Canon PIXMA iP4000 Photo Printer | 
| Brand: Canon
Buy Used: $299.99
Rating:  120 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Modem: None
Shipping Weight (lbs): 15.4
Dimensions (in): 19.5 x 16.3 x 10
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: 9317A001
Model: 9317A001
UPC: 013803038095
EAN: 0013803038095
ASIN: B0002GU16A
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Excellent condition with manual! Fast shipping!
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| Features:
| • | Up to 4,800 x 1,200 dpi color resolution, 600 x 600 dpi black | | • | Up to 25 ppm black, 17 ppm color; 4-by-6-inch photo in about 36 seconds | | • | ContrastPLUS 5-color ink system; built-in two-sided printing | | • | Direct print port, PictBridge compatible | | • | USB and parallel interfaces; PC and Mac compatible |
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| Accessories:
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Product Description
High speed, sharp resolution, and economical ink refills: Could you ask for more in a home printer? The Canon PIXMA ip4000 is designed with over 1,800 nozzles that produce tiny 2-picoliter droplets, resulting in finely detailed images that are worthy to save in your family album. Pigment-based inks insure colors will stay true, and the prints are resistant to water, fading, and smudges. 
This printer can connect directly to select digital cameras. Learn more about PictBridge. | With resolutions up to 600 x 600 dpi black and 4,800 x 1,200 dpi color, your office documents or school reports will look as beautiful as your photos. Built-in two-sided printing reduces your paper costs and allows you truly professional design options. Top speeds of 25 ppm black and 17 ppm color (draft mode) will have your pages in hand in just a few seconds; a borderless 4-by-6-inch photo can take as little as 36 seconds--as fast as those old instant cameras, but with better quality. (All reported speeds are maximums. Actual speeds will vary.) Thanks to the PictBridge-compatible direct print port, you can connect your digital camera and churn out photos while bypassing your computer system. The ip4000 is compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems, and requires either a USB or parallel cable to get it up and running (cables not included). Canon provides a one-year warranty covering parts and service. What's in the Box
PIXMA iP4000 photo printer, iP4000 print head, BCI-3eBk black ink tank, BCI-6Bk black ink tank, BCI-6C cyan ink tank, BCI-6M magenta ink tank, BCI-6Y yellow ink tank, Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy 4x6 sample pack, power cord, documentation kit, setup software and user's guide on CD-ROM; printer cable not included This printer supports a variety of useful technologies:
Product Description
If you're looking for outstanding quality, high speed and advanced convenience features, the Canon Pixma iP4000 Photo Printer is ideal. Its ContrastPLUS 5-color ink system with four dye-based inks plus a pigment-based black ink produces true-life photos with improved color saturation and contrast along with laser-quality text. Plus, it achieves a resolution of up to 4800 x 1200 color dpi, for exceptional detail and photo-realism. Canon Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) uses a high-performance 1,856-nozzle print head that ejects consistent, prescribed-volume droplets as small as 2 picoliters. Simply put: more nozzles with higher accuracy equal better results at impressive speeds. You can even produce edge-to-edge borderless photos in 4 x 6, 5 x 7 and 8.5 x 11 in. sizes, with the look and feel of traditional photographs.Using the Pixma iP4000 Photo Printer is fast and easy. How fast? It can produce up to 25 ppm in black and up to 17 ppm in color, and a 4" x 6" borderless print takes only 36 seconds. How easy? With direct photo printing, you can even print without a computer: simply connect any PictBridge-compatible digital camera or DV camcorder, and print!To help reduce printing costs, this efficient system has five individual ink tanks that let you replace only the color that runs out, rather than an entire cartridge containing unused ink. Plus, a unique low-ink sensor alerts you when ink levels are low, so you are prepared to just drop in a new tank as needed.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 115 more reviews...
 First impressions: extraordinary technology September 15, 2004
J. Faughnan (St. Paul, MN USA)
299 out of 339 found this review helpful
I went from a very annoying 5 yo HP ink jet printer to the Pimxa 4000. It is a startling transition; printers have evolved far faster than computers in the past five years.
