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Although I’m a professional photographer and this isn’t really a professional printer - it only uses 5 inks and 2 of them are blacks - this is one of the best photo printers I’ve ever used. OK the tonal range may be slightly less smooth than an 8 ink Epson or Canon but the difference is so tiny as to be almost irrelevant in real world terms. This is a great printer. Like all Canon’s it’s fast and produces great glossy photos. It’s weaknesses are in colour management - the driver allows very little real control, only allowing you to use Windows own ICM or some sliders that don’t include a lighten/darken, saturation or contrast control. Instead you have “intensity” and “black” controls. Considering the printer’s other weakness is oversaturated colours - even with “Vivid” turned off - these are major omissions. Fortunately most of the time the slightly more colourful than reality look is exactly what is wanted so it’s only when colours really are bright that it becomes a problem. Many of my pictures are seascapes and if the sea really is that ideal bright blue, prints from the Canon are way too intense and resist all tweaks on the controls, or the image saturation to fix it.
Still a printer at this price that gives you exactly what you want 99% of the time while set to Glossy Photo Paper and Auto with my favourite Ilford Smooth Glossy or Fuji Premium Glossy papers is way better than most. If Canon’s driver included a saturation control I’d be hard pressed to criticise it at all. That, along with single ink tanks that really are empty when the driver tells you so make this a real bargain.
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