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The allure of the Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer lies in the fact that you can take an image, edit it, and print it instantly. It is reminiscent of the old-school Polaroid cameras – but now the printer links to your smartphone. The IVY Mini Photo Printer is a great way to share memories and give your friends lasting keepsakes of special occasions. It is also perfect for capturing those nights when you are just hanging out and having a great time.
This instant mobile camera printer doesn’t require ink cartridges or software downloads. It is also wireless – the only cable you will need is the charging cable. Photos can be printed directly from your smart device, making this a superb little portable printer for smartphone photographers.
The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer has many features that make it fun and easy to print pictures instantly.
Portable and Easy to Use
The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer is small and compact. With dimensions of 4.7” x 3.2” x 0.7” and weighing only 0.52 lbs, it is ideal for slipping into a pocket or bag and is excellent for printing pictures when you are out and about.
The Canon IVY also does not have a control panel, as everything is done via your smartphone. The printer only has a power button, a Micro USB port to connect to the charger, an LED light, a reset pinhole, and the slot where the printed photos come out.
The LED light will display different colors to indicate the status of the mini printer. A white light shows that the printer is on and ready to print. When the white light flashes, the printer is either printing, in process, or cooling. A flashing red light indicates an error. Errors could include a paper jam, the paper tray is empty, the cover is open, or the printer’s battery is low. A constant red light indicates that the firmware is updating. A constant red light indicates that the firmware is updating or that the printer is charging (when connected to the charging cable). A green light indicates a full charge, and alternating red and green lights mean there is an error charging the printer.
Bluetooth Connectivity
The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer easily connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0 when you use the Canon Mini Print app. This allows you to print pictures from your smartphone’s gallery. You can also print directly from social media. The Canon IVY can connect to cloud-based and social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Google Cloud Print, Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, and OneDrive. You can also take images directly in the Canon Mini Print app.
The Bluetooth connectivity feature also makes it easy for other people to connect to the printer. Keep in mind that only one device can connect to the IVY Mini Photo Printer at a time.
Smartphone Compatibility
The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer connects with your smartphone via Bluetooth and the Canon Mini Print app. It is compatible with iOS 9.0 or newer models and supports Android devices 4.4 or more recent models. The Canon Mini Print app has an easy-to-use interface and allows you to access, edit, and print your photos in minutes.
The Canon IVY Mini Printer is designed to be a portable printer that works with your smart device. It is not compatible with digital cameras, desktops, or laptops. It also does not have Wi-Fi connectivity. However, you could print images with an IVY Mini Printer with a Chromebook running Android 4.4 or higher and linked to the printer via Bluetooth.
Super Quick Setup and Photo Printing
It is simple and straightforward to set up your Canon IVY. You can get from unpacking the box to printing in a matter of minutes. The Mini Printer comes with a Micro USB charging cable, a pack of ZINK paper, and a blue SMART SHEET. Once the printer is charged (this takes about 90 minutes) and the photo paper is loaded, you are nearly ready to get printing. A full charge will last for about 20 sheets of printing. You can use an external battery source or portable battery pack to charge your IVY Mini Photo Printer ‘in the field.’
To print your pictures, simply hold the power button until you see a white light. Fill the printer with the ZINK printer paper along with one blue SMART SHEET.
The SMART SHEET should be at the bottom of the stack of photo papers, and all the logos should be facing down. The SMART SHEET automatically moves through the printer before the first print. It cleans and calibrates the mini printer, and this is required to get the best quality prints. Suppose you notice that the photo quality of your prints is not as expected. In that case, you can run the SMART SHEET through the printer again (to clean and recalibrate the printer) by placing it barcode-side down underneath the remaining photo papers.
A new SMART SHEET should be used each time you insert a new stack of 10 ZINK papers to your IVY Mini Photo Printer. This is because each SMART SHEET is expressly set to get optimum results from the photo papers in the same pouch as that specific SMART SHEET.
Download the Canon Mini Print app and connect your smart device with the Canon IVY Mini Printer Setup in the app. That’s it- you are ready to print your first picture. You can make each print fun by editing images in the Canon Mini Print app. You can add stickers, text, emojis, creative filters, and photo frames. Tap the print button and – Hey, Presto! – you will have a print in seconds!
The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer can print your images in 50 seconds or less – more often in about 38 to 44 seconds and sometimes as fast as 10 to 20 seconds. The print speed depends more on the processing power of your smart device than on the printer itself.
Excellent Print Resolution and Quality
The print resolution of the Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer is up to 314 x 400 dpi (dots per inch). It can also accommodate borderless printing. Although the quality of images is lower than those you would get from a desktop photo printer, the Canon IVY produces great quality images compared to other portable photo printers. The Canon IVY also produces surprisingly clear black and white prints.
Because the papers need to be small enough to fit into the printer, the IVY Mini can only print on 2” x 3” papers. This might be a bit small for some. If you want to create a larger image, you can use the tile print feature. This feature lets you print a larger image in multiple pieces. You can then piece these together to create the whole image afterward. The sticky backs of the photo paper make it easy to stick the individual prints to a background while you assemble the image from individual prints. Just be careful when sticking your photos to painted walls – the adhesive on the back of these little guys is strong!
The collage print feature lets you create a collage that contains two, three, or four photos on one 2” x 3” print.
About Printing Ink and Paper
The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer uses ZINK Zero Ink technology. Instead of requiring multiple ink cartridges, the Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer is a ZINK enabled device that uses special paper to develop your images. The paper looks like regular photo paper but contains embedded dye crystals that are activated when heated up. During the heating process, the colorful dye based crystals turn a specific color – and your image appears. Because the printer does not use ink, the ZINK prints do not smudge, and the photos are water and tear-resistant – to a degree, of course.
The dye crystals embedded in the ZINK paper produce images by combining cyan (greenish-blue), magenta (red-ish), and yellow. The absence of black could produce a slight lack of depth in the printed images.
The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer can take up to 10 sheets of 2” x 3” ZINK photo paper along with one SMART SHEET. Each sheet has an adhