Canon Selphy CP510 and CP710 Dye-Sub Printers - Review

by Bob Atkins

Canon released the SELPHY CP510 and SELPHY CP710 in the fall of 2005. They are both small dye-sub printers, the major difference being that the CP710 has a memory card reader built in. They are both compatible with the NB-CP2L battery pack for portable operation. The optional BU-20 Bluetooth adapter unit  enables wireless printing from devices that support the Bluetooth standard, such as some camera phones.

The CP510 and CP710 are small format printers, capable of printing 4x6 prints, long format 4" x 8" prints, credit card sized prints (2.1" x 3.4") and mini-stickers (0.9" x 0.7", 8 to a sheet). The 4" x 6" paper that these printers use have standard postcard markings on the back (see below), so you can mail your postcard sized prints as actual postcards! The supplied paper cassette is for the standard 4x6 paper, but additional (optional) paper holder cassettes are required for the other paper sizes. The time taken to print a 4x6 print is 58 seconds, which is a significant improvement over the 90 seconds of earlier similar dye-sub printers (CP220 and CP330)

back of 4"x6" printing paper

Unlike ink jet printers, where ink and paper are available from both Canon and 3rd party suppliers, the Canon Selphy CP510 and CP710 require paper/ink packs sold by Canon. Each pack contains both the paper and a dye-sub cassette. The "ink" is sufficient to print exactly the number of prints in the pack. The standard 4x6 packs are the KP-36IP which makes 36 prints and  which sells for $10-$15 and KP-108IP which makes 108 prints and which sells for $25-$30. If you shop around for the best price on the KP-108IP each 4x6 print will cost about $0.23.

Canon CP510 and CP710 prints have a final transparent layer applied over them as part of the printing process which makes them waterproof and impervious to fingerprints. You can actually hold the fresh print under running water and it will not be damaged! This is a great advantage if you're printing at a party or you actually want to mail them as postcards! Canon claim that in accelerated testing of print stability a life of up to 100 years is indicated, which is similar to that of conventional photographs.

Both printers are small (7" x 5.2" x 2.5" ) and they're no heavier than a pro SLR (33.2oz for the CP510, 34.6oz for the CP710), so they can easily be carried in a camera bag.

Canon SELPHY CP510 and CP710 Specifications

Dye-Sub vs. Ink jet

Both the Canon Selphy CP510 and CP710 are dye-sub (dye sublimation) printers. This means that they operate by subliming (vaporizing) dye from a sheet onto the printing paper. This is done in 4 passes. On the first pass the print is in contact with the yellow ink sheet, and areas requiring yellow are transferred from the dye sheet to the paper. On a second pass through the printer the dye-sub cassette moves a magenta sheet over the print and transfers dye in the area requiring magenta. On the third pass a cyan sheet to transfer cyan to the print and the color printing is complete. The final, fourth, pass applies a clear protective coating. This is shown schematically in the following figure:

All colors are made up from yellow, cyan and magenta. Black is all three colors, white is none at all, just as in an ink-jet printer. Below are crops from a sample image and the magenta frame from the dye sub print used to make it. As you can see in the areas of the print that are black, all the magenta has been transferred from the dye sheet. In other areas only some of the magenta is transferred (see the setting sun in the lower right to see an area with partial transfer).

Software

The CP220 comes with the CP printer solutions disk ver.5.0 (CD), which contains:

For Macintosh:

• ImageBrowser 5.1
• PhotoStitch 3.1
• CP printer driver 3.2

For Windows:

• Easy-PhotoPrint 3.3
• PhotoRecord 2.2
• PhotoStitch 3.1
• CP Printer Driver 3.2

Printing

Printing can be done directly from a PC in the same manner any photo printer. A driver for the printer is installed on the computer and  the CP510/710 printer is selected as the output device when printing from a program. A standard USB 2.0 connection is used between the printer and PC. Both the Canon Selphy CP510 and CP710 can also be connected directly to any Canon camera which supports direct printing, or any PictBridge compliant camera from any manufacturer. Printing from the PC via PhotoShop (or other Image Editor) is obviously much more flexible since you can make complex color and density adjustments before printing. Printing directly from a camera requires a well exposed original since image adjustments (other than cropping) aren't possible. With well exposed images the prints from the CP510 look very good. Full frame from a DSLR image (which has a 1:1.5 aspect ratio) can be printed on 4x6 paper, but if you're printing from a digicam with a 4:3 aspect ratio some cropping will obviously occur when printing borderless 4x6 prints.

With current Canon Powershot digicams, direct printing from the camera couldn't be easier. Both printers have a short built-in retractable USB cable. You pull the cable out of the printer, plug it into the camera, turn the camera on in image review mode, select the image you want to print in the usual way and press a single button on the camera. Less than 1 minute later, you have the final print in your hand!

Canon SELPHY CP510

Even fairly simple cameras like the Powershot SD200 allow you to crop the image or print multiple small images ("passport" images) or an index print on one sheet of paper. From the SD200 you can also print a series of stills from a movie.

The Canon CP710 has the same print engine as the Canon CP510, but in addition has a card reader which also allows printing directly from a memory card and has a 1.5" color LCD screen on which the images are displayed. Microdrives, CF cards, SD cards, Memory Sticks, Memory Stick Pros, Multimedia cards and Magic Gate Memory Stick Duos are directly supported. Other cards can be used via adapters. The usual array of functions is available. You can print one image, all images, images as defined in the camera via DPOF (digital print order format), plus you can select bordered or borderless printing and you can crop using the controls on the printer and the printer LCD screen.

Each print requires 4 passes of the paper through the printer and the total time for a 4" x 6" print is around 58 seconds. The actual paper supplied for these printers is about 4" x 7", with a 1/2" tear off strip at each end. The extra length is required to enable edge to edge (borderless) 4" x 6" printing. The strip is microperforated so it tears off leaving a very clean edge. Bordered prints can be selected via in camera software when printing directly from a camera, or via the usual software options when printing from a computer.

Both the Canon Selphy CP510 and CP710 come supplied with only a sample 5 print pack of paper and dye sub ink, so anyone buying either printer would probably also want to order at least one 36 or 108 print kit.

Conclusions

For those wanting 4x6 prints from an easy to use and portable printer, the Canon Selphy CP510 ($95) and Canon Selphy CP710 ($145) are good choices. They are small enough and light enough to carry in your camera bag if you're going to an event and want to proof images on the spot. The prints are waterproof and fingerprint resistant which is something that may be very useful if you're printing pictures at an a party, plus they can be sent through the mail as postcards. You do need AC power unless you buy the optional Li-ion battery pack. Prints are reasonably priced at around $0.35-$0.40 each if you buy the 36 print kit ($18) or $0.23-$0.28 each if you buy the 108 print kit. This is a little more than online prints would cost, but comparable to the cost of prints from many 1hr photo store, and you have the convenience of printing them instantly at home rather than having to drive to the store or wait for them to be delivered though the mail. Other (small) print sizes are also available, but require purchasing optional paper holding cassettes as well as the appropriate paper/dye-sub kits.

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