Canon Pixma Launch Event

Canon Technical Expert, Kim Noakes demonstrates the Canon app for the iPad and iPhone with the new MG5250 WiFi enabled multifunction printer.

Canon's new range of Pixma photo-quality multi-function printers were showcased in London's Future Gallery near Leicester Square and Gary Wolstenholme went along for a sneak peek at what the new range have to offer.

The event revolved mainly around their three new flagship A4 multifunction printers, the MG5250, MG6150 and MG8150, all of which sport WiFi connectivity, one picolitre droplet size, individual ink tanks and resolutions up to 9600dpi for lab quality prints. On top of this each model can be used independently of a computer, allowing images to be scanned straight to, or printed straight from, a memory card. Those of you who are swanky enough to own a fancy new iPad or an iPhone will also be pleased to know there is an app for you too, allowing printing straight from your device.

Canon Technical Expert Kim Noakes was on hand at the event to demonstrate what the new printers have to offer and to give me an insight on the main areas which Canon have improved their range. Kim had the following to say about the design of the new range: "The new design is sleek and sexy, designed to suit almost any environment, whether that be at an office, or at home."

He also confirmed the thinking behind the control layout on the new range: "The idea of the new range is to make things easier, and as a result each process has a heavily reduced number of steps. Most tasks can be completed in a two step process."

I have to agree. The shiny black exterior of the new range looks very sleek and high quality. The controls are lit up from below the surface when they are available to be used, making it easy to follow the menus for most processes. The rest of the time many of the controls aren't even visible.

Prints can be produced via a PC or Macintosh computer, or via connecting a camera directly to the printer, from a memory card taken directly from a camera or over the air via WiFi from a number of devices, including WiFi compatible mobile phones or even via Bluetooth, although for this you will need to purchase Canon's optional BU-30 bluetooth adapter.

Other features that may appeal are the HD movie print function, that allows a single frame to be extracted and printed from HD movie clips, and a customisable web printing option that allows you to select the bits you want to print from a web page, so you don't waste valuable ink printing adverts and banners. Each of the printers will also print directly on compatible DVD, CD and Blu-Ray media, which is great for that professional touch.

The MG8150 also includes film scanning capabilities at resolutions up to 4800 x 9600dpi. The film scanner can be operated via a computer, or for convenience the images can be saved directly to a memory card, or printed without having to use a computer. This will suit those with an archive of old film, but don't have a computer especially.

The MG5250 uses five separate ink cartridges, while the MG6150 and MG8150 use six. The reason for the difference is an additional grey cartridge, which should produce black and white images with a much greater tonal range, all without the risk of the horrid green or magenta casts normally associated with black and white prints produced on inkjet printers. When asked about the ink system in the new models Kim Noakes said: "Canon's ink monitoring system is incredibly accurate allowing every last bit of ink to be used. The ink monitoring is so accurate that the printer can tell if there isn't enough of one colour to complete the next print, only then will it ask you to change the cartridge. We are also one of the only manufacturers to provide a set of full cartridges with each new printer."

A Canon Pixma MG6150 multifunction printer prints one of my black and white images at the event. This printer sports a grey ink as well as the standard black.

For a quick, informal test of the printer's abilities, I took along some of my own images to see how well they would reproduce the images. I had access to the mid-range MG6150 and printed the images from a Macintosh laptop loaded with Canon's Easy Photo Print software.

Each of the images below were printed at the event and then scanned later for comparison on a Canon LiDE 50 scanner at 300dpi. The process of scanning will reduce the quality so the images below should only be taken as a rough indication of print quality. The images were printed on Canon's professional semi-gloss paper.

A slightly warm tone is visible in the print, but otherwise this is a very good black and white print. A decent range of tones have been produced.		For comparison, here is the original file.

To test the black and white print quality I used an Infra-red black and white image of the war memorial in St. Peter's Square in Manchester. The finished print has a slight warm cast to it, but otherwise I am very impressed by the range of tones reproduced. The blacks are deep where they need to be and the subtle tones in the lighter areas of the monument have been reproduced well.

Overall the image has been rendered little lighter than the original and warm tones appear slightly more orange, otherwise the print quality and range of tones is impressive.		The original file for comparison.

To test the colour print quality I used a landscape image of the shipwreck at Saltwick Bay. Again the range of tones produced is impressive, with smooth graduations of colour being handled well. Overall the image came out lighter than on file leaving the sky in the image looking a little pastelly by comparison. Warm tones seem to take on a distinct orange hue, which isn't too disturbing in this image, but may be in others.