Other reviewers will comment on images, etc. Suffice to say they are extraordinary, you must use Canon papers and inks, etc etc. Here are some points that you may not read elsewhere.
1. It's a 50 MB driver installation for XP, about 30MB for OS X! Both drivers are complex. I also installed the borderless printing package on my G3 iBook, but it's too slow to be useable. It's also as ugly as Canon's other OS X software. It's an OS 9 app that's been tweaked to run "native" in OS X; I wonder if it uses some proprietary emulation layer. I suspect the OS 9 version of the same package might be faster.
The XP custom install doesn't really let you choose where to put things. The html documentation, for example, ends up in the WINDOWS directory. Weird.
2. They say this is a "5 color" printer, but two of them are black. Marketing!
3. I almost returned this when the other PIXMAS (5000, etc) came to the US market. On review though, this holds up well. The higher numbered PIXMAs below $200 US mostly have unnecessary gizmos. One of them IS a better photo printer (6 inks), but it seems to be ONLY a photo printer. I need something the kids can print color documents on. There's a $300 PIXMA that is clearly superior (7 colors, 2 black) but it's more than I wanted to spend.
4. Most ink jet printers should be used at least weekly, if not every 3-4 days, to keep the nozzles in fine shape. I don't know if that will be true of the PIXMA.
5. This is NOT a simple device. It's not trivial to setup or to use. I would not recommend it for someone who's not a photo geek or fond of studying manuals.
6. There's no way Canon is making any money on this printer. Clearly their margin is on the supplies.
7. Color management is a very dark and extremely misunderstood area. This printer did a plausible job rendering images taken by a Canon camera, processed on a Mac and printed from an XP machine (sRGB profiles on Mac). On the other hand my iBook prints were too yellow. I switched to using ColorSync to control the printing from my iBook. That dramatically slowed printing but produced more plausible colors. I'm still working with this, but I'm currently getting better color results printing from my XP machine than my iBook -- even though all my photos are managed on my iBook.
9. It has a parallel port as well as the USB cable. That seems a bit odd. I can't imagine a machine with power enough to use this printer that wouldn't have a USB cable.
10. I had trouble doing borderless printing. Eventually I figured out the various complexities of print orientation, image size, etc. I can do borderless printing from Adobe Photoshop Elements and from iPhoto and Graphic Converter. It is quite tricky to set up all the various driver configurations however.
Great Value ... Extremely well thought out August 30, 2004
S. Bush (USA)
140 out of 147 found this review helpful
Prints very quick- black and white or color. Quality of photo printing is fantastic. Almost as quiet as my Toyota Sienna. Equipment / Software easy to install. From box to up and completely running in about 20 minutes. Additional features are incredible. It has a casssette tray where I keep my standard 8.5 x 11 paper for everyday printing. At the same time, you can keep your 4x6 photo paper in the sheet feeder when you want to do photos. You can switch between paper source either programatically or using the panel switch (could be a bit more accessible). The onboard duplexer is a welcome addition.
Ink usage is surprisingly minimal.
This is my second Canon inkjet-- bought an I-950 about a year ago but made the fatal mistake of saving a few dollars on generic ink. Stay with all Canon supplies (price difference is actually minimal) to avoid printhead problems.
Downstream the only tweak I see would be adding CD printing capability.
Overall, a definite go for. I still keep my laser printer for the daily grind, but this machine is a great low priced option to have around for presentation quality color and digital camera fun stuff.
I
 Very satisfied! April 1, 2005
Sandi Hultman (Coon Rapids, Minnesota United States)
60 out of 62 found this review helpful
I knew I was going with a Canon printer because of their reputation for having reasonably priced ink compared to all the other manufacturers (hp being the most expensive to use). I intended to buy one from their PIXMA series (said to be the fastest printers on the market; all offer Duplex/two-sided printing which I wanted). I really struggled between their high-end iP8500 and mid-range iP5000 & iP4000. I ultimately eliminated the 8500 and 5000 because neither had dual black ink cartridges (4000 has a 13 ml. for photos, and a bigger 27 ml. one for text). In the 8500 I didn't want to have to be replacing 8 individual ink cartridges (some say those extra tanks don't really make much difference, just cost more). While the 5000 had greater resolution than the 4000, my decision was also impacted by what I thought was a reputable review (PC magazine, I believe). The review said that the 5000 generated better text and graphics than the 4000, however at the expense of photos that weren't as good and that printed slower. Another factor in my decision was that I could purchase the 4000 for 1/3 the retail price, dirt cheap compared to any other potential printer purchase out there. (Best Buy price matched with Office Depot, I had Best Buy RewardsZone certificates, a Best Buy gift card, and there was manufacturer rebate.)
