The Canon MP150 is one of the new breed of multifunction devices - in this case a printer and scanner combined. The idea of combining printers with other devices is great. Desk space around most home computers is cluttered with too many separate gray boxes, and printers and scanners are about the biggest. When these devices first appeared they were much more expensive than just a printer or scanner on it’s own, but now they’re everywhere at much the same price as either device on it’s own. So is all of this just too good to be true? Do these multifunction printer and scanner combinations make sense if you really care about the quality of your inkjet photo prints?

The Canon MP150 sells at a price that made me do a swift double take. Could any worthwhile printer, let alone printer and scanner sell for that low a price? ( £ 50 in the UK and $ 85 in the USA ) Despite this Canon claim “Photo Lab Quality” for the MP150 and a print time of 55 seconds for a 6x4 photo. The printer spec is good considering the price, and the MP150 is Pictbridge compatible for direct printing from digital cameras. The scanner part of the deal has a maximum resolution of 1220 dpi which is average, as is the output. Scan quality is fine for an occasional copy job, but in absolute terms, for scanning images, performance is only OK in terms of detail recorded. My test scans looked fine printed the same size as the original, but viewed at 100%, my old Epson 2450 recorded far more fine detail.

The Canon MP150’s printer output is rated at up to 4800x1200 dpi and with a minimum droplet size of 2 pl prints should be just as sharp as those from much more expensive Canon printers. The printer also uses Canon’s FINE technology - I had to get a magnifier out to read the small print on the Canon FINE sticker on the MP 150 and apart from patent numbers it says “Full Photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering”  = It prints photos.