Customer Reviews

Canon S530D Photo Printer

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought my sister a Kodak Easyshare CX4230 digital camera for the holidays, so mom thought a good photo printer to accompany it was a good idea. Since my mom isn't that computer literate, she relied on my judgement over which to buy. After LOTS of research, I decided to recommend this printer for several reasons:

Being on a budget, the price of this printer was very attractive. I had planned to recommend the more advanced S830, but it was out of range. Also, this printer, like the 830, has the ability to accept mutiple memory card types with the included Dazzle! 4 in 1 card adapter, giving you the ability to print photos straight from through the printer on the LCD screen, without having to even touch the PC. Another thing I liked was the multiple ink tanks. Since this printer would also function as a replacement to an older inkjet, I felt that was a key feature since the old printer had just one cartridge for the colors, while this printer has 3 separate color cartridges. Did I also mention this printer is FAST? It managed to print 2 full color 4x6 photos on 8.5x11 paper in less than 2 minutes, and can print web pages and full color charts in less than 15 seconds.

As for the photo printing, the pictures came out looking absolutely beautiful, as far as I was concerned. The qaulity may not be up to par if you're a serious photo enthusiast, but for as far as my family's needs are concerned, they looked just great.

Setup was a bit more complicated than any other printer I've had to install, but was problem free. Be warned, though. There's no USB cable included to connect it to the PC. Overall, this is a fabulous printer and I highly recommend it to anyone who's just plunged into digital photography.

I'm dissapointed this printer does not have more reviews. If you do your research on Photo Printers you'll find this one is top notch. As someone with a photographic background, I was impressed with the very first print that came off the S530D - I've printed 8x10s shot with our Canon S30 camera and I believe even a more advanced amatuer would have a hard time telling if the S530D print was film or digital.

I will say that I approached the switch from 35MM film to digital imaging on an overall "system" strategy researching both the camera and printer at the same time - ending up with Canon for both.

One of the nice features of the S530D is the direct print option available with selected Canon cameras - no need to remove the CF card - just connect the camera directly to the printer with the supplied cord and you are ready to go.

The printer DOES come with a DAZZLE adapter to accept other data cards, so if you do not have a CF card camera or Canon camera do not discount this printer out as a possible candidate.

As for paper, I have tried both the Kodak Ultima and Canon Photo Paper Pro and see only slight (if any) improvements using the Canon paper. Since I approached the whole digital imaging decision on a "system" I will continue to use the Canon paper with the S530D.

Overall I am very happy with the S530D. Its a great printer for a great price.

The Canon s530d has been a wonderful little printer and has suited all my needs. It came with both a Dazzle 4-in-1 card reader as well as a Canon specific PCMCIA card. I was able to plug in my Sony Memory stick and start printing right away. The photo index mode (printing a contact sheet of all the photos in the card) is extremely helpful, as is the availability of multiple layouts directly from the built-in LCD screen.

On an economic note, the print cartridges cost less than the typical inkjet cartridge because each cartridge does not include the print head. The head is also a separate component which allows cleaning or replacing in case of a clogged nozzle. The colors come in individual Cyan (Blue), Magenta (Red), Yellow and Black tanks. Unlike some cartridges which you have to throw out once a single color runs out and cost an arm and a leg because they have the print head built in, Canon has done ink management right.

...The Canon s530d is the economical choice if you want a photo printer with memory card reading capability.

The print quality is not as good as some of the other photo printers. There are many factors that go into a quality print (camera, paper etc.) and comparing different printers with different inks can be difficult. With that said, the Canon output is still nice. (Though I prefer the quality of Epson printers in general) If you are printing out family snapshots you will be fine. Otherwise, if you are trying to print high quality art, go find a dye-sub printer and leave the consumer level printers to us hobbyists. This isn't a perfect printer, but a very good one for the price.

