You could say that the road to photography was created ever since the first person picked up a random object and tried to replicate what was around with it, on any kind of surface. Since back in the day where drawing meant you’d use a stick to draw a line in the sand people were fascinated with reproducing and saving everything that was around them. Many many years later, guess what, we’re still at it, and getting much better at it too.




The digital camera and digital photography was born and now we have nearly unlimited options when shooting a photo. Still, there’s that odd appeal of a printer photograph, that makes it tangible and makes you want to print out things that you could easily store and see on your PC. This is where photo printers become useful. They blend the modernism of digital cameras with the old fashioned print on paper that you can easily store in a photo album and pass on to the future generations.

In a world that’s fascinated with photography and mobility at the same time, the only reasonable path to evolution for manufacturers was very predictable. And so the portable photo printer was born. Some people seem to call it the ‘Selphy’. This is because it’s among the most popular lines of portable printers on the market. The latest model from Canon’s popular line is the CP790. As you look at it for the very first time you’ll understand what makes it popular. Compared to other types of printer, whether they bare the Canon logo or of another manufacturer, Selphy photo printers are family oriented and look exciting. This particular one could easily pass for a grass-green bucket; and that’s because it is one.

After a couple of seconds of disbelief one can only draw the conclusion that Canon has a team of very inteligent people who realized how many things you could actually hide in the bucket, right under the printer; like the power plugs and supplies when you’re taking it along outside the house.

The top of the CP790 houses a 3 inch color LCD and the Easy Scroll wheel controls for navigation. This makes for some pretty convenient photo previewing, editing and printing. Scaling, red eye correction as well as color adjustments are all a part of what the CP790 can do. One very important detail is that this Selphy uses dye-sublimation technology. 4 by 6 photographs are printed in great quality and bring back some of that fine gradation so typical of film-based photos. For a photo to actually come out you’ll have to wait about 60 seconds. While it’s not fast, it’s not bad either for a portable printer. Digital camera printing is obviously supported, as is printing straight from a memory cards.

The printer supports SD, miniSD, MMC, Memory Stick, Compact Flash and a couple of others. At $180 roughly, this printer may seem a bit more expensive than other options on the market. But good quality prints combined with an awesome design your kids will love makes this printer perfect for any family.

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