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Entered CNET Catalog: 04/23/2002
SKU: 0013803003390
Manufacturer: Canon USA, Inc.
Manufacturer description
Imagine. Brilliant 4" x 6" borderless photos in about 60 seconds and 8.5" x 11" photos in approximately two minutes. All with the ability to retain their vibrancy and color for approximately 25 years - and all right from your desktop. The Canon S820 Photo Printer delivers it all and so much more, quickly and easily. It's the performance and innovation you'd expect from a company with more than 60 years of leadership in imaging and photographic technology. The S820 Photo Printer produces photo prints of silver-halide quality, thanks to a high-performance 6-color ink system. It combines standard cyan, magenta and yellow ink tanks with one-sixth density photo cyan, photo magenta and black ink tanks in one printhead, making 2400 x 1200 dpi photo-quality printing available. Plus, Canon advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology combines cutting-edge achievements in ink-droplet size, accurate ink application, consistent droplet quality and ink composition. The result is spectacular print resolution, up to 49 gradation levels, dramatically reduced graininess and breathtaking detail and color reproduction. The S820 Photo Printer features the Canon Think Tank System. Six individual ink tanks, one for each color, make it easy to replace just the color that runs out, rather than the entire cartridge. And a unique optical low-ink sensor warns you with an on-screen message when an ink tank is low, giving you plenty of time to replace the tank before it runs out.Product summary
The good: Excellent photo-print quality; great graphics and text quality on high-res paper; fast photo-print speeds; low ink costs.
The bad: Slow text printing; can't tweak beyond a handful of presets; output quality deteriorates on plain paper.
The bottom line: The Canon S820 prints beautiful text, graphics, and photos. For best results, though, spring for high-resolution paper.
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 11/18/2002
 Flimsy paper trays. |
 Mac and PC, USB and parallel. |
Whether you're on a Mac or a PC, setting up the Canon S820 won't cause you any headaches; just plug in the printer via the USB or parallel ports (neither cable is included), let your OS detect it, insert the installation CD, and follow the directions. Very new users should glance at the included, colorful poster, which instructs you on how to unpack and plug in the printer, install the printhead and the ink tanks, connect to your computer, then load the driver. A thin paper manual called the Quick Start Guide details such things as how to optimize photos for printing and install the included photo management applications (see Features for a description of these). The CD also contains a Photo Application Guide, which explains how to use the included photo apps (for more info, see Features).
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 Canon's Think Tank System for photo printers. |
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The included printer drivers offer an array of possible ways to adjust or enhance your digital docs before you print, but these options are definitely geared toward the novice photo nut. You won't find any snazzy photo-editing software or even features for a nifty photo album. Rather, you'll find six tabs along the top of the driver interface. Main lets you select paper type, print quality, and access the Print Advisor, a feature that helps you choose the appropriate driver settings for your particular print job (for example, choose Photo Paper for photos). Page Setup lets you adjust page size and select borderless printing. With Stamp/Background, you can choose watermarks or a colorful background pattern (only two bitmap file samples are included for this option, so you'll have to find or create the rest yourself). From the Effects tab, you can simulate a cartoon, choose a Vivid Photo preset, or apply various monochrome effects such as sepia. In Profiles, you can save your driver settings for easy reuse.
Lastly, Maintenance lets you clean and align the printheads or set the printer to operate in Quiet mode, though the engine's not very loud to begin with. Although Quiet mode minimizes the whir and whine of the engine, it makes the printer run a bit slower, so you wouldn't want to use it all the time. The settings are very easy to follow, but for a photo printer in this price range, we would have liked some more custom tweaking options--at least a slider bar or two to adjust color saturation, for example. As it stands, there are only a few presets for photo optimization on the Effects tab.
For photo enthusiasts, Canon also throws in three simple photo-oriented software applications. In Zoom Browser EX, you can view and organize all your digital images. Photo Record lets you create photo albums, add captions and frames, and change the backgrounds on your images. Photo Stitch makes it easy to merge or stitch a series of photos to make panoramas, posters, and collages.
The S820 also supports EXIF, a format in which most digital cameras save higher-resolution images so that your high-res photos look better than your low-res ones. We've never really noticed superiority from photos printed from EXIF files, however. The differences are usually minimal, primarily discernable only to professional photographers.
