Canon S830D Ink Cartridges

Canon S830D Printer Review

The Canon S830D is a printer designed for digital photographers. It includes slots for several types of memory cards for stand-alone printing. CNET likes the Canon S900 better for quality output unless a user specifically needs a stand-alone printer. The Canon S830D ink is contained within six separate ink tanks. Stand-alone functioning extends to the LCD screen that is located on top of the printer.

The Canon S830D inkjet cartridges are designed to print on plain paper as well as matte, glossy and regular photo papers. Output is rated at 2400 x 1200 dpi for both color and black and white. Employing the Canon Think Tank System, the Canon S830D ink cartridges include black, photo cyan, photo magenta, cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Connection is through a USB port, although you have to purchase the cable separately. Printing directly off of memory cards is another option. Memory cards that will work with the S830D include Memory Stick, SmartMedia, CompactFlash, IBM Microdrive and Secure Digital. The S830D is compatible with Windows 98, 2000, Me, XP and Mac OS (8.6 to 9.x). One of the included software applications is Easy-PhotoPrint, which allows for Exif print. This means that when printing from an Exif-compliant digital camera, the camera settings are saved with the JPEG file. Other software applications bundled with the printer include PhotoRecord, ZoomBrowser EX, ImageBrowser and PhotoStitch.

In CNET's review of the Canon S830D inkjet printer, the text and graphics did not measure up. They stated: "Unfortunately, the text and graphics output from this pricey offering just don't measure up to the competitions." CNET notes that the Canon S820D provides better text quality.

As a stand-alone printer, the S830D is a good choice. As a fairly-priced photo printer, there may be better choices. Photo printing speed is very good compared to direct-competitors, but text speed does not match up.