Balko Photo

Canon Pixma MP810

[top left] (PopPhoto Review) An All-In-One (AIO) with two paper paths, using five inks, great scanner functions including the ability to scan negatives and slides - and can print directly from them too without a computer. Its built-in card reader handles everything except xD Picture Cards.
Street Price: $275 - Info at Canon / Canon Inks + Paper

Epson Stylus Photo RX580

[top right] (PopPhoto Review) This one uses six Claria Ultra Hi-Definition dye-based inks, has excellent color accuracy, and speed to boot. It also prints directly onto coated CDs and DVDs, direct printing from memory cards (SD, CF, and Memory Stick types, xD Picture Cards) as well as USB flash drives. Also prints banner photos from a computer with a maximum size of 8×44 inches.

The Canon and HP were better at scanning, but it does have a “Color Restoration” feature that improves faded photos. If you’re looking for a great 8.5×11 or 4×6 inch borderless photo printer with an occasional need for scanning prints or flat art, this Epson is a great choice for its Excellent print quality and display life, fast and accurate scans, and affordable price.
Street Price: $150 - Info at Epson / Epson Inks + Epson Paper

HP Photosmart C7180

[lower left] (PopPhoto Review) Has a lot of features with excellent print quality according to PopPhoto.  It uses six Vivera ink cartridges that HP claims wastes less ink because of the sealed ink system. With a nice separate 4×6 photo tray, large and bright 3.6-inch LCD monitor, and support for nearly all types of memory cards, it seems perfect. But in actual photo printing, there was slightly less detail in magnified views of skin tones and shadow areas than in prints from the Canon or Epson (invisible difference to the naked eye).

Scans did have some visible scanning artifacts and lower color accuracy when compared to Canon or Epson, but way better than the Kodak. Scans showed very high shadow detail, and the device can be set to batch scan film negatives or slides or make prints directly from film scans without using a computer.

Built-in Bluetooth makes it possible to print directly from camera phones, PDAs, and Bluetooth-equipped cameras — a feature also supported by the Canon MP810 and Kodak after you buy an adapter.
Street Price: $379 - Info at HP / HP Inks + Paper

Kodak EasyShare 5300

[lower right] (PopPhoto Review) Kodak claims to save you money on “everything you print compared to other consumer inkjet printers.” The 5300 sports a fast flatbed scanner, card reader slots, and separate paper cartridges for 4×6 and up to 8.5×14 inch documents. It uses only two ink cartridges instead of separate inks as the others do - one black one for text, and a 5-ink color cartridge for color photos and color document printing.

Using Kodak’s 4-star Premium Photo Paper or 5-star Ultra Premium Paper, it produced good prints, but not with 3 star paper. It also produced numerous paper jams in PopPhoto tests. The low cost printing was achieved only by using the inferior paper.

Scanning was not good either, limited to just 1200 dpi according to Kodak, but even if it were higher scan artifacts and noise would interfere.

Overall, the 5300 came in at the bottom of the four.
Street Price: $199 - Info at Kodak / Kodak Inks / Paper

Canon U.S.A. announced today two new large format printers - the imagePROGRAF iPF710 and imagePROGRAF iPF610 - for Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) applications or any kind of large format printing.

Each has the five-color dye/pigment Reactive ink system, which produces black lines and texts resistant to rubbing, moisture, and bleeding of intersecting lines. They also produce intricately detailed line drawings while retaining line accuracy at +/-0.1%.

The printers also come with the AutoCAD(R) imagePROGRAF HDI Driver and imagePROGRAF Printer Driver 2007 compatible with Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

“It is important that our printing technology be able to properly represent the intricate detail of today’s Computer Aided Design software. Our latest imagePROGRAF printers accurately depict the color and sharp lines for even the most detailed architectural, automotive, or product development design renderings, allowing engineers to proudly present and display their work,” said Jim Rosetta, vice president and general manager, Imaging Systems Group, Canon U.S.A.

The Reactive ink system includes four highly colorfast dye inks (Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) and a pigment-based matte black ink for optimized print image quality on more than 25 types of Canon print media.