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Speed/Timing (6.09)
The Canon Pixma MP600 photo all-in-one printer printed color photos at the 4x6-inch size print at 1.6 pages per minute (ppm) from the Easy Photo Print software bundled with the printer. Larger file sizes did not appreciably influence printing time. Printerinfo tests photo printing speeds with two different sized color images—one 5.8-megabyte file and one 18-megabyte file—at the highest quality setting the printer can handle.
The MP600’s times were about in the mid-range of the three competitors recently tested (the HP Photosmart 5180 and the Kodak EasyShare 5300 being the other two), but it performed quickest of the three at printing larger file sizes on 4x6-inch paper.
As expected, print speeds slowed considerably when printing at larger sizes. In this case, the maximum size for this printer, 8.5"x11," printed at 0.52 ppm.
Some of the slowest speeds we recorded were while printing photos from memory cards, but this seems to be an area in which all the all-in-one printers lagged. Four-by-six-inch prints printed at less than a page per minute for every test, and 8.5"x11" prints came out at the rate of 0.41 ppm for 5.7 MB files and 0.28 ppm for 17 MB files.
The MP600 also has a Quiet Mode that reduces the noise it makes when in operation. Canon does this by slowing down the carriage speed. Noise seemed to subside when this mode was turned on, but this photo all-in-one printer is very quiet to begin with. We expected print times to substantially decrease in this mode because of the carriage slowdown. Ppm scores did decrease nearly a full page per minute, to 2.11 ppm for text and 1.22 ppm for graphics, and an average decrease of 0.1 ppm for all photo times. Strangely, 8.5"x11"-sized prints printed that much quicker in quiet mode than in regular mode. This is an already slow process, so perhaps the small change introduced by the Quiet Mode was negated by the overall printing time.
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Photo Print Speeds in Pages per Minute
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From Computer
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From CompactFlash
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4x6
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8.5 x 11
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4x6
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8.5 x 11
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sml
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lge
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sml
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lge
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sml
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lge
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sml
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lge
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Kodak EasyShare 5300
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2.18
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1.67
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0.58
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0.56
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1.54
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n/a
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0.56
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n/a
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Canon Pixma MP600
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1.62
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1.66
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0.52
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0.51
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0.88
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0.56
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0.41
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0.28
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HP Photosmart 5180
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1.19
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1.19
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0.29
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0.32
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0.57
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0.53
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0.21
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0.20
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Color Accuracy (3.32)
Since users’ color preferences vary, we elected to evaluate color in terms of accuracy, striving for a faithful reproduction of the individual image. Accurate reproductions will enable users to tweak the colors to their desired look. To test the accuracy of each printer, we created an electronic GretagMacbeth color checker using the standard LAB values. The electronic chart was then printed with the Canon MP600 in sRGB color space. We then measured the print using an Eye-One Pro spectrophotometer and compared the values to the original, with the error recorded for each tone.
The Canon MP600 garnered a 6.48 mean color error, earning a 3.32 overall color score. Some of the tones – particularly the blues and light green seemed a bit embellished and oversaturated, though overall reproductions were more accurate than many competing models we have tested.
Color Gamut (4.59)
Our color gamut test is a measure of how much of the standard Adobe RGB color space the printer can reproduce accurately. Printers that can reproduce more of this color space ultimately show greater color potential and often provide a richer color range in images. We use the manufacturer's color profiles for given papers and compare these to the Adobe RGB color space. In the graph below, the grid represents the full Adobe RGB color space, while the solid color represents the color space that the printer can produce. The closer the two shapes, the higher the score.
The Canon MP600 scored moderately on this test, managing to reproduce 57 percent of the color space, or 698,535 colors, using Canon’s own Photo Paper Pro. Although, that may not sound that impressive, it is a very good range for a printer in this class. No printer covers the entire range and those that exceed the 50 percent mark show the capability to reproduce a significant range of tones.
Dmax (5.80)
DMax, or maximum density, is a measure of the density of the blackest black a printer can produce, a very important factor in image quality because it determines the range of tones that can be produced in the print. The whitest white is set by the paper tone, so print tones can only fall between paper white and the blackest black. We evaluated DMax by measuring the ratio of light reflected off the black tone of a print. Dmax has a similar significance to dynamic range in cameras, as it defines the usable tonal range. We printed our tests on Canon’s glossy Photo Paper Pro and Ilford Galerie smooth glossy paper, and used both Canon’s stock color profiles as well as our own custom color profiles for each paper. Excellent photo printers can get up to 2.5 or so.
The Canon MP600 yielded a Dmax of 2.20, again scoring in between the other two competitively priced all-in-one printers currently in our labs. The Kodak EasyShare 5300 yielded a Dmax of 2.43, while the HP Photosmart 5180 produced a Dmax of 2.12. The Canon MP600 achieved its best Dmax value using Canon’s Photo Paper Pro and the corresponding stock color profile.
Black and White (5.50)
The MP600 all-in-one produced a decent black-and-white print using our test print, with a larger tonal range than the HP C5180, but not as wide as the Kodak EasyShare 5300. These comparisons are in line with the printers’ Dmax scores. There was a noticeable but not extreme loss of detail in the highlights and shadows, but for an all-in-one printer, the MP600 did a decent job.
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