With most manufacturers setting their sights on commercial office printers, only two players remain, Epson and Canon, in the home inkjet photo printer market. If Epson is synonymous with photo printers and HP specializes in business printers, then Canon sits right somewhere in between. In addition to photo printing, Canon also focuses on the commercial and office sectors, and its inkjet printers are not as expensive as Epson's. Unlike Epson, in addition to inkjet, Canon also has a commendable dye sublimation photo printer.
 
Dye sublimation printers may be more suitable for the average user, and this brings us to the flaws of inkjet printers. There is no doubt that the print quality of high-end inkjet printers is definitely higher than that of other types, but for the average user, the maintenance cost of inkjet printers is not low, and it is expensive and not portable. In order to prevent the troublesome printhead from clogging, even if it is not used all year round, it is indispensable to have a self-test every month or a week or two. In order to create better photos, professional-grade inkjet printers also need to do color management, which is indeed a little complicated for the average user. In contrast, sublimation printers are much more convenient.
 
The filament of a sublimation printer is a ribbon, and the pigment on the ribbon is sublimated by heating and transferred to the photographic paper. Since there is no printhead and ink, and of course, there is no trouble with the printhead clogging, and the maintenance cost is much lower than that of inkjet printers. At present, the sublimation printers on the market are all sold by small size, with a maximum length of less than 20 cm, which takes up very little space. Dye sublimation printers can also laminate photos, increasing the photo retention time. Mainstream portable sublimation printers have wireless printing capabilities, and the printing scene is free, so you don't need to keep the printer next to the computer all the time.
 
The Canon CP1300 is the best portable dye sublimation printer on the market, the whole machine is sleek and compact, but the performance is very good. Because there is only a three-color ribbon, the CP1300 has a slightly worse depth of shadows, and the color tone is faint and greenish, which is not weaker than the entry-level inkjet printer in other aspects, especially the color transition is natural, and the photo looks very good. Although Fujifilm and Kodak also have similar products, only the Canon CP1300 has an LCD screen, and the operation interface is much more intuitive. The CP1300 print quality is also better, but the price is slightly higher, around 1100 yuan.
 
In the field of inkjet printers, Canon, HP, and Epson have to mention that Epson has the best micro-piezoelectric printhead in the industry, and Canon and HP have patents for thermal foaming printheads. The thermal foaming printhead is easier to integrate, and the number of printheads under the same positioning is much larger than that of the micropiezo, and the printing speed is faster. This kind of printhead relies on high-temperature bubbles to spray ink droplets, and long-term high temperature will damage the printhead, so some thermal foam printer printheads are integrated with the ink cartridge and replaced at the same time.
 
Canon's entry-level photo printers are mostly available in 5 or 6 colors, but in actual photo printing, only 4 or 5 colors are available. This is because Canon inkjet printers mostly divide black into pigment black and dye black, pigment black is mainly used to print text, and only dye black is used for photo printing.
 
In terms of products, Canon's inkjet all-in-one machine is more outstanding, in addition to the printing function, it also has scanning and copying functions. Early Canon six-color printers, such as the MG7780, added gray to the four colors of CMYK, and the gray scale transition of photos was natural, bringing more delicate dark details. Canon has replaced gray ink with blue ink on next-generation all-in-one printers such as the TS8180 and TS9180. The direct effect is a wider color gamut, richer color expression, and a more delicate blue-white transition, but the corresponding dark color will be slightly lighter.
 
Among high-end printers, the Canon Pro-10 and Pro-100 are ideal for home use. The Wirecutter believes that these two printers are second only to the Epson P600 for excellent image quality. Pro-100 has 8-color cartridges, while Pro-10 reaches 10 colors, but the price is only about 3700 yuan and 6300 yuan, and the cost performance is very good. The common feature of printers with more than 8 colors is a wide color gamut and natural transition. The Pro-10 also adds crystal clear ink to make the surface gloss of the photo more even.