Canon - SELPHY QX20

I'm a clueless German; we have no Walgreens here. Please specify your current workflow and needs. Printing at home is usually far(!) from cost efficient. If I need prints, just in general, I usually wire them to CEWE, for picking them up at my local drug store, after a promised week, to which I can walk, while the rented washing machine in my attic is running. I can also buy some groceries on that trip, so I really have zero extra cost for shipping or commuting. For SRA3 laser prints I'd rely on work. They have two Minolta lasers. I do *own* a Canon Selphy. I haven't unboxed it yet. Imagined use case: To need a postcard (-x) sized color print *NOW(!)*. Dyesubs are great at sitting around unused, while inkjets reguire power and regular flushing routines, that might break my neck over time. - Speed aside the printer offers no benefits and is at least 3x as expensive to operate.

I own one but I haven't even unboxed it. A Selphy is a wonderful machine to once in a blue moon or like every week? print an entire postcard. Dye sub tech is excellent for sitting around and doing nothing; i.e you 'll go through some hassle to revive a fountain pen, you used a year ago, but your Selphy will just fire up. Print quality seems decent and the results aren't overly sensitive / quite abusable. But: Prints *are* expensive. If you are a penny pincher, with all the time in the world: Order from DM. If you are an artist: Print bigger! IMHO Selpys are intended to serve as a Polaroid substitute; bring yours somewhere, give people pictures, right in the spot. (You need to buy an extra battery, to print in the field). A wealthy friend of mine uses his Selphy at home. Mine is intended to serve in a pinch.

How portable do you mean or want? - 30 years ago i jobbed for a company that hauled roll fed inkjet plotters to architects. We were two on the van and the plotters quite light (compared to a 4c Heidelberg of at least 2.8t). An apparently capable A4 desktop color laser weighs just 35kg; i.e. I could move it on my own (but have no clue how results compare to the bigger ones, doing photo books and calendars at work). Just stressing: A big inkjet can deliver awesome quality these days and color lasers are cost efficient. Myself I bought a Canon Selphy dyesub, doing postcards (sadly in 3/0) or smaller. - I'd rather have a 3/1, since my handwriting sucks, but... Operating cost will be comparably horrible, but it can sit around free of cost, unlike inkjets, that need regular flushing routines and aren't cheap to operate either Other niggles: Postcards are too tiny Some users reported issues with dust inside their machines. Its more or less "a Polaroid substitute toy" but a way to produce photos at home or elsewhere.

Canon Selphy forever. I spent years researching mini-printers. If you want your photos to last and be of the best quality for home prints, get a Selphy.

I was gifted a canon selphy last week. Its not bad. I'd compare it to the old school polaroid printouts, but better quality. Definitely would use it to smash out a quick edit and print to give away on the spot as a promo photo, But not the kind I'd frame and put on the wall. And thanks to the other commenter about the batteries, I'll look into those too.

This! I have Canon Selphy CP 1500 for standard 10x15 photos that I can customize in app printing for example 2 or 4 or 8 photos in the same print with standard photo paper AND the Canon Selphy QX20 with sticker paper. Love them both and never regret them, quality is great, I’m an amateur photographer and always had an eye for bad prints. They are of course not as professional printers, but quality is greater than zink printers.

I’ve got both the cp1500 and the qx20. The latter went to Canada with me from the uk and worked really well. The cp1500 prints are better but it’s a bulky beast to be lugging around on airports etc. mine came in my hand luggage, on the Canadian and was great to write and capture photographs as the trip happened.

I’ve got both - I took the qx20 on a big trip to Canada this year and printed off photos as I went for a journal, mostly three to a sticker sheet so pretty small, but I knew I wouldn’t have time to do it when I got home. The photos are ok but not as good as the 1500. For portability it’s pretty good though.

Look at dye sublimation instead of zink printers! The quality will be better. I have a canon SELPHY Qx20 which I love but there’s also Polaroid hi print and Kodak mini 3 retro. The cartridges are super easy to use and if you’re worried about the ink making a mess or something it’s not like that at all.