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 Affordable long-term ink costs. |
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On plain paper, by contrast, text looked fuzzy, individual letters were not very well formed, and the blacks looked more like charcoals. Plain-paper graphics looked muted, and there were white flecks throughout that made them look stonewashed. All in all, stick with specialty paper, and you'll be thrilled with the output from this printer. The S820's output doesn't match that of the more expensive Canon S900. But it has other similarly priced photo printers, such as the HP Photosmart 7350 and the Epson Stylus Photo 925, beat cold. Only another recent Canon release, the S530D photo printer, boasts results that match and occasionally best those of the 820.
Print speeds were less exciting. With text, the Canon S820 ran surprisingly slowly, averaging 2.22 pages per minute (ppm), whereas 3.5ppm is considered slow for inkjets in general. But compared to average photo-printer speeds, that score's not too shabby. For faster text printing, Canon's i-series printers, the Canon i320 and the Canon i550, are twice and thrice as fast, respectively. On photos, however, the Canon S820 was quite quick. It printed our 8x10 test photo at 2.3 minutes per page, which puts it among the fastest photo printers we've tested recently.
The Canon S820 is quite frugal with ink. On our drain tests, it averaged a low 3.5 cents per page of black ink and 29 cents per page of color ink. We consider both scores on a par with our ideal times for all inkjets.
| Inkjet printer text speed Pages per minute (longer bars indicate better performance) | ||||||||
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| Inkjet printer color photo speed Minutes to print a color photograph (shorter bars indicate better performance) | ||||||||
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Inkjet printer quality
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For most basic questions and troubleshooting, you can access the aforementioned Quick Start Guide, which includes troubleshooting tips and a comprehensive list of customer support options--always a helpful resource to put right up front. For even more information about using and caring for the printer, check out the CD-based user guide, which gives detailed explanations of printer parts and printer driver functions (for example, how to select the appropriate paper type for your print job or print borderless 4x6 photos).
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 Plenty of online tech support. |
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Canon backs the S820 Photo Printer with a one-year warranty, which is standard for inkjets. You can extend this warranty to three years for $95, average among the other plans we've seen. Canon also offers free tech support via a toll number for the length of the warranty, then $9.99 per incident after that. Hours are 8 a.m. to midnight weekdays and noon to 8 p.m. Saturdays ET. Beyond that, Canon offers e-mail support, drivers, and FAQs via its Web site; 24/7, toll-free automated phone support and fax-on-demand specifications; and technical information.
When we e-mailed Canon tech support with a simple problem, we received an automated reply within 20 minutes that contained links to 10 different possible documents that might solve our problem. At the bottom was a link to "escalate to tech support," but we were satisfied with the solution outlined in the first document. A call to Canon's tech support yielded a live technician in less than five minutes. He was very courteous and gave the correct solution to our problem.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 User Rating: 
5/10
Was a great photo printer but not now.
Pros: Great photo printing.
Cons: But, yes that print head what a pain.
Found one for $100. But for another $30.00 you can buy a new printer with ink.
User Rating: 
4/10
Printhead went bad in under 2 years
Pros:
Cons: The printhead went bad in under 2 years. Tried to get help from Canon and no luck getting any help online or by phone.
User Rating: 
8/10
Very impressive photo prints
Pros: Only serious photographers with serious equipment should respond to these reviews. The prints are excellent for a home photo printer. I shoot 35mm negatives that are scanned at 28 megapixel resolution (greater than any current digital SLR camera). The c
Cons: Slow text print capabilities but then again it is not lost on me that the primary purpose of this type of printer is to print photographs. Occasional text printing can be done. However this printer is not made as a primary text printer. That is why I ha
User Rating: 8/10
great photos while they lasted
Pros: For about a year and a half I thought everything was fine... great photos, but then...
Cons: print head went bad... also ink consumption is high.
User Rating: 
1/10
Already broke
Pros:
Cons: It started out printing good quality photos & flyers. We use our printer alot. After about 18 months of use, it is toast !!! I have run printer head alignments, color balance, & cleanings. It refuses to print the proper colors. I thought HP Pr
User Rating: 5/10
Recommend with CAUTION!
Pros: Beatiful pictures. Some of the best quality I've seen, especially when using Canon paper, which really is much different in price if you find a good deal.
Cons: Printhead-if you want to keep this one going, get the extended warranty-you'll need it. About 3 months after the initial warranty was up, I started having problems with some of the colors not printing correctly. Come to find out its the printhead. Clea
User Rating: 1/10
Product is not reliable
Pros: Works well when it works
Cons: Cost of replacing printer head $120. Needed replacement after 1 and 1/2 of fairly light use.
