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Out of the box (6.50)
The iP1800 just ships with a few items, including the two ink cartridges, power cord, user’s manual, installation CD, and the Easy Setup Instructions.
Setup (6.75)
With so few items included with the printer, unpacking takes no time at all. Including taking the packing tape off the printer and installing the ink cartridges, physical setup was just six minutes. Software installation took just over that amount of time, at seven minutes, for a total setup time of thirteen minutes.
Manual/Quick Start Guide (7.00)
The EasySetup Instructions are standard Canon fare—a nice, large sheet with simple instructions and explanatory drawings. The manual, called the Quick Start Guide, is an English-only guide (in keeping with Canon’s policy of including instructions in the language of the purchasing country) with the basic information you need to get going. The more detailed and useful On-Screen Manual will help users with the questions that go beyond the printed guide.
Drivers and Administration (8.00)
Canon uses a common driver system for all of its inkjet printers. This is a very helpful resource, with many more options than are typically available from most other manufacturers. The design makes the controls very easy to navigate. The driver is divided into five tabs.
The Main tab provides users with the options to set the paper type and source, as well as make color adjustments with auto or manual settings. The manual option allows users to open an additional window where individual colors can be adjusted and color management can be set. Brightness and Contrast can also be adjusted here.
Users can select the page size, orientation, and layout in the Page Setup tab. A checkbox for duplex printing allows the user to print on both sides of a page. However, this is a manual process. The driver will prompt to user to flip the paper when the first page is complete, and it will indicate the correct orientation.
The Effects tab gives users the option to manipulate the appearance of an image, including adding monochrome effects. This tool is much more advanced than the tools provided by other manufacturers. Four checkboxes allow users to quickly set the monochrome effect for often used colors. A slider bar is available for more nuanced choices. Most of the other effects tools are simple on or off selections; these include Vivid Photo (punches up background colors while maintaining flesh tones), Image Optimizer (smoothes out pixellated images), Photo Optimizer PRO (corrects color shifts and exposure problems), and Photo Noise Reduction (reduces digital noise).
Users can save settings they’ve made as a profile to be used later for similar images or documents, just by clicking on the Add to Profiles tab. This keeps a library of profiles that users can choose, including the default setting that came with the driver.
Various cleaning and maintenance functions can be accessed via the Maintenance tab. Test prints can be run, quiet mode (slower printing) can be selected, power can be turned off remotely, and ink cartridges are selectable for printing.
Software (8.00)
The Pixma iP1800 installation CD comes with two very helpful software programs. Easy-PhotoPrint provides users with a simple, three-step process for printing images. Tab 1 is a file viewer which allows users to select images. Some image editing can be applied here by clicking on the Correct/Enhance button, including Red-Eye Correction, Face Brightener, and Face Sharpener.
Tab 2 gives the paper size and type options, with a couple of quick fixes in the form of checkboxes, namely Vivid Photo and Photo Noise Reduction, that are also seen in the printer driver.
Tab 3 provides the layout selections, and it also allows the user to perform some trimming, if needed. Most importantly, this is where users select print.
Easy-LayoutPrint allows users to create Albums, Calendars, Stickers, and easily set layouts for multiple prints on a page. Each task is a four-step process, with page setup, image selection, editing, and print settings. Layout options give the user templates to use for album and calendar pages, but fortunately there are also single color options since many of the templates are a bit too cutesy. All in all, this is an easy-to-use program with tasks people will use and options that make sense.
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