Customer Reviews

Canon SELPHY CP510 Compact Photo Printer

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The Canon Selphy CP-510 dye-sublimation printer is the perfect portable photo-printer.

For years my wife has rued our migration to digital family pictures which, in her experience, seem inaccessible and unprintable without the divine intervention of her grumbling techno-weenie husband.

The "Selphy" (a Japanese cutesification of Canon's "Elph" compact camera line to which it mates nicely) makes family holiday photos fun for everyone:

1. Plug the printer's power supply into a wall outlet (or use the optional rechargeable battery not included).
2. Plug the retractable cable directly into any Pictbridge-enabled camera (no computer necessary).
3. Press the printers POWER button (the only button it has).
4. Use the cameras Pictbridge printing controls to select images and apply cropping.

The printer can be connected to a computer (USB cable not included) and ships with printer drivers and an array of excellent image management applications.

The CP-510 outputs one 4x6 photo every minute and, instead of messy inks that tend to fade, uses stable, dye polymer pigments impregnated on a ribbon that's loaded into an easy-to-handle cartridge. Each imaging cartridge is purchased with matching photo paper and prints the exact number of sheets included (so you never have to worry about the printer supply equivalent of that dreadful scandal of bun-less hotdogs at the last family picnic).

About the size of a cigar box, the CP-510 travels well in a large camera bag I purchased for it and supplies are readily available at most big box outlets. The colors are accurate and stable.

Remember the fun your family had the first time you used a Polaroid instant camera? This printer does the same for digital images at about $0.29/sheet.

Can't believe I lugged around the toaster sized Epson Picturemate for a year. The CP510 beats the Epson in portability. Both produce good water-resistant (not waterproof) photos. The CP510 power adapter works with 110-220 volts while the Picturemate does not.

Update: 19 March 2006
Comparing photos produced by the CP510 and an Epson PictureMate, I didn't find any marked differences except in one photo. I'm baffled by a color error produced by the Epson. Part of a gray striped shirt become bluish; left of seam is gray, right of seam is bluish (wrong). Changing Epson's printer quality options (auto-correct, digital photo) doesn't change a photo's appearance. Canon offers few options.

Epson prints one inkjet droplet width at a time (all colors) while the Canon prints an entire a yellow layer then sucks the paper back, prints the red layer sucks back, repeating for a total of 4 passes. This seems like it is a lengthy process but the Canon prints twice as fast as the Epson. Note other models of Epson PictureMate's print faster than mine.

All-in-all, for my situation, I prefer the Canon only because of it's travelability; a much smaller size and 110-240 volt power range. Neither one seems clearly superior in photo quality, printer price, features or per-print cost. An important difference is that the Epson has the advantage of being a self contained unit whereas the Canon has various loose parts that must accompany the printer.

Anyone else question why the CP series uses Dye Sublimation printers whereas the --> DS <-- series does not? Shouldn't that be reversed? Go figure.

This compact printer is so cool! For a great price you get a printer that produces lab quality prints-- quality exceeds inkjet prints. I am very impressed. Now, instead of leaving all those pics sitting on my memory cards or trying to show them to people on the camera's LCD, I print them out and give them copies. I print the pics that I choose without going to a "lab". I can even crop them with my camera's pictbridge functions.

The pullout USB cable is very convenient, it is pictbridge compatible (way easy, as long as you can use your camera's pictbridge functions), and the size is so compact that it is truly portable. You can even buy a battery that prints out about 36 prints per charge to make it truly portable. Take the printer on vacation, print your own postcards, and mail them.

My only minor hesitations were these:

1.It only prints 4x6* (see note below) (or 4x8)-- That's okay, if I want something larger, I'll order it from a lab.

2. No built in card reader or LCD-- I'll live with that and connect using my camera's pictbridge or a PC. The CP-710 has those features for about $100 more</font>

*You may have read reviews about the "postcard size" issue?... for me, it isn't an isue. Buy a 5x7 frame and matte the photo. It'll look better matted, anyway. This printer "is what it is"-- it prints great quality 100mm x 148mm (that's 3-15/16" x 5-13/16") photos at a great price.

Go ahead and buy this printer. I know that I sound like an advertisement, but this is agreat little unit.

This is the first time I've felt compelled to add a review, and it's negative.

Unfortunately the review from J. Cole is accurate -- this printer prints on postcard paper, which is 1/4" smaller on each edge. I would not buy this printer again with this knowledge.

So if you buy this printer, be sure you're not looking to put the prints in 4x6 frames because they'll have an ugly "border" around them where the frame backing shows through.

Also if you are buying paper for this printer, watch out! Do not buy 4x6 Canon paper -- it won't fit into the tray. You have to buy the postcard-sized paper (either KP-36IP or KP-108IP) which comes with the ink cartridges. The cartridges are good for 36 prints, so with the 108IP you get 3 cartridges. (Isn't math fun?)

