Canon PIXMA iP 5300

...the latest addition to the Canon PIXMA that surpasses the technology of all the similar systems that cannon have made. This device relies primarily on its pigment-based black tank. The Speed of mono printing is far above average than many printers currently on the market with 15ppm in standard quality mode and can max out at 31ppm on the high speed draft setting. The speed of photo printing is the best I have seen by far on any machine. A normal ...
.../> The most fun I had with this printer was when I booted it up to it highest quality mode. In this mode you can take advantage of a very high 9,600x2, 400dpi resolution. According to my local printer store this thing is four times faster than anything from its biggest rivals Epson and HP.

Obviously since this system is not a regular 6-ink machine you can not expect the same exact quality. However having tested this with a 6-ink printer ... more

Introduction
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Before I start this review I would like to give you a little background on why I bought this printer. I have had many printers over the years and mostly have used them to print documents and photos. Some of them have been 4 ink printers with a lack of color space for photo realism, others have been 6 ink printers that become far too expensive to run for document printing and also they output grayish text. The PIXMA iP5300 includes a five ink line-up that aims get around this problem I have had and can also use both pigment and dye based ink. But did this product solve all my printing problems???

OVERVIEW
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This printer is the latest addition to the Canon PIXMA that surpasses the technology of all the similar systems that cannon have made. This device relies primarily on its pigment-based black tank. The Speed of mono printing is far above average than many printers currently on the market with 15ppm in standard quality mode and can max out at 31ppm on the high speed draft setting. The speed of photo printing is the best I have seen by far on any machine. A normal 10x15cm photo taking averagely no longer than 20 seconds.
The most fun I had with this printer was when I booted it up to it highest quality mode. In this mode you can take advantage of a very high 9,600x2, 400dpi resolution. According to my local printer store this thing is four times faster than anything from its biggest rivals Epson and HP.

Obviously since this system is not a regular 6-ink machine you can not expect the same exact quality. However having tested this with a 6-ink printer the difference is non apparent. A wide range of colors can be oozing from this machine at a very fast rate. The great thing about this machine is the option to still print your rich black and color texts, while still printing some of the best color rendered photos ever!

The iP5300s paper input tray slots in under the printer and can handle up to 150 sheets of standard paper. There is also an upright input tray that comes out on hinges to place a further 150 sheets of specialist media or photo paper.

Another good Feature of this machine is the low cost printing. These work out at around 1.8p for a mono text page, 5p for color documents and 7.4p per 10x15cm photos. At these prices you can’t afford not to buy this!

Disadvantages
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Having had this printer for several months now I only could find one problem with it and it’s hardly worth mentioning. The problem I had was that this machine is lacking a media card reader. This means that direct photo printing is not possible. Sadly you are left to rely on the PictBridge input for this task. I also had a few problems setting this up as I am not a total expert so a few minutes searching online were in order. However this was only minimal and may not even be necessary for more experienced techno-heads.

Main Points I liked
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9600x2400dpi
5x singlecolour inks
31ppm mono
24ppm color
2 x 150 sheet input trays
Duplex

Final Thoughts
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If you are looking to buy your first photo printer, Want to print documents and photos or are looking to upgrade your older photo printer then this is the product for you. I am extremely pleased with this product and can’t praise it enough. This does exactly what is expected of it and at very high speeds to. I love the twin loading system and found it a great time saver. Overall, the print quality is superb and none of my prints have lacked any color.

Specification
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Sheet Feeder Sheet Feeder - Approx. 150 sheets
Cassette: Approx. 150 sheets
PictBridge Compatible

USB 2.0 interface
Photo printing via PictBridge
Double-sided Printing
CD or DVD Printing
Dimensions 444 x 303 x 160mm
Weight 6.8kg
IrDA (prints from mobiles)
Chromalife 100 System for longer lasting prints.
DPI 9600 x 2400
Droplet Size 1pl
Number of Inks 5
Inkjet Print Process
Maximum print size A4
Number of paper trays 1

Price
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You can get this great product now from as little as £80 on some sites. Also I would recommend checking out your local PC World as they often have great offers on printers such as these.

Score
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9 OUT OF 10! 

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