Canon iP8500 Ink
PIXMA iP8500 Ink Cartridges

Canon iP8500 Printer Review

A flexible graphics and photo printer, the Canon PIXMA iP8500 offers a wide color gamut for any color printing. Print speed is rated at 3.5 pages per minute for text printing and .6 pages per minute for photos. The Canon PIXMA iP8500 ink is the same ChromaPlus eight-tank ink system as the older medium-format i9900 printer.

This printers dimensions are 17.8 in wide by 11.5 in deep by 6.7 in height. The Canon iP8500 ink cartridges consist of an eight-color ink set. Media handling incorporates a wide assortment of papers including envelopes, transparencies, high resolution photo paper, photo stickers and plain paper. Canon iP8500 inkjet cartridges add red and green inks to the traditional CMYK, photo cyan, and photo magenta.

Connection can be made through a link via a USB cable to your computer or by direct printing through PictBridge. Compatible operating systems include Windows 98 and XP, Windows 2000 and Mac OS. Packaged software includes Canon Easy-Photo, Easy-WebPrint and PhotoRecord.

PC World thought that the Canon PIXMA iP8500 inkjet photo printer was fast and produced good color output. They also liked its duplex printing capability and its quiet operation. The complaints were not insurmountable and included the fact that there is no option for fine-art papers, no firewire port and the lack of permanence with the OEM ink. They also felt that black and white printing created a sepia cast. CNET said that the iP8500 "produces excellent photo and graphics output."

A CNET editor's choice when it first came to market, the iP8500 gets mostly rave reviews from buyers also. Auto duplexing and dual paper paths are popular in addition to print quality and speed. The duplex feature automatically turns the paper over for two-sided printing. The printers' PictBridge feature takes the computer out of the equation, allowing for printing directly from a compatible camera.