Every year the electronics industry gears up for the IFA gadget convention where the giants in consumer technology showcase their latest and greatest. This year has been no exception with much of the focus being on the new mainstream HD ready TV technologies however the other areas have not been forgotten. This article focuses on the new range of photo printers that have been released, offering an impartial assessment of three leading product lines from three top manufacturers.



Autumn collection might be something that is usually associated with fashion houses however now the expression has been commandeered by Cannon to announce the launch of the Pixma All-In-One, or AIO range. The prices range from 50 to 280GBP and the features include auto fix image correction, auto scan mode which makes scanning much more straight forward and ChromaLife 100 plus which claims to give photos a longer life.

Two of the new launches are WiFi photo printers and there are a number of single function photo printers from Cannon which have been announced. Cannon have also announced the launch of three new models of single function scanners, the CannonScan LiDO range which offer a scan at 4800x4800dpi in 14 seconds. The Cannon revelations have however been overshadowed by the unveiling of the EOS 5OD, the flag ship digital camera.

Although Cannon announced a multitude of various new printer models, Epson opted for style as opposed to numeracy. The super sleek series of Artisan printers sees only two models launched, the 800 and 700. Both are piano black AIO printers offering 38 pages per minutes standard printing speed and photos in under 10 seconds, with larger printers taking just under one minutes.

Both models can also print directly onto CDs and DVDs and have a selective panel display which lights up the buttons you need depending on which function you are using, so for fax only the buttons applicable to fax light up making it less energy efficient but more user friendly. The touch screen functions are easy to use and you can crop, rotate, copy and access print options. The only difference between the two models is the 800 comes with WiFi, a larger display and Automatic Document Feeder.

From sleek and sexy to technological wizardry, the Casio photo printer duo just unveiled is more than meets the eye. When first looking at the PCP 1200 and PCP photo printers from Casio you might be forgiven for thinking that they are boxy and nothing on the Epson Artisan. This is until to boxy practicality of the models is revealed, as both models come with a flip screen and keypad. This increases the operational features and the photo printers can print up to A6 size photos, more is due to be revealed on this product as we await the UK launch.