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August 31, 2006
[ CANON PIXMA MP830 mfp ]
Price: $550
Recommended
The low-down: The Canon Pixma MP830 multifunction unit is a combined A4 printer, scanner, copier and fax machine. It uses Canon’s Chromalife 100 inks in 5 cartridges and the black tank is double the capacity of the other colours.
The Pixma MP830 is best thought of as a serious machine for a small business or home office where most of the printing will be in monochrome but, when necessary, top quality photo prints can be produced.
The scanner has a multi-page automatic feeder and the fax is the latest 3G technology -- further indicators that this is a business machine.
There are Compact Flash and SD card slots for direct printing but there is no infrared port for printing from a mobile phone, a facility available on some of Canon’s cheaper domestic models.
Scan and print quality are excellent and reasonably fast. As with any inkjet printer the output is not as quick as a laser printer and considerably more expensive. However the facility for printing automatically on both sides of the paper offers some economies.
Like this: The software provided with this unit is excellent with a full suite of applications for scanning, printing (in a variety of formats) and document management.
Dislike that: The user’s manual is on disc and during installation it is copied to the hard drive and a shortcut appears on the desktop. It has no index and no document-wide search facility. It is cheap, annoying and virtually useless. Of all the on-disc manuals we have seen this is easily the worst and out of character for Canon.
The procedure for printing CD/DVD labels is clumsy and output quality seems to vary on different brand discs, something that we have never encountered before with Canon printers.
Parting shot: The Pixma MP830 is not the recommended printer or scanner for the photographer looking to make great prints. It does make good prints, but Canon’s Pixma printer range has other units that do the job as well for less money. This unit is definitely for the small or home office where its automated multi-sheet copier and mono printing are the top priority and photo printing is an occasional side benefit.
Posted by terry at August 31, 2006 12:20 AM
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Comments
Hi Terry,
This query is slightly different in that I am looking for a suitable scanner that will handle 35mm slides, with a few 6cmX6cm. I was/am an old school photographer with ancient gear (Mamiya RB67 and Nikon and Minolta 35mm). I have hundreds of slides from my travelling days and think it is about time I archived them. Once they have been digitised I won't need a film scanner, so have avoided a dedicated film scanner. At the same time I want to be able to produce decent prints. Cost is a factor for me, given my restricted income. I have checked out the costs of getting them done professionally, and that is out of the question. One thing I do have is time.....
I have looked at the Epson 4490 Photo (the 4990 is out of my price range). Maybe Canon make a suitable one? Any suggestions?
Posted by: Pat Mitchell at September 5, 2006 04:48 AM
Pat:
I won't be much help to you I'm afraid.
In all the scanners that I have tested that claim to be both flatbed and film units I have never found one that does a satisfactory job of scanning transparencies and negatives. Only dedicated film scanners seem to do the job properly.
But, I hasten to add, I have not tested the more expensive scanners -- in my experience you get what you pay for in this business and it is possible that the dearer units will do both jobs properly.
You have inspired me to request a couple of top-of-the-range scanners for review.
Terry
Posted by: Terry at September 6, 2006 03:32 AM