Also the paper included with the KP-36IP or KP-108IP has a postcard on the back of the paper. Great if you want to send it but it's a little weird otherwise.

I've enjoyed the printer for what it is - it was very very easy to set up though I had to restart the installation CD once. It doesn't come with a USB cord to connect to your computer, so that's another $9 purchase you'll have to make.

But I'm going to use it to produce souvenirs from a kid's party, so the printer may serve its purpose. [As long as none of the kids want to put the photos into 4x6 frames!]

We've had a LOT of photo printers over the past several years and we have never really liked any of the ink-based ones. I knew dye-sublimation was the way to go, but the cost of the printer and ink was prohibitive. Until now! This seems to average out to a still-steep 25 cents per print, but the quality is WAY beyond anything an ink-jet could ever do. And they are instantly dry and water proof! My wife (kinda non-techy) uses it all the time and was stunned at the quality. Extra bonus: the printer is *tiny*

The only issue thus far was a few prints had a strange "embedded hair-looking" white line (a slight defect on the print). It only happened that one time and we have not seen it happen since. I suspect it was a few bad peices of paper in an otherwise fine set.

At this price I can't recommend it enough for those immediate gratification prints, but I'd stick to the Walgreen's, Ofoto's and Apple print services for bigger batches.

I own a Kodak camera and would never have even thought twice about purchasing a Cannon photo printer until I saw the *excellent* quality prints from this little wonder! Anyone who has a PicBridge camera can use this and it is very easy to use and your prints look just like professional photo quality. The ink cartridges are reasonably priced and the time it takes to print one picture is average but not the quickest on the market-I am a firm believer that quality depends on effort put forth. This printer is the best BY FAR I have seen and I highly recommend it for anyone with or without a Cannon camera.

Notes:

1. Print quality is beautiful, and in a league apart from inkjets, though I did notice a white (unprinted?) speck or two on two different pictures and in different places (out of four that I have thus far printed).

2. Very portable, though as another reviewer stated, you need to lug around the paper tray and either the included power brick/cord or optional battery, in addition to the printer unit. This is great to bring to family get-togethers and the like.

3. The back of the paper is a postcard, which is a bit strange, considering there is no option to have a blank, or Canon, back.

4. Amazon's description is somewhat inaccurate - you do not need a cable to connect to digital cameras that have a mini-usb port - the printer has a retractable (2 feet?) cable that plugs into the mini-usb end on the camera.

5. The computer print driver is somewhat sparse, though, it printed borderless pictures nicely.

6. While on the topic of borderless, in regards to a previous reviewer's comments, on my Canon S820 inkjet photo printer, when you select Borderless, it tells you that the image will be extended off the page. So any bleed from the image on the tear-off portion of the included paper is no different than the ink sent to the waste tank during normal borderless inkjet printing.

7. The manual mentions it and do watch out for the multiple-passes - after issuing the print command, you first see, say, a yellow toned image and the printer re-feeds the picture in, then a red-toned image and a re-feed, then a nice image and a re-feed, then the final product..

8. You can crop right on the camera (for the print), so you have more flexibility there than on the PC, depending on your PC software.

We love our Canon SELPHY CP510 Compact Photo Printer, even if the supplies might be considered pricey. The 4x6" prints are clear, water resistent and permanent. Although this printer is a plus when wanting to print a good, quick photo, it still lacks the capability to be the all-in-one solution because of supplies and limited size of photo.

What a great little photo printer! I just got mine and it's fantastic. The quality of the printed photos is outstanding. The prints look just like the ones you'd have printed at Target/Walmart/etc. The printer itself is tiny, perfect for traveling. There is also a Li battery pack available if you wish to print on the road. Overall, this printer is very easy to use, whether you are printing directly from your camera or from your computer.

The only reason I didn't give this printer 5 of 5 stars is because there are a few extras that you need to purchase in order to be totally all set. If you wish to print photos you have stored on your computer, you need a USB cable (it's not included with the printer). Also, if you want to print the tiny credit card sized photos, you need a separate paper holder adapter (you can find them here at Amazon). And you may wish to pick up additional ink cartridges. The included ink cartridge yields about 5 printouts.

Other than the minor points mentioned above, I am totally satisfied with this printer! :)

Upside:
1. Very easy to use and doesn't take up any space when traveling.
2. Connect directly to your camera or computer.
3. The quality of prints are fantastic although limited in size. I save paper/ink by putting multiple shots on one page. Thereafter, I select only the ones I really want to full size for framing or giving away. So far it's worked out well.

Downside:
1. Canon should have left the postcard logo on the back of the paper off. Seems retarded unless you are the type to send lots of postcards.
2. Canon should have included a USB cable with the product. Your existing printer USB cable will work but it's just the point.
3. You need to purchase separate paper cassettes to accomodate the different size paper. It comes with the 4x6 only.