The Best Photo Printer Under $100 Ever!
I have owned a number of inkjet photo printers over the years from Canon and Epson. I recently sold my large format printer, a Canon Pixma Pro9000 because I was not printing enough large images (11×17 and above) to justify the high cost of ink and paper. Since I use professional photo & print services for my art prints, all I needed was something for an occasional small print at home.
I love bargain priced photographic tools that deliver exceptional value. I wanted a low-cost photo printer that gave top-quality, letter size photo prints, but could also churn out pages of black text on common copy paper. And, I did not want to waste money on consumables that would lay idle for months between use. After doing a bit of research, I discovered the Canon Pixma iP3600.
I consider this the bargain photo printer of the decade. The Canon Pixma iP3600 is the Honda Civic of photo printers! A low cost, well made product that really performs! I paid slightly more than $70 for the printer (including shipping) (that’s right, only 70 bucks). It is an amazing printer that delivers results that are very satisfying when printed on Canon photo paper.
The Pixma iP3600 has a 5-color ink system with four dye-based inks and a pigment-based black ink. It produces vivid, accurate colors and bold, black text. Each color comes in a separate ink cartridge. This means that if you run out of one color, you are not forced to buy an expensive cartridge containing all the colors. That is a feature normally found in more expensive printers. I will spare you any more technical details. Needless to say, it produces superb photo quality images on the right paper.
Here is an important tip to get the best results: Do not print your photos using Photoshop. Save your photo as a .jpeg or .tif file using the standard sRGB color profile. Use the Canon Easy-PhotoPrint EX software that comes with this printer to print your final images. You will obtain the most accurate color that way without needless experimentation.
There are two things to keep in mind if you want to obtain the best fade free photos. Use Canon inks and Canon photo paper. Canon inks insure that you have both accurate color results and maximum fade resistance. Canon papers are designed to produce the most accurate results from the Canon ink formulas. When using Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II (a sample pack is shipped with the printer) the results are simply stunning. There is nothing budget about the results from this printer. Granted, the Canon ink and paper are not cheap. If you are a fairly serious photographer, and want reliable, top quality prints this is the only way to get them from such a low-cost printer.
Bottom line, if all you want to do is print beautiful photos no larger than 8.5×11, this printer will do it as well, or better, than any printer on the market. I am as satisfied with the results I get from this modest printer as I was from the best results obtained from the much more expensive Canon Pro9000 I owned. The iP3600 is not a multi-purpose printer. It will not fax, scan or collate. It cannot brew a pot of coffee. However, if all you want are great photo prints that are letter-sized or smaller, you do not need to buy anything else. For about $60 bucks, Canon iP3600 will do justice to your photos.