I've had my printer for over a month now and everything is working just fine. It's easy to use and the print quality is very good. I made my mom 50 transparencies (large, color transparancies) of book covers for a presentation she's going to do in late May (she's a children's book author) and they all came out exceptionally well. I also printed her 200ish business cards which came out really well too.
I did run out of ink within a month of having it but considering that I had to print all this promo stuff for my mom I shouldn't have expected the ink to last forever. Unlike my old Epson, this printer lets you replace the ink cartridges realy easily. You just lift the front cover up and the little holder things move to the middle and stops. And you can do this whenever you want regardless of the amount of ink left in the tanks (which is nice). When it tells you the ink is low you can still get a bunch of prints out of it before it needs replacing but it's nice to know when you're running low so you can buy ink before you run out.
The only thing that I don't like about this printer is the fact that it DOES NOT come with a USB cable to hook it up to the computer. It's kind of [disappointing] to have it come without a cord cause you really want to hook it up and try it out but you can't. Actually, you can make prints without connecting it to your computer if you have a camera with a Smart Media memory card. So I tried that out before I hooked it up to my computer and it was just peachy.
All in all I really like this printer. Just be sure to buy a USB cable (a printer one: one small end and one regular sized end) beforehand or the same time you order your printer so you can use it right away. (By the way, consumer reports recommended this printer. It's like 1 or 2 on the list I think.)It's a good choice moneywise and print quality wise.

Very good printer, great print and Hi-speed. But use's too much ink for small jobs because of programed head cleaning. Every time I open cover or print a page it goes thru a head cleaning routine. On one page print it will use more ink for cleaning then printing. It will use color ink for cleaning even when printing in greyscale only. It emptied my 3 color tanks in 3 wks while only printing 5 color pages. I may have to buy a cheap HP for small print jobs.

This printer has printhead problems. My first S530D couldn't even pass the first print test page diagnostic procedure. The black text printed fine at the beginning but faded to nothing by the end of the page. Doing a printhead cleaning solved the problem but only for that session. After a few hours of inactivity, the problem appeared again. This printer was brand new and right out of the box. Exchanging the printer for another brand new one did not solve the problem completely. The new printer passed the print test but the faded black ink problem resurfaced after several weeks of inactivity. Again, a printhead cleaning solved the problem but a user shouldn't have to do this before each print job. Inks shouldn't dry out and clog the printheads in that short a time (if that's what the problem is). When it works, it works great but it's a pain the do a printhead cleaning almost all the time in order to get good text output. The problem seems to be only with the black ink. Canon support is useless BTW.

I purchased this printer with the intent to use it for both photo printing and regular text printing. Photos look great and print relatively quickly, but I had a problem with white streaks when printing text. I ended up calling Canon support and they sent me a new printer head for free since the printer is still under warranty. I've had no problems since. I give the printer a high rating mainly because I was very satisified with their tech support.

I have had this printer for more than a year. At first, it was a great printer. Not anymore!! It uses up ink like no other, yes, it is great to have the individual tanks(which is why I bought the thing) but now the print head isn't working right. Do several deep cleanings and use up nearly all the full tanks up, and the problem is still there. The pages have splotchy black marks and the texts are only partially printed. Went to the canon website, they don't even acknowledge this printer ever existed.
My recommendation is don't buy this model!!!

Too bad Amazon stop selling this terrific printer. I can't believe how easy it is to use the onboard buttons and functions to print pictures without the computer. All you have to do is use the Dazzle 4 in 1 card and bam! there is your photo with great quality for family and friends. I am currently using a cheap Olympus D-380 with a smart media card. The S530D may not have the best print quality on the market but it is totally suitable for the home use. Some people just get too critical on print quality on this printer, its a home photo printer, not a commerical grade photo printer! Other than the ease of use by itself, its easy enough just to plug it in with the USB port. USB is the only way to connect it to the computer, but so what, all computers nowadays have USB. I must say, this was money well spent compared to my crapy Epson 777. Ink for this printer is much afforable too.

I purchased this printer from J&R on a Sunday evening online and received it Tuesday...AMAZING...the setup was fast and easy, just make sure you purchase a USB cable because the one provided with the printer is quite short (2ft). The printer is wonderful, it prints text in the blink of an eye and photos nearlly as quick. Im astonished by the functionality of this printer. If your'e looking for a great printer at a great price look no further.