Canon Selphy CP740 Compact Photo Printer (2094B001)
See it at Amazon.com for $43.00Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(5 out of 5)Great little printer
I have been VERY pleasantly surprised at the quality of the prints generated by the Selphy 740. I have another printer I use for larger (8x10) printing & photo's but I wanted something that turned out native 4x6" prints for easy photo-albuming and spontaneous, on-the-spot giving to friends & family. (The lack of such traditional prints in this traditional form-factor is the great bane of digital photography, IMHO!)
The BEST thing about this printer is the "layered film" technology used to actually print the images. I was a bit worried when I received the printer and discovered that, rather than using ink cartridges, a spooled cassette of CMY-sequenced films are used. This mechanism always struck me as a bit wasteful but I honestly believe it DOES produce the best images, with virtually no pixelization visible in the print. There is also a FOURTH layer, which is clear, that is overlaid atop the 3 separately applied CMY layers. This clear layer gives a WONDERFUL "photographic print" feeling to the final product -- I've always disliked how inkjet printers produce prints in which it is obvious (visually & tactilely) that the ink is simply sitting on top of the paper. The uppermost "clear layer" applied by the Selphy system results in a print that is virtually indistinguishable from one printed by a photo lab.
I'm not sure what to think about other reviewers criticism that the prints come out dark -- I believe this is more a comment on the camera and/or monitor on which the images are created & viewed. I generally bump up the saturation and brightness "one click" in the printer's properties dialog before I print a photo, but I do this same thing on all printers.
I concede that $0.26 per print is SLIGHTLY on the pricey side and that you can get less expensive prints at CostCo that (might?) look a BIT better, but I for one know that I am more than likely to never actually get such photo's printed. Having this Selphy 740 printer at home, where it is easily & spontaneously available, and generating very good prints is a VERY worthwhile value to me.
Thumbs up!!
(5 out of 5)Great printer
I needed a small photo printer basically to make some homemade personalized postcards, invitations and to make albums about my little kids. I was not looking for something to replace bulk orders of pictures from photo-processing centers (you cannot beat their prices anyway). I read reviews and found that printers with dye-sublimation technology produce pictures of high quality and the life-time of those pictures (around 100 years) is much higher than that of regular printers. Among many printers with this technology I found CP740. I decided that is right for me because its inexpensive (I paid about $80 including taxes and stuff), compact and I have a Canon camera, so it fits it. When I got the printer I was amazed how small it is. Yes, you need to put in the special cassete with paper before you start working, but when the printer is just sitting there, it doesn't take more space than a small thick book. The quality of pictures is outstanding, and I can improve brightness and such stuff before I produce a picture (hundreds of times I've received completely dark pictures from photo centers God knows why - I sent them normal images). I can make stickers (really nice for my daughter's school appliances and for the envelops), make thank-you cards and postcards (my Mom just lo-oved her "happy birthday" card with faces of her grandkids) and small credit-card-sized pictures for scrapbooks. Of course, you need some additional software if you want to make whimsical cards, but there's plenty for free download. And I actually like the fact, that the paper and the "cartridge" you need are always in the same package. The dye never dries out and you know that it's enough to produce the same number of great pictures as there are pieces of photo-paper in the kit. I like this printer and I am happy with it.
(4 out of 5)Quick printing and Easy to Use
My fiance got me this printer for my birthday and I love it! Printing photos is quick and easy whether you're printing images off a computer, the camera or a memory card. The software install was fast and I was able to print one image in about 30 seconds or so. It is super compact which is a plus on my cluttered desk!
There are 2 reasons why I give it a 4 out of 5. First, the print images came out slightly darker than they appeared on the screen. Even when I lightened the images using Picassa/Photoshop, the prints still came out slightly darker than what I had anticipated. Secondly, due to the small size of the printer itself, you can only print images up to 4" wide.
Aside from that, this printer is fast, easy and produces great picture keepsakes.
(3 out of 5)Nice, but a bit clunky
Excellent concept and prints are great, costing about 4 cents each (paper and cartridge). Printing process is slow and loading paper into paper cartridge and loading cartridge into printer is a bit clunky and difficult. Screen is small and grainy. But for the money, considering picture quality is good and it is fairly easy to use, I recommend it.
(2 out of 5)Spend a little more money and get a better printer
Amazon offered such a good deal on this printer, that I just couldn't resist and bought it. In hindsight, I wish I would have spent a little more money to get a higher quality canon printer. Yes, you really do get what you pay for, in this case anyway. The print clarity isn't very good and pictures come out soft and dark. It is fine if you are not picky about the quality. However, you can take your photos to Costco and for .14 cents a print, you get noticeably better pictures. For quick prints, such as for parties...etc...when you need pictures right away, this printer serves the purpose. Again, I recommend you buy a different printer. It was not worth it for me to return this printer, with shipping costs...etc...However, if I could do it again, I would skip this printer.