After a solid week of Internet research, I ultimately did purchase the 4000 and I am very pleased with it. Below I've summarized my observations from my first week of usage of my new printer. Maybe I can save somebody from some of the research effort that I put into this purchase.
DESIGN: It's beautiful, but it's black shiny parts are potentially a dust-magnet. There's no printer cable included. I had a spare on hand (it uses USB 2.0 cable with A/B connectors). Radio Shack was less than Best Buy, at $24.99 for a 6-foot. You could do better on the Internet via Amazon.com or eBay.com. Error messaging is cool; just count the amber blinks of the usually green power button, then check your manual for what it means. This thing is FAST! Text ink is pigment-based (longer lasting, less fading, rated 75-80 yrs., I think) and the colors are dye-based (rated 25-30 years, I think). Duplex capability is awesome.
POWER: Canon says they only recommend plugging the printer directly into a wall outlet. I have a Curtis Command Center power center, under my monitor. It conveniently locates power buttons for all of my computer components, as well as offering surge protection. I've used it for years with no difficulties. While I can turn my new printer off via the Curtis power buttons, I can't turn the printer back on with it. The actual button on the printer must be pressed to turn it back on. My printer is not located immediately next to the computer, so I now have to stand up to physically hit that actual printer button.
QUIET MODE: For me, this feature is worthless. Canon says that using it will slow the print speed of the printer. Upon installation, this mode is turned off by default. In regular mode, this printer is pretty noisy when it starts out (much more than the hp DeskJet 825c that I just passed on to Mom), but when it's printing sounds like most every other printer I've used. When it's first starting out, some of those noises are a little scary, like something might be broken ... but it's not.
AUTO-FEEDER (top): It doesn't hold the advertised 150 sheets for most of us. Canon bases that particular estimate on 17 lb. paper! (Who uses that?! Almost everybody uses 20 lb.!) My very first text prints were from the Auto Feeder (top). They all printed extremely crooked until I reduced the paper stack quite a bit.
Standing in front of the printer, with a stack of paper inserted, it appears that the right bottom corner is forced to bend outward slightly from the printer design. Despite a number of attempts to reload the paper (after turning the paper various ways), this outward bend remained. (It can be kind of pressed into place though.) When I reduced the paper in the Auto Feed tray by half (that I'd previously filled to the capacity line marker), I still had the outward bend, but the crooked print problem was resolved.
The manual offers this work-around for a continued problem: Use only 1 sheet of paper in the Auto Feeder, or place multiple pages there, but by one sheet at a time (vs. an entire stack all at once).
PRINT SPEED: My printer is blazingly fast. I'm not experiencing any of the 15-second first page print delay that so many reviewers complain about with this printer. There's maybe a 5-second delay at most! Perhaps that delay sometimes occurs on the first print after you've switched between the auto-feed or cassette trays, but I am pretty much not experiencing any problem with this.
INK DEPLETION OPTICAL SENSORS: They'll monitor the individual ink tanks. When a cartridge has less than 20% left, you'll be warned. Canon's printers will work with an empty cartridge, unlike the Epsons (they lock up until you replace).
INK USE: This printer doesn't suck it down. I've been using it heavily for a week now, generating all kinds of highest quality 8x10", 5x7" and 4x6" photo prints on Canon's best papers, and all my ink tanks still look full. I'm amazed and impressed! Opened ink is recommended to be used up within 6 mos.
BLACK INK: Canon's advised me that unless in Draft Quality mode (the only mode in which the black text ink cartridge is solely used), a small percentage of cyan and magenta ink will be used (for high-density/high-quality black text or photo-realistic quality images).
