Canon Selphy CP1300 is a compact printer, designed to be a portable printer that prints good quality 4×6 photos. It can be used by photographers who travel often and need a portable printer but it also can be used as a small desk printer in your home office to print a 4×6 photo or a postcard-size photo whenever you need to.
It is one of the rare compact photo printers with a built-in display and a couple of connectivity options. All of that sounds great, but the Selphy CP1300 has its shortcomings.
Let’s jump into the review and find out if the Canon Selphy CP1300 is a printer for you.
Price
$129.00
Dimensions
2.5″ x 7″ x 5.4″
Print Technology
Dye Sublimation
Our Rating
Features
The Selphy CP1300 is an upgrade to the more affordable Canon Selphy CP1200. While Wi-Fi printing on the CP1200 is quite slow, on the CP1300 that isn’t the case at all. Along with Wi-Fi connectivity, the Selphy CP1300 also has the standard USB and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity options. However, as is the case with many printers, you don’t get the USB cable included in the box with the printer and you have to purchase it separately.
So, you can print via Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and USB, but the CP1300 also has an option to print from an SD card. That will particularly benefit photographers who are traveling and bringing the CP1300 with them. Printing straight from the SD card is a time-saver and we are very happy to see it on the CP1300. The photos imported from the SD card are shown on the LCD screen. There are more good things regarding its connectivity; it also supports Apple’s AirPrint and Mopria.
While it has an upgraded screen compared to the previously mentioned CP1200, its quality is low, and it is not a touchscreen. It uses buttons to navigate and they are found just below the screen. But, the nice touch is that the 3.2″ screen is not fixed and you can pull it up at an angle.
While we said that this printer is quite small and portable, the downside is that there are parts that you have to bring separately with the printer. Those include the bulky paper tray and the power cord. Now, you can get a battery for it, but those are purchased separately and will only add to the overall cost of the printer. If you absolutely don’t need it, our recommendation is to not buy it, since it’s not that cheap.
A Compact Printer
With its size of 2.5″ x 7″ x 5.4″ measured without the removable paper tray, the size Selphy CP13000 is perfect for small dorm rooms and home offices. It’s not the smallest 4×6 photo printer in the world, but it takes up very little space on the desk.
With its weight of around 2 lbs, again, measured without the paper trey and the power cord, it’s very lightweight. If you decide to purchase the battery pack, the weight will go up a little, but nothing too much.
Specs
Build Quality
With this affordable price, build quality is just as you would expect. The printer’s body is made from plastic, but that’s what makes it so lightweight. The optional battery sticks nicely in the back of the printer.
Regarding the colorway, Canon Selphy CP1300 is available in three colorways: black, white, and pink.
Print Quality and Printing Cost
Compact and portable photo printers are designed to print small photos from your smartphones. Therefore, you can’t expect a great print quality, something you can see on high-end printers.
Canon Selphy CP1300 uses thermal dye-sublimation print technology, which uses thermal transfer to put the pigment to the paper. This technology gives the printer vibrant colors and good details in both lowlight and highlights. Now, this is a small printer so you can’t expect it to take full advantage of this great printing technology.
Nevertheless, the CP1300’s print quality is rather good for a compact printer. The prints can last up to a hundred years, which is amazing. Very rarely were the printed photo under the average, in which we’ve seen some loss of details. However, the vivid colors that we’ve seen this printer produce were nothing short of excellent for a printer this small.
This printer does what it’s supposed to do and that is to print good quality photos from your smartphone or an SD card. Print speeds from SD cards are slightly faster than printing from Wi-Fi-connected devices. Overall printing speed ranges from 50 seconds to a minute, which is considered okay from a small printer. It’s not designed with fast printing in mind, and we feel that it won’t represent an issue to many people.
Now let’s move on to the printing costs. In this department, the CP1300 also performed quite well, with the number being around 45 cents per print, which, in this category of compact photo printers is considered fine.
Setup
The initial setup of the CP1300 is very easy and straightforward. You need to download the app, which details how you can print from your smartphone. Connecting to both Android phones and iPhones is a breeze, so you can very quickly start printing from your phones.
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Conclusion
The Canon Selphy CP1300 is a great small photo printer. While it’s not portable as we initially thought, it can serve as a great photo printer on a desk. The printed photos looked quite good, and the operating cost is pretty fair. Combine that with a good price, and you have some of the best value-for-money compact photo printers on the market.
