Canon Pixma 5000 = Good Photo Printer
Written: Nov 16 '05
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Pros: Photo quality. Duplexing. Separate paper trays. Quiet.
Cons: Speed on photo prints - not a real big deal to me.
The Bottom Line: Excellent photo printer for the $$. Better results with Canon Photo Pro paper over any others, so far.
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| obewan's Full Review: Canon PIXMAâ„¢ iP5000 InkJet Photo Printer |
The print heads went bad on my latest printer (a Canon S530D). I contemplated both replacing the print head (at a cost of about $85 bucks) and purchasing a new printer that printed better quality photos. So, I began to research.
My search took me from Consumer Reports to PCWorld to Epinions, and many other sites. I tend to value a large volume of consumer reviews to a greater extent than I do a single expert's review. I really like it when consumers and experts agree.
I went into my search open-minded. I have always owned Canon printers, but have used HP/Epson products at work and other places. It didn't take long to quickly narrow my selection down to two printers.
It came down to two Canon products, the Pixma 5000 & Pixma 8900. I almost selected the Canon Pixma 8900, which is priced in the ballpark of $300, over the Pixma 5000 for one reason - photo quality.
We take many pictures of our children. We also enjoy traveling, and I like taking pictures of landscapes, etc. I wanted a printer that could do justice to the pictures I take, and handle the fair share of word processing we do, as well.
While comparing the 8900 to the 5000, I became convinced that the 8900 was probably a better quality printer, but I could find no reason (based on comparing the two) to spend an extra $100 for the 8900. So I bought the Pixma 5000.
When UPS dropped it off, I had to combat my typical-male impulse to rip it out of the box and plug it in. I did something very atypical of a male and read the manual (granted, I did skip the whole set up part & went straight to the printing photos section). Hooking it up is not a problem if you can read and follow directions. I wanted to make sure my photos looked good.
Upon setting up the printer (a 10-15 minute process), I decided to try to print something. I gave it a test run using standard copy paper, just to make sure it worked. It did.
Now, for the real test. I have a 5x7 of my daughter on my desk that was printed at a Kodak photo lab. She is sitting in front of a cluster of pansies (flowers) that have a wide range in color (yellow, violet, orange, white, lavender, with green leaves/stems). I wanted to see how it picked up on her skin tones, as well.
So, I pop in the Canon Photo Pro 4x6 paper that came with my printer, and proceed to print a borderless 4x6 picture.
It probably takes close to a minute to print, but when it does print, I am pleased. I had to get nit-picky to find anything wrong. There are no pixels (the little squares) seen anywhere in the picture. The brightness/contrast of the picture is very good. The skin tones are good. The only thing that I could find that was different than the photo lab print was the violets. They are slightly more blue than purple, as they appear in the print from the photo lab.
I have run several other pictures (wedding, beaches, the kids) with very good results since the first test. I bought the 5000 with the intention of returning it in exchange for the 8900 if I didn't like the prints. I will not be returning it.
The only possible person who might not like this printer is the person looking for the perfect print (a professional). However, for the novice-to-advanced photographer, I feel like this is an excellent buy for the price.
A couple of side notes -
1) For those of you reading this who don't think the paper makes a difference - I am convinced. I thought it was a lie from the manufacturer to drum up more $$. I have a couple different brands of photo paper lying around. I bought some Canon Photo Pro, just to see. The Canon printer prints better with the Photo Pro paper than it does on any of the others.
2) Don't use generic ink. I destroyed the print head on my S530D using generic ink - it is much cheaper long-term to pay a little more for ink and not have to buy a printer/print head every couple of years.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 179.00
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
obewan
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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