As these images were printed using the basic software, form standard, unprofiled sRGB JPEGs, I imagine more accurate colour results will be possible with a little profiling and tinkering.

New Pixma Range – Specifications:

	Pixma MG5250	Pixma 6150	Pixma 8150
Functions	Print, Scan & Copy. Camera, Memory Card, Mobile phone and direct disc printing	Print, Scan & Copy. Superior quality 6 Single Ink All-In-One with Intelligent Touch System and 7.5cm (3") colour TFT display.	Print, Scan & Copy. 6 Single Ink photo All-In-One with 35mm film scanning, Intelligent Touch System, 8.8cm Colour TFT screen, Wi-Fi and Ethernet
Resolution	Up to 9600 x 2400 dpi	Up to 9600 x 2400 dpi	Up to 9600 x 2400 dpi
Print Engine	Inkjet, 5 Single Inks, 5-colour system with minimum 1 pl droplet size	Inkjet, 6 Single Inks, 6-colour system with minimum 1 pl droplet size	Inkjet, 6 Single Inks, 6-colour system with minimum 1 pl droplet size
Photo Quality Print Speed	Borderless 10 x 15 cm: Approx. 20 seconds	Borderless 10 x 15 cm: Approx. 20 seconds	Borderless 10 x 15 cm: Approx. 20 seconds
Mono Print Speed	Approx. 11.0 ipm	Approx. 12.5 ipm	Approx. 12.5 ipm
Colour Print Speed	Approx. 9.3 ipm	Approx. 9.3 ipm	Approx. 9.3 ipm
Separate Inks	Yes	Yes	Yes
Number of Inks	5	6	6
Media Size	Up to A4	Up to A4	Up to A4
Borderless Printing	Yes	Yes	Yes
Compatible Memory Cards (without an adapter)	USB Flash Memory, CompactFlash, Microdrive, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, SD, SDHC, MultiMedia Card , MultiMedia Card Plus	USB Flash Memory, CompactFlash, Microdrive, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, SD, SDHC, MultiMedia Card , MultiMedia Card Plus	USB Flash Memory, CompactFlash, Microdrive, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, SD, SDHC, MultiMedia Card , MultiMedia Card Plus
Camera Direct Print Compatible	Yes	Yes	Yes
Scanner Type	Flatbed CIS colour scanner	Flatbed CIS colour scanner	Flatbed and FAU, CCD colour scanner
Film Scanning	No	No	Film Adapter Unit (FAU) for 6x 35 mm (neg/pos film), 4x 35 mm mounted slide
Scanner Resolution	Up to 2400 x 4800dpi	Up to 4800 x 4800 dpi	Up to 4800 x 4800 dpi for reflectives Up to 4800 x 9600 dpi for Film Scan
A4 Scan Speed	Approx 17 seconds	Approx 10 seconds	Approx 7 seconds
Colour Depth	48 bit input / 24 bit output	48 bit input / 24 bit output	48 bit input / 24 bit output (Film scan 48bit input / 48 bit or 24bit output)
Greyscale Depth	16 bit input / 8 bit output	16 bit input / 8 bit output	48bit input / 8 bit output (Film scan 48bit input / 16 or 8bit output)
Compatibility	TWAIN, WIA	TWAIN, WIA	TWAIN, WIA
Effective scanning width	216 x 297mm	216 x 297mm	216 x 297mm
Optical Character Recognition	Yes	Yes	Yes
LCD Screen	6cm colour TFT LCD screen	7.5cm colour TFT LCD screen	8.8cm colour TFT screen
Interface PC/Mac	Hi-Speed USB Wi-Fi: IEEE802.11b/g/n Set-up: WCN, WPS (Push-Button Configuration, PIN code method), Security: WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, WEP64/128bit	Hi-Speed USB Wi-Fi: IEEE802.11b/g/n Set-up: WCN, WPS (Push-Button Configuration, PIN code method), Security: WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, WEP64/128bit	Hi-Speed USB Wi-Fi: IEEE802.11b/g/n Set-up: WCN, WPS (Push-Button Configuration, PIN code method), Security: WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, WEP64/128bit
Interface Non PC	Over Wi-Fi: Android devices, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Sony Playstation 3	Over Wi-Fi: Android devices, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Sony Playstation 3	Over Wi-Fi: Android devices, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Sony Playstation 3
