Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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91 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Prints & paints, January 14, 2006
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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59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost Perfect, September 10, 2005
The ip5200 is my 5th Canon Printer. I have found them all to be reliable solid performers, and the 5200 is no exception. It is easy to set up and comes with a simple software package. Compared to my earlier Canon printers(i860, ip5000), it is faster and quieter, and prints a beautiful picture, especially on Canon paper. Only time will tell if the new inks are truly superior. My only complaint, and it was also true with the ip5000, is that I believe that Canon printers tend to highlight the orange/reds. For example, fields of wheat have a slight orange hue rather than a pure straw yellow color. If this tendency bothered you before, it is still there. For me, I can easily fix it with my photo software package, but because of it Canon only gets 4 stars.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is how it's supposed to work!, March 19, 2006
I have been so pleased with my IP5200! It is very quiet compared to my old Epson Photostylus 820 Which gave me nothing but problems after the first month of use... always clogging and needing cleaning. Literally used a completely full color ink cartridge on nothing but cleaning cycles and didn't get even a single good print... but that's all behind me now. I have printed some incredible photos on my new Canon printer! I can hardly believe the quality it produces for the price I paid (about 130 dollars). The problems with scratching of the surface of the glossy photo paper is a real one, but I think it has alot to do with the paper itself being very very glossy and showing even the slightest abrasion. I found it left abrasion marks even with the prevent abrasion setting on. But if I use the top feed there isn't that problem. I don't do high volume printing so it's no big deal for me to use the top feeder, and keep my photo paper in the cartons until I'm ready to use it. At any rate, I have no complaints, the ink is cheaper than Epson and the thing has worked with no problems at all for a month now. Thank you Canon!
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