DRAFT QUALITY DUPLEX TEXT IS FAINT: I can print Draft quality non-Duplex text that is perfectly acceptable. Despite numerous attempts to improve this for Draft quality Duplex, including trying a higher quality paper, there was no improvement. In Draft quality Duplex mode, the prints are almost like those from an old dot-matrix printer! I've only been able to get anything close to satisfactory when selecting Standard quality for Duplex printing. This doesn't make sense to me ... why should there be a difference just from selecting Duplex and changing nothing else. There has to be something different about the way the printer handles a Duplex vs. non-Duplex page. I sent an inquiry to Canon, and they really didn't explain why this occurs in their reply. "As Draft quality indicates sacrificing some print quality in order to achieve faster print output, if faster print output and duplexing are required, there may be a noticeable decrease in quality."
PAPER MEDIA OPTIONS: Some of the Canon info materials are not current, but Canon confirmed for me that this printer will print any media listed in the driver's Properties selection, including Transparencies and T-Shirt transfers. (The driver does not list Credit Card or Stickers media.) Because Canon's bundled software is distributed with a number of their printer models, media choices that will not work with your particular printer model could appear in them. The 4000, cannot print to Credit Card media (the 5000 may be able to, but I've already mentioned why I didn't select that model). I don't believe it can print Stickers either. I inquired with Canon about why they state not to print to postcard media, but they didn't answer my question. Note that while Canon recommends you not use non-Canon media above 28 lbs. with this printer, you'll find numerous online reviews that state this is incorrect. Perhaps Canon just wants to drive sales of its own media.
CANON PHOTO PRO & PLUS MEDIA: I printed 4x6 glossy media samples of both, the two highest levels in their line. While the Pro paper had a bit heavier weight to it, it didn't have much print quality difference from the Plus paper. I don't feel the Pro paper is worth its exorbitant price; there's just not enough of a difference. The Plus paper is a bit lighter weight, but it's nice too; and it prices out to match my local Wal-marts digital photo prints. I even used an 8x photo loupe to really examine them closely. A loupe's an inexpensive and really worthwhile purchase from your local camera shop (Natl. Camera Exchange, etc.) if you really want to look at a photo (or anything else) really up close. Amazing just how much texture you'll see when looking at a plain piece of copy paper!
BLACK & WHITE PRINTS: Some complain about the quality of these photos on the Canon printers. I read a recommendation to use Canon Matte Photo Paper for the best results. I also read that matte prints will last 4x as long as a glossy print, and when stored behind glass or plastic could potentially last forever (from fading, deterioration).
CD/DVD LABELS: I talked with an Epson rep in an Office Depot store a few weeks ago. He said that Epson holds the U.S. patent for direct-printing on CD/DVDs and that this is why Canon can't offer the feature yet (he said that patent would be expiring soon). You'll see that the Canon printers are almost set up for it (cover blocks area and parts are missing, except in the UK version which does offer the feature). Canon says that they just "choose" to not offer this feature in the U.S. market, although they know that "Epson and at least 5 other printer manufacturers in the USA are releasing direct CD/DVD print features." As an alternative, I asked Canon for a recommendation of a standard adhesive label media that would work acceptably, but they didn't answer my question. This isn't a feature I figured that I'd be likely to use a lot, so it's not very important to me. My research showed there are lots of disadvantages to using it anyway (takes forever to dry, not waterproof, doesn't look as good as adhesive labels). For info on this, check out nealslade.com. He's got an entire section just on this topic.
CASSETTE TRAY IS CONFUSING: It took me a bit to figure out how to operate this and I don't like how the sliders don't move easily. Pretty cheaply made. Hope it will be redesigned better in a future model, but this isn't a big issue for me.
WHICH TRAY TO USE: Many reviewers say they keep photo paper in the cassette to keep it protected from dust etc. Reputable sources say it is not a good idea to keep photo paper in the cassette for any length of time because the paper will begin to age (yellow). They recommend inserting photo paper into the auto feeder instead (top vertical tray), only on an as-needed basis. This also keeps photo paper from having to go through a tighter turning print path. The cassette's U-path can lead to jams and cracked paper coatings. The J-path of the auto feeder is a more gentle turning print path. I keep plain paper in my cassette and use the auto feeder intermittently for photo paper and other needs.
BUNDLED SOFTWARE: This stuff is usually junk, but I do like all 3 programs Canon includes: Easy PhotoPrint (no-brainer photo printing), Photo Record (scrapbook generator) and Easy-Web Print (no more Internet prints with a cutoff right margin!). Easy-WebPrint doesn't seem to have a way that you can designate a print page range though, which is it's only negative (especially when you're Duplex printing and there's a 3rd page with just a single line of text; the printer has to print that single line as well as pulling it back in for Duplex to print a blank page!). It does offer printing just a selection from a web page though (so I forgive it a little for that!).
MAINTENANCE: I haven't had any issues with nozzles clogging (Epson sounds like its notorious for this), but my ownership is early yet. NeilSlade.com recommends running a color print once a day to help prevent this. He also recommends not running the CLEAN NOZZLES function very often, because it moves some ink into the printers waste tank. If the waste tank gets filled, you'll need to pay to have the printer serviced to empty it. He says it's better to do some photo prints instead to limit the possibility of this occurring.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: Canon's replies to my e-mails have been unusually fast, which has impressed me. I made numerous inquiries and their replies usually came the very same day, often within a few short hours. They seem personalized too ... not the canned replies from so many others (that often don't really answer the questions asked). Terrific job on that, even though they ignored a couple of things that I asked. They even have a dedicated toll-free number than you can use as much as you'd like for the first 30-days you have the printer.
EXCELLENT RESOURCES: During my research, I found these websites to be particularly useful: steves-digicams.com, tomshardware.com and neilslade.com. Neil's got some excellent info on alternate sources of paper and ink, where you can clearly save some money. It's clear to me that buying from your local store is NOT your best option! Use the Internet. If you don't have much time for investigating, as usual Amazon.com can beat any local store on prices and product availability. eBay can have some great deals too. Of course Internet purchases require a little planning.
SUMMARY: There are good and bad points to all printers available, but I am very satisfied with this purchase. I tried to just detail the info that I wish I had found all in one place. Hopefully it helps you!
Great Printer! You won't be sorry... October 31, 2004
J. Estes (Phoenix, AZ)
53 out of 54 found this review helpful
My HP 4 Laserjet had died about a month ago, and I was debating just fixing it (for $200) or buying a new one. After reading a number of reviews, I bought the Canon IP4000, and I don't regret it at all. It's fast, quiet, and has given me excellent print quality for both text and photos.
For single-side printing, it's faster than the HP 4, and the quality is good, using "general purpose" print paper of 20# wt. and brightness of 90. Under magnification, there is some fuzziness due to the fact that liquid ink "bleeds" into the cheaper, porous paper, but it is definitely acceptable for most general printing needs. Switching to better paper -- Burlington's "Bright White" in this case, with 100 brightness level and 24# wt. -- the text and line quality is almost indistinguishable from laser print. Very impressive!
Duplex printing is a bit slower, but it handles the paper well without so much as a single wrinkle in the page when it's done. Also, printing photos embedded in a document slows it down considerably, but it was never enough to be a problem for me.
Printing photographs on 4 X 6" Canon's "Photo Paper Plus Gloss" turn out as good as reprints from a lab. Mine took about 45sec. to print after hitting the print button on my PC. I don't have a digital camera, but it does allow one to be hooked up directly to it.
In general, it's a very quiet printer, and has the convenience of two paper trays: One on top and a casette underneath. One word of note: If you're using the Casette to print photo paper, put the paper in face-down! I didn't do this the first time, and was rewarded with ink running all over it and onto my hand. Would have helped to read all the directions I suppose.
The only other point first-time users need to remember is that this printer takes about a 15 second delay before beginning a print job. So don't keep hitting the print button or you'll get a lot of copies! Once it kicks in, though, it's off and running. The only noise is that it's a little abrupt when it grabs that first sheet, but otherwise you barely hear it.
