Canon PIXMA printers

PIXMA is the latest series of inkjets from Canon. There are nine models in this range, and we've reviewed three of them, namely the PIXMA IP3000, IP4000 and IP5000. All three support dual-sided printing on both plain and photo paper, and even have special trays for printing on CDs and DVDs. For the last option, special CDs and DVDs are available that allow this sort of printing. All support PictBridge compliant cameras to print directly to the printers. All have separate ink cartridges for each color, so you can replace them individually when they run out. 

IP5000

This printer supports a maximum resolution of 9600x2400 dpi, and has a two-way paper feeding option. Like PIXMA IP4000 it also uses five ink cartridges, which include four CMYK and one black pigment-based cartridge. The pigment-based cartridge helps photo prints stay true for long time by making them resistant to water and fading. Its rated printing speed is 25 ppm black and 17 ppm color text. The test results for this inkjet were close to those of the IP4000. Smallest readable font size was 2. It took 12 secs to print a document with a small graphics. Line art and curves printing was excellent. It took 27 secs to print a full-page monochrome image in standard mode and 1:28 mins in high mode. The color quality of color printing was excellent, with very fine variations in the color and even better contrast. It printed a full-page color image in 1:58 mins in standard mode and 4:16 mins in high mode. It gave us 10 ppm print speed in printing text, which is far lower than the rated. Unlike the IP4000, this one only has a USB interface.

IP4000

This printer comes with dual interface, Parallel and USB, and like the IP5000 uses five ink cartridges. The printer supports a maximum resolution of 4800x1200 dpi, and the rated print speeds are the same as IP5000. This one also gave us 10 ppm text printing in our tests. Performance in other areas was also excellent, with 2 point size minimum readable font size, great line art and curves printing. Photo printing took 1:22 mins to print a monochrome image in high mode and 1:52 mins to print a full-page color image in standard mode. The high quality color photo-printing mode took 3:10
mins. 

IP3000

Like the IP5000, this one also has only a USB interface. It can print up to a resolution of 4800x1200 dpi. As per the printers rating it can print at a speed of 22 PPM in custom setting 5. The smallest readable font that we get was 2 without any jaggedness. To print a page with text and small graphics in standard mode it took 13 secs. Line art and curves printing wasn't as good as the other two printers, with minor bandings and some broken lines. It took 26 secs to print a full-page monochrome image in standard mode and 1:28 mins in high mode with excellent black and gray printing. Color printing was also impressive. It printed a full-page color image in 2 mins in standard mode and 2:53 mins in high mode with good quality. Print speed was only 9 PPM in custom setting 5. 

The Bottom Line: All three models are good, and support similar features. The difference is mainly in the supported print resolutions.

Sukhsagar Prajapati