Good Things Do Come In Small Packages

Christmas 2003 was definitely memorable ! I always joked around with the wife and kids that I was tired of getting the traditional " Dad " type of gifts such as socks, bad ties, cologne, slippers, etc.. I let the family know, jokingly, that I wanted something GOOD for Christmas, and oh my goodness did the ladies step up to the plate.

Imagine my surprise on Christmas morning to unwrap not only a Canon S50 five megapixel camera, but also a Canon CP-200 printer. The S50 is an excellent addition to my Olympus C-5050 from a mobile standpoint, and the CP-200 gives me a few additional options. This review will focus upon the CP-200 mini dye sub printer.

First, I have never owned a dye sub printer, so I was quite interested in getting to understand the technology behind it. As an owner of two Epsons ( the 825 & 1280 ) this concept was, well, a little foreign to me so off I went to visit the Canon website.

Apparently, Canon is banking the success of this product on four primary areas that I'll address :

. Compact Design
. Ease of Use
. Quality and Speed
. Print Size Options

Compactness is a forte of this unit as it weighs in at approximately 29 ounces....thats right....29 ounces. The CP-200 is small enough to hold comfortably in the palm of one hand since it's dimensions are 6.7x4.7x2.2in. Secondly, the unit's set-up was a breeze...just connect the parts, plug it in, and you're ready to go. The printer uses what Canon calls the PictBridge system which allows any camera which has this capability ( many Canon models and some others I believe ) ) to link directly with the printer via the supplied USB cable, and print directly from the camera's LCD monitor.

The output quality, in my opinion, was very, very good with colors being vibrant, and tones and shadings being very much " on the money ." For those not familiar with this concept, the photo paper makes four passes through the printer, with the first three passes laying down the yellow, magenta, and cyan colors within the picture. The fourth pass is where the printer lays down a protective coating over the finished print to shield the print from the elements and retard fading. Print time for a postcard size print is approximately 80 seconds, but honestly, I'm not sure sure if this is considered fast for this type of processing.

Now don't expect to print 5x7's or 8x10's on this unit. It will only print bordered ( 4.8x3.9 in )or borderless
( 5.8x3.9 in ) postcards, bordered or borderless credit card size photos ( I'm still not clear on what the application is here )or 0.9x0.7 inch mini labels. The paper is Canon proprietary which is a bit of a disadvantage with a per picture cost of approximately fifty cents per print. The postcard is the application I have been using and its actually pretty neat as the non-photo side of the card is actually a postcard. I see two immediate applications, the first being to print snapshots and mail them as postcards, which might be cool for vacations, or to print the pictures and place them in your favorite photo album. I've utilized the latter rather than the former, but you never know when vacation time comes around.

The ink " cassette " is similar to what you may use in your typical fax machine as opposed to the traditional ink cartridges you are accustomed to using. Actually, the ink cassette and 36 sheet paper set are packaged together which is a nice concept.

I took the CP-200 and the Canon S50 on a business trip to New Orleans this week. Just pooped it into my expandable briefcase and off I went. I utilized both to capture the
" off duty " evening activities with my company friends as we traversed the infamous French Quarter. When I showed and gave them the pictures the next day ( especially of those who had more than their fair share of Pat O'Brien's Hurricanes ) they were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the prints, and many commented they could not tell the difference between 35mm and digital.

The CP-200 does have a sibling in the CP-300 which the only differences being that the CP-300 has an on/off button and a portable battery. But nonetheless, I'd give the CP-200 a rating of 4.5 stars. Its a very nice unit to have.