For me it is! I knew I definitely would not go order print photos and my regular printer at home is pretty inconsistent especially for color. It’s great for journaling but also for adding to gifts and cards too. I did extensive research (as I do on everything I ever buy) and I finally settled on the canon SELPHY qx20 for a couple reasons: 1) it’s dye sublimation so it’s supposed to last much longer than zink and be more color accurate. I have a friend with a sprocket and the colors just always look off and older ones have faded a bit 2) the paper is all sticker paper but you don’t have to peel it and it feels like a regular paper. 3) it can handle both the mini size photo as well as a square size you can buy that will look more like a traditional Polaroid CONS: more expensive than the others starting out but I don’t think the refills are much more than other companies Also probably bigger than the others but that’s also so it can handle the larger size photo paper Really depends on how often and for what purpose you’re using it for! Other ones I considered but decided against were the canon Ivy and Polaroid hi print.

I have the Canon Zoemini, the ZINK paper is super convenient for traveling plus the printer is tiny! Canon CP 1500 offers the pest print quality but it’s size make it better suited for desk use Canon QX20 is the good middle ground.

Canon Selphy Square Qx20!! It's amazing. I love that the prints are dye sublimation so won't fade (archival quality, guaranteed for 100 years) and the sticker backing is so handy and the photos are nice and thin. I got mine at the end of last year for Christmas and it hasn't missed a beat! I mostly use it for photos in my 5 year diary so it was especially important I chose a printer with photos that won't fade 😊 Also the app has always worked well and I like I can collage up to 8 photos per piece of paper, which saves money on the prints. Usually I'll do 6 pics per paper & I cut them up.

I'm getting the Canon Selphy Square QX20, it can do two paper sizes, big squares or rectangular credit card. It can also print right to the edges on 3 sides (borderless) and you can print multiple pics (I think up to 6?) to a sheet like a collage, so I'm using it to make smaller photos for my 5 year & Weeks. It's really versatile! And the prints are archival quality, rated to last 100 years as it's dye sublimation. It's also sticky back and thin enough not to bulk up the journal too much.

You're asking about price per print, *including* the amortized cost of the printer. In the long run, ink and paper costs always dominate. Short term however, the price of the printer dominates. A more expensive printer, such as the Epson ET8550, will have very good long term cost, but the initial investment is steep. A less expensive printer, such as a Canon SELPHY, will have a modest initial price, but price per picture adds up much faster. The least expensive printer is Walgreen's, with no up-front cost, but high ongoing cost. A second consideration is quality. The more expensive the printer, the higher the print quality. The ET8550 will outperform Walgreens, producing richer colors and more detail. A professional printer such as the Canon Pro 1200, will be even better. The SELPHY does not match Walgreens. And then there's effort. Walgreens takes your JPEGs and prints them. SELPHY does, too. But a dedicated printer will require some fiddling with a computer to get good results. On the flip side, you get to play with various paper types and sizes. But make no mistake, this is extra effort. Personally, I went with a Canon Pro 200, which is roughly equivalent to the Epson ET8550, but cheaper to buy and more expensive to operate. It's all a matter of how much do you intend to print. I also have a much cheaper Epson XP8500, which prints better photos than the SELPHY, for less money, but can't match the Pro 200. I also have a SELPHY, which is nice for what it is, but can't match Walgreen. And I have an INSTAX printer, which fits in my pocket and prints adorable little polaroids. But quality can't match even the SELPHY. Depending on your needs, all of the mentioned printers are a good purchase. In your case, I'd probably recommend the Epson XP8800 as a cheap, good quality photo printer. You'll be able to buy six full ink replacements before you'll reach the cost of the ET8550, which should take several years. If you'd like to splurge, the ET8550 is definitely the better printer, with lower ink costs. And keep in mind that ink is only one part of the running costs. It's easy to get swept up in the marketing that an ecotank printer makes printing "free". But that's ignoring paper costs, which in my experience dominate printing costs in the long run. First party paper is reliable and good, but offers only limited variations. Third party paper requires matching printer profiles, which can be hard to come by for non-professional printers such as the XP8800 (but some paper manufacturers (Photospeed) profile for free, and there are cheap services for creating bespoke profiles).

the Canon Selphy has smaller sized sticker paper but I usually just print a collage and then cut out photos. I have one of those rounded corner punches which I think looks cute