Printer, ink and paper FAQs

There are so many ways of putting ink on paper, and so many kinds of ink and paper, that printing raises many questions for everyone from casual home users to professional photographers. Here, Canon Europe print specialist Suhaib Hussain answers some of your most common queries about printing, ink and paper.

Choosing a printer, ink and paper:

• What are the differences between inkjet, laser and other printer types?
• What is the best printer for your home?
• What is the best ink for printing both photos and documents?
• What is the best paper for printing photos and documents?

• What does IPM mean and why is it important?
• What is borderless printing?
• What does wireless connectivity mean in printing?

• What is the difference between single inks and FINE Cartridges?
• How do I change ink cartridges?
• How often will I need to change ink cartridges?

Laser printing is based on physical contact between the paper and a photoelectric drum. This drum picks up dry toner powder, which is then fused onto the paper by heat. The process produces prints with good resistance to smudging and is well suited to office use where the main requirement is document printing onto plain paper.

In inkjet printing, liquid ink droplets are ejected onto the paper, with no physical contact. This enables the use of a much wider range of media types and paper thicknesses, as well as delivering far better fidelity and colour vibrancy for photo printing.

Canon's portable SELPHY photo printers use a dye-sublimation process, which produces long-lasting, lab-quality prints with smooth, continuous colours. It requires specially coated paper and is ideal for instant high quality prints.

The small-format Canon Zoemini range of photo printers use ZINK¹ technology (the name derives from "Zero Ink"), which uses special paper embedded with micro crystals that react when heated. This produces a smudge-proof, water-resistant image without needing any ink, which makes it perfect for small, highly portable printers.

If you're looking for a single printer that can produce both documents and photo prints, inkjet technology is the best fit. Canon's PIXMA range of printers includes models with single-ink cartridges or even refillable ink tanks, which can be more cost-effective for higher print volumes – see What is the difference between single inks and FINE Cartridges below.

Print speed can be another important factor to consider, particularly if you're going to do a lot of printing – see What does IPM mean below. Among other features to look for, Auto Duplex is handy for efficient double-sided printing, which can also reduce paper costs. Multi-function printers with a built-in scanner are great if you need to scan or copy documents or photos. Wireless connectivity options can make printing easier as well.

Simplifying the decision-making process, Canon's main printer categories include PIXMA for home printing and MAXIFY for a home or small-scale office.

Inkjet printers generally use dye-based inks, but Canon has long specialised in hybrid ink systems which combine a pigment-based black ink with dye-based coloured inks. The pigment black delivers crisp, rich black text for documents, which is smudge resistant and ensures excellent longevity, even on plain paper and envelopes, while the dye-based inks produce vibrant colour rendition for photo printing, especially on glossy and lustre paper.

Canon's entry-level hybrid inkjet printers use a pigment-based black cartridge and a tri-colour dye-based cartridge. More advanced models feature four or even five separate dye-based inks in addition to pigment black, including a Photo Black and sometimes Photo Blue or Grey. These enable printers like the Canon PIXMA TS704a and Canon PIXMA G640 to deliver a broader colour range or gamut for photo printing, along with greater tonal range and contrast.

For freedom of expression in photo printing, for both colour and black and white images, the pigment-based LUCIA PRO ink technology used in Canon's imagePROGRAF PRO printers comes to the fore. For example, the A3+ format Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300 uses ten pigment-based inks, delivering unbeatable quality on matte photo paper and specialist fine art media. This printer also uses a Chroma Optimiser cartridge to enhance smoothness and overall quality on glossy media.

Good quality plain paper or card is ideal for document printing, but for photo printing there's a lot more variety. Canon offers glossy, lustre and matte photo papers. There's double-sided matte photo paper, which is ideal for scrapbooking, and even a version that comes with a centre crease and envelopes, making it ideal for creating greetings cards. Glossy and lustre photo papers have a protective top layer which works especially well with dye-based inks. The relatively small molecules of dye are fully absorbed beneath the outer layer, and sealed within.

Print speed is often quoted in PPM (pages per minute), but this can be misleading, as the value will vary depending on page content and resolution setting. Canon uses IPM (images per minute) measurements instead. These are more precise, as they're based on the output of standard ISO test pages that include a range of text, charts and images, printed at a fixed resolution. IPM gives a much clearer indication of how fast a printer is in real terms.

Often used for various sizes of photo print, the borderless option enables printing right up to the edges of the paper, so there's no white border. Many home printers, such as the Canon PIXMA TS5340a, feature borderless printing at sizes from 3.5x3.5 inches up to A4. With the latest imagePROGRAF PRO printers, including the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300 and Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000, the borderless option is available for matte and fine art media as well as for glossy and lustre photo paper.

This increasingly popular feature makes it possible to print via a Wi-Fi connection from anywhere around your home or office – using a Wi-Fi-connected smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer – without needing to physically connect your device to the printer. Canon apps, such as the Canon PRINT app, Creative Park app and Easy-PhotoPrint Editor app, enable you to control your printer and perform a wide range of functions from a smart device. Wireless direct is another popular feature, enabling a direct wireless connection between printer and smart device without the need for a router, while cloud-based scanning and printing is increasingly available for truly remote operation. The functions vary between printer models.

Most Canon inkjet printers use an innovative print head technology called FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering), which is robust and durable and produces high-quality prints. By heating the ink rather than just squirting it out, FINE print heads ensure ink is pushed out in a single ejection, which improves efficiency, and have higher ink droplet placement speeds, resulting in greater accuracy.

Some Canon PIXMA printers use single ink cartridges and some have Canon's FINE Cartridge system, which uses just two cartridges, one black and one tri-colour. The big benefit of the FINE Cartridge system is convenience and less time spent on maintenance. In FINE Cartridges, the print heads are integrated into the cartridges and are therefore renewed every time a cartridge is replaced. In printers with individual cartridges for each ink, the cartridges sit in a tray that feeds the print heads. In theory, individual cartridges could save you money over the long term, because you only need to replace cartridges that have actually run out. If you’re printing a lot of images with a predominant colour in them over a period of time, you will run down one colour of ink before the others, making it easier and more cost efficient to replace one cartridge at a time.

Replacing ink cartridges is very straightforward. You'll get a prompt via the printer driver on your computer or the Canon PRINT app on your smart device if you have it installed, showing that an ink cartridge is running low or empty. Ink information is also shown directly on Canon printers that have a built-in display screen.

To change ink cartridges, you simply open the cover of the printer, remove the used cartridge and slot a new one into place. Many Canon single ink cartridges also have LEDs on them which flash red when they're running low or empty, so you can easily see which ones need changing.

If you mainly print text documents, your cartridges will last much longer than if you're regularly creating relatively high-ink-consumption photo prints at large sizes.

For many current Canon printers, XL and even XXL³ cartridges are available alongside standard-capacity options, to suit different needs. For really high print volumes, you'd benefit from a Canon MegaTank printer, which uses refillable ink tanks rather than conventional cartridges. These generally hold sufficient ink for around 6,000² pages or more, compared with 150 to 200 pages for cartridge-based printers.

Whatever your printing needs, whether you're printing at home, in the office or for craft, find the ideal printer for you.


Written by Matthew Richards