Canon Photo Printer

Canon makes a wide range of photo printers, including their Selphy Compact Photo Printers, their standard photo inkjet printers, their Pixma series. Photo printer prices range from about $70 on up, with models for all budgets.

At last count, they made over 40 different models, and yes, that can be confusing. Here is some info on recommended models in different price ranges, hopefully demystifying purchasing a Canon photo printer.

Selphy Compact Photo Printers are wonderful portable units that cost between $100 to over $300 and often there are deep discounts available. They print only traditional photo sized prints, in other words, they are a photo printer only, not a general purpose printer that does photos too.

No computer needed to print, and they all have small displays built in. Since most cameras have a screen, you may wonder why this is necessary but it is very convenient!

Picture quality is great (they use something called dye-sublimation technology).

Think of them as a portable equivalent of walk up photo kiosks, and they have a wide variety of connectivity options including via memory cards, directly from compatible cameras, and via optional Bluetooth wireless which is great for connecting with devices like camera phones and PDAs. Some even take an optional battery making them truly portable. Imagine printing your photos at the beach, while hiking, or even in a car!

Seplhy models include the "ES" series which even have a handle for super portability and the "CP" series most of which include some extra functionality.

Canon Pixma models, are primarily "all in one" models meaning they not only print, but copy and scan as well. Unlike the Canon Selphy models which are designed to primarily print traditional 4"x6" sized photos, Pixmas can print on a wide variety of media and sizes including plain paper, glossy and matte photo paper, photo stickers, T-shirt transfer material, envelopes, and more including A4, B5, A5, letter, legal, and envelopes. Many Pixma models have built in Wi-Fi for wireless printing.

There are a wide variety of Pixma Models available.

My grandfather, an avid photographer, would be amazed by these photo printers as well as modern day digital cameras! He spent countless enjoyable hours in his darkroom physically developing pictures with solutions and chemicals. His cameras all took "film," a disposable photo taking clear film that came in rolls.

Today, with digital cameras, their is no film, no cost per picture. And developing a picture is an anachronism. You take the picture, and you can see it immediately. You can email, post, etc. And for a physical copy? Just use your trusty Canon Photo Printer!