car (the cp 300 comes with a battery pack!), slap a stamp on it, and toss it in a mailbox. Brilliant. Plus, the small credit card size photos are adorable and you can get the sticker kind (either full label or mini labels) which I anticipate will be even more fun. Tip: a business card holder is a perfect album for these little pics.

All of this you've heard before. What you may not know is that you can print more than just photos with your cp 300! I do a little graphic art on the side and have been able to make high quality prints of original non-photo artwork (created in other programs and saved as a tiff) right through the software that comes with the printer!!

The only aspect of this printer that is less than ideal is that the paper/ink packs are proprietary and not universally available yet, even online (especially the label kind).