Setup is also easy; I used the parallel-port cable that had been hooked up to my HP 4. The software loaded without a glitch, and printing from the supplied "Easy-PhotoPrint" program was easy. I'm running Win2K, so it should work as well for XP users.
I highly recommend this printer to anyone in the market for a multi-purpose printer. As stated, the text quality is excellent with good paper, and photographs are flawless, in my opinion. It's inexpensive, and from other reviews, is very frugal with ink. Plus, with ink cartridges at $10 - $12, it's much less expensive to keep filled than other brands, and if you have to buy them all at once, it's still cheaper than a single toner cartridge was for my HP 4. I would caution what others have written, and stick with Canon's ink, to avoid any problems with the print head. Also, avoid using the really cheap paper (the kind with a lot of paper particles and dust in it) as with ANY printer, as it will gum it up over time.
If you're in the market for a printer, this is the one to get!
Very good printer at an affordable price January 3, 2005
T. Barrett Beck (Western Massachusetts, USA)
50 out of 50 found this review helpful
I purchased this printer in exchange for another photo printer received as a gift. Given the chance I would make the same choice again.
When researching printers I decided on a choice between the iP4000 and the iP5000. The sales person at my local store tried to steer me towards the Lexmark printers but they were no match for the speed and quality of the Canon series. She actually told me that it was a good thing to have all three colors in the same tank like the Lexmark so when I run out of yellow, as I always do, I would have to throw away the half used cyan and magenta as well. It was then that I noticed her name badge read "Lexmark Specialist" and I inferred some hope for a commission was inducing her to make such ridiculous statements.
The sample photoraphic prints available in the store were typically of scenes that displayed the printer's color depth capabilities; in this case a mountain biker was rendered very realistically. However what convinced me to choose the iP4000 was that to the naked eye the gradient of the sky in the background was almost perfectly smooth, lacking the diffusion or cross hatching patterns that appear on most other printers. Most other sample pictures don't include areas of solid color for this reason. The iP5000 was even better but I couldn't justify it for an extra $70.
With a second black ink tank the iP4000 works well as a document printer with rich black text without sacrificing the black print quality in photos. This feature alone led me to choose the iP4000 over the less expensive iP3000. The print head in the iP4000 is replaceable when it needs replacing, unlike some other printers that make you purchase a new print head with each ink cartridge replacement (which while ensuring consistent quality, makes for expensive consumables). The printer also supports PictBridge that enables direct camera to printer connection for those who prefer to leave their computer out of it.
The printer ships with five sheets of 4x6 Photo Paper Pro, their top of the line photo paper. I purchased a pack of their Photo Paper Plus and found no difference in the quality of the print discernable to the naked eye. Using the less expensive paper means photos that cost on order of $.24 - $.29 each, on par with my local photo printing services. I've also purchased the store brand photo paper in hope of reducing the price per print to less than $.20 each assuming the quality is just as good.
I've combed over the printer for weaknesses but have found very few. I suspect the front output tray may become increasingly flimsy with repeated opening and closing but only time will tell if I am justifiably concerned. The dual paper paths allow me to store 4x6 photo paper away from dust and children's fingerprints, however expanding the bottom tray is awkward to change from 4x6 to 8x10 paper. After a few dozen 4x6 and 8x10 photo prints, the ink tanks still appear full and either the meter is inaccurate or this printer is very efficient with ink.
As someone with habitual buyer's regret, I'm having a hard time finding something to regret. Perhaps I should have purchased the PIXMA iP8500 for the 8-color printing or the iP5000 for the 9600x2400dpi resolution and 1pL droplet size but if my mother can't tell whether the picture of the kids is from film or digital then that's good enough for me. For the price this printer can't be beat though I'm not certain how Canon is making any money on these. They don't have a proprietary ink tank system or smart chips that lock you into their consumables. Perhaps they are betting their superior quality will keep you buying Canon.
While some complain of a lack of whizbang features I actually welcome a printer that does one thing and does it very well: printing. So far I have not been disappointed with this feature. If only I could find a cell phone that makes and receives calls as well...
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