User Rating: 5/10
Only work on Canon's own photo paper, and only once
Pros: When it first arrived, it did produce fine pictures, although you can absolutely tell it is a print. Recently got a HP photosmart and realized how much worse Canon is!
Cons: Cheap product cheap quality.
User Rating: 4/10
great quality until printhead fails!
Pros: Great photo quality, at least until the printhead breaks. Good value, at least until the printhead breaks. Six-ink cartridge design.
Cons: Like others who have owned this printer, I saw the printhead fail after a little under two years. I now get color banding in every photo that I print, even after replacing ink cartridges and running the nozzle cleaning process dozens of times. What a piec
User Rating: 1/10
Printer driving me crazy since bought it
Pros: When this printer does produce a good quality print it is beautiful.
Cons: For every good print I have made, there have been at least 20 bad ones. Received the printer as an xmas gift in 2003 and have had problems since. I use one laptop for all of my photo manipulation and printing, so suffice it to say, the settings on the PC
User Rating: 
2/10
Unreliable printhead
Pros: Excellent results with photos for as long as it lasted
Cons: Was very expensive to buy and printhead lasted only 18 months. New Epson stylus photo R210 is cheaper than replacement printhead. No prizes for guesses about what i will do
User Rating: 4/10
Great printer, lousy printhead
Pros: ease of using software, print options translate well, pictures are clean, text is readable
Cons: printhead goes bad in 6 - 8 months with daily use. We bought one s820 and needed a new printhead in 8 months -- bought a new s820 for $10.00 more than it would have cost for a new printhead, and it just went bad (after 6 months). We now have two s820s an
User Rating: 
6/10
photos great, text lousy
Pros: Fantastic photos--on the right paper. Cost per photo (counting paper, ink, everything) was cheaper than anything else I'd seen as of Sept 2002 (when I picked up the printer for $200).
Cons: Text is barely adequate on anything other than expensive coated paper. Also, text prints too slowly. Cost of ink adds up quickly. Canon support is a pain in the butt to use. Few features and unimpressive paper handling--this is a printer I'll be givin
User Rating: 
3/10
Printhead went after 18 months.
Pros: Excellent quality photos. Fast pictures.
Cons: Was expensive when I bought it. June 2002, $300.00 bucks, luckily the lowered the price too 250 a couple weeks later. Printhead went after 18 months. I only used factory Canon Ink. Clean Print heads quite frequently and used daily. Two expensive for a
User Rating: 3/10
Good quality photos, print head problems common
Pros: Good print quality
Cons: Print head clogs if printer not used for any length of time. Print heads are expensive
User Rating: 5/10
YOU WILL HAVE PRINTHEAD PROBLEMS IF USING AFTERMARKET INK!
Pros: I wrote good review when I first got the printer. The photo quality is unbelievable when you print on Canon Photo Paper Pro (most expensive). Looks better than real picture.
Cons: Best NOT use 3rd party ink cartridges. After using it for a few times, I started seeing streaks and photo colors were all screwed up. After calling Canon I had to take it to service center to get print head replaced. They said 1) do not use aftermarket i
User Rating: 4/10
********ATTENTION**********
Pros: Good quality prints only on high quality photo paper. Like the review said it "output quality deteriorates on plain paper" and that is so true.
Cons: Consumes alot of ink.. and I mean a lot! In the long run this printer is bad! Buying ink tanks every month 'cause they go quick! You think that buying them separately is better but its almost the same the difference is only like two prints away. With $
User Rating: 6/10
Canon -- the Gillette shaver of printers
Pros: I've had the Canon S820 printer for a year and love the photo printing.
Cons: They get you on a low priced printer (I paid $130) and then make a killing on ink cartridges. 6 cartidges * $10 every other month and you're talking serious $. Cartidges self-clean almost every time you print. So-so text printer.
User Rating: 
9/10
This printer is great for digital photos!!!
Pros: This printer prints the fastest, most vivid and economical photographs I have ever seen come from an inkjet. I love this printer and it is a mainstay in my digital darkroom. I have printed out 16 8X10 prints in an hour with this printer. This is the fi
Cons: Does not print text fast. Prints will not look good unless you use the most expensive paper possible.
User Rating: 
7/10
Not the best but great for the value.
Pros: I bought my printer for $80. Great pictures. Not too bad on speed for photos.
Cons: Text could be darker. Wish the photo layout software was better. You cannot specify a custom photo layout.
User Rating: 5/10
does not print good quality pictures
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 
10/10
Man, what a fantastic printer!
Pros:
Cons:
