Canon SELPHY CP1500 Printer

Pros

• Better print quality than the competition
• Convenient, real-world photo ID functio
• Lowest printing cost in the mini printer market
• Compatible with Apple and Android print shortcuts
• Optional removable battery

Cons

• Poor screen display quality
• Poorly designed application that crashes a lot
• Printing noise can be aoying

This is yet another edition of Canon's famous mini printer, the Selphy. This CP1500 version is the successor of the CP1300 and brings speed and a new design. This is enough to keep it at the top of the 10x15 cm mini printers without being revolutionary.

In 2017, it was established that 1,000 billion photos had been taken with smartphones. Since then, it's been countless. But it must be more. A lot more.

While taking photos has become as natural as brushing teeth, printing is a less popular pleasure. Yet touching the image, keeping it with you, pulling it out later, and displaying it on a fridge or a desk is the quintessence of photography.

There are currently three solutions for mini prints: Fujifilm Instax paper, Zink paper and dye sublimation with rollers. Nothing comes close to Canon in terms of print quality and accuracy. But this comes at the price of some concessions that are not the price.

The dye-sublimation printing system is impressive in its name and quality. The colours are perfect, and the accuracy of the print is close to professional solutions. If you go through laboratories, you will get more finesse and better colour shades.

It will take 41 seconds to get your print. That's 6 seconds less than the previous version. If this time seems long, it should be remembered that there are 4 passes for a print: one pass for each of the three colours (yellow, magenta, cyan), and then one pass for the finishing.

The finishes on offer are a real plus: the satin finish gives a beautiful matt appearance, attenuates the colours and gives a pleasant feel. The glossy finish is classic but effective for the "wow" effect. Finally, a glossy finish brings a strange texture: the colours are duller than on the satin finish.

In addition to these finishes, there are filters. The Glow filter is ideal for enhancing contrast and colour. The slide version is very good and has a vintage feel, similar to the Kodak Portra NC film for those familiar with it. The neutral delivers realistic and balanced colours. Finally, sepia remains sepia, an outdated and uninteresting style.

Once the photo is available, you must cut the side edges following the dotted lines to obtain a nice 10×15 cm print (thus in 3/2 format). This format is the most common on cameras, but sensors are generally in 4/3 format on smartphones. You will therefore have to crop.

For several reasons, using the integrated SD card reader will require that all the images recorded be printed. First of all, the quality of the screen does not offer any precision, either in terms of image dynamics or final rendering. Secondly, the system is too slow. Switching from one photo to another, the time it takes to display several images simultaneously to make a choice or even the classification, will make the experience impossible. This is important to know as the photographer juggles between several cards in professional use and, therefore, quickly accumulates hundreds of images.

The possibility of coecting the camera directly and printing via PictBridge makes up for this. A USB-C port on the side of the printer is used for a coection. Note that Sony cameras are not compatible.

The 41 seconds it takes to print is both frustrating and remarkable. Remarkable considering the price/quality/format ratio. Frustrating because it's a long time to wait 41 seconds. It will take almost an hour and a half to print the 108 photos in the largest pack offered.

The printer's functionality depends mainly on the Selphy Photo Layout 3.0 smartphone app. An improved version of the questionable Selphy Photo app, which incidentally replaces Canon Print.

For professionals who will make prints at events, you can print a QR code referring to the link of your choice or your logo.
There are many layouts available and there is even a random mode.

The photo ID mode that's especially handy. The application offers guides for perfect framing. However, you will have to respect the rules for taking pictures.

Like its ancestors, the Canon Selphy CP1500 can operate on an optional battery (CP2LI). The unit is quite bulky but will fit in a bag. The removable external battery allows 72 prints. That's a lot.

Also, many street photographers offer prints to the people they photograph. It's a great experience for the people in front of the camera and the photographer. The CP1500 allows you to offer a quality print, which is inexpensive compared to other solutions and behind which you can write things down in marker, like your Insta or website. However, you will need space and a stand nearby to place the printer. This is not necessary with a Fujifilm Instar printer, for example.

Finally, the ergonomics of the application have been poorly thought out. Searching for a photo is a chore. The printer recognition is not always effective, the options are cluttered, and it is not fun to use.

It's a pity because printing from the printer using the screen is no better.

Accessing printing options on the printer directly, such as filters, is possible. Settings that are not possible from the application.

The Selphy CP 1500 is compatible with the PictBridge protocol used by all camera manufacturers - with the notable exception of Sony. This lets you print directly by coecting the camera to the printer via USB.

In terms of connectivity, it has everything you could want:

• A USB-C socket
• SD and microSD card reader via adapter
• Wifi
• Bluetooth

Between the new CP1500 and the old CP1300, the evolutions are not incredible:

• The print time is 41s compared to 47s
• The AC adapter is a little more compact
• The screen is no longer adjustable (a pity for printing from an SD card, but so much the better as this was the weak point of the previous model)
• The CP2LI external battery allows for 72 prints compared to 54 previously
• A new satin finish is available

If you have a Selphy CP1300, 1200, or even 900, switching to the CP1500 is uecessary. You will not gain any image quality, as the printing system is the same.

Quality compact home printing solutions are hard to come by. The Canon CP1500 does not revolutionise the genre or the range. The time saving is anecdotal, intrinsic to the dye sublimation technology used. Noise is inherent to this type of printing. The volume of the printer is substantial, despite the desire to make the object more compact. This is the price to pay for photos of a much higher quality than with other printing technologies.

Better print quality, richer colours, and more detailed renderings. But the cherry on top of the ink ribbon is the durability of dye sublimation. Canon claims that the prints last for 100 years.

The printer's interface is a shame, as it doesn't help you quickly access photos from an SD card. You have to deal with a slow system that struggles to display barely visible thumbnails due to the screen's low resolution. A screen with badly calibrated colours and no histogram.

It remains to be seen whether, in the face of the many efficient and affordable service providers accessible via applications, this type of printer will still succeed in seducing.