Supported Operating Systems	Windows 7 (32 and 64bit), Windows Vista (32 and 64bit), Windows XP SP2, SP3 Mac OS X v.10.4.11 - 10.6	Windows 7 (32 and 64bit), Windows Vista (32 and 64bit), Windows XP SP2, SP3 Mac OS X v.10.4.11 - 10.6	Windows 7 (32 and 64bit), Windows Vista (32 and 64bit), Windows XP SP2, SP3 Mac OS X v.10.4.11 - 10.6
System Requirements PC	Windows 7: 1 GHz or faster cpu, 1 GB RAM (64 bit requires 2 GB RAM) Windows Vista (32/ 64 bit): 1 GHz or faster cpu, 512MB RAM Windows XP SP2,3: 300 MHz or faster cpu, 128 MB RAM Browser: Internet Explorer 6 or higher CD-ROM Drive Display: 1024 x 768 or better	Windows 7: 1 GHz or faster cpu, 1 GB RAM (64 bit requires 2 GB RAM) Windows Vista (32/ 64 bit): 1 GHz or faster cpu, 512MB RAM Windows XP SP2,3: 300 MHz or faster cpu, 128 MB RAM Browser: Internet Explorer 6 or higher CD-ROM Drive Display: 1024 x 768 or better	Windows 7: 1 GHz or faster cpu, 1 GB RAM (64 bit requires 2 GB RAM) Windows Vista (32/ 64 bit): 1 GHz or faster cpu, 512MB RAM Windows XP SP2,3: 300 MHz or faster cpu, 128 MB RAM Browser: Internet Explorer 6 or higher CD-ROM Drive Display: 1024 x 768 or better
System Requirements Mac	Mac OS 10.6: Intel Processor, 1 GB RAM Mac OS 10.5: Intel or PowerPC Processor (G4, G5, 867 MHz or faster) Mac OS 10.4.11: Intel or PowerPC Processor (G5, G4, G3), 256 MB RAM Browser: Safari 3 or higher CD-ROM Drive Display: 1024 x 768 or better	Mac OS 10.6: Intel Processor, 1 GB RAM Mac OS 10.5: Intel or PowerPC Processor (G4, G5, 867 MHz or faster) Mac OS 10.4.11: Intel or PowerPC Processor (G5, G4, G3), 256 MB RAM Browser: Safari 3 or higher CD-ROM Drive Display: 1024 x 768 or better	Mac OS 10.6: Intel Processor, 1 GB RAM Mac OS 10.5: Intel or PowerPC Processor (G4, G5, 867 MHz or faster) Mac OS 10.4.11: Intel or PowerPC Processor (G5, G4, G3), 256 MB RAM Browser: Safari 3 or higher CD-ROM Drive Display: 1024 x 768 or better
Included Software	Canon Multifunctional drivers, Canon MP Navigator EX (including OCR and PDF file creation), Canon Easy-PhotoPrint EX with HD Movie Print function, Canon Easy-WebPrint EX, and Canon Solution Menu EX	Canon Multifunctional drivers, Canon MP Navigator EX (including OCR and PDF file creation), Canon Easy-PhotoPrint EX with HD Movie Print function, Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, Canon Easy-WebPrint EX, and Canon Solution Menu EX	Canon Multifunctional drivers, Canon MP Navigator EX (including OCR and PDF file creation), Canon Easy-PhotoPrint EX with HD Movie Print function, Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, Canon Easy-WebPrint EX, and Canon Solution Menu EX
Size	455 x 368 x 160mm	470 x 368 x 173mm	470 × 392 × 199mm
Weight	Approx. 8.1kg	Approx. 9.2kg	Approx. 10.7kg
Power Consumption	Standby: Approx. 1.6W (when scanning lamp is off), Off: Approx. 0.4W, Copying: Approx 21W	Standby: Approx. 2.0 W (when scanning lamp is off), Off: Approx. 0.5 W, Copying: Approx 24 W	Standby: Approx. 2.0 W (when scanning lamp is off), Off: Approx. 0.5 W, Copying: Approx 24 W

For the range of features on offer, these new Pixma printers are priced reasonably competitively too.

The Canon Pixma MG5250 costs around £135 and is available from Warehouse Express here:

Canon Pixma MG5250

The MG6150 costs around £180 and is available from Warehouse Express here:

Canon Pixma MG6150

And Finally, The MG8150 costs around £280 and is avaialble from Warehouse Express here:

Canon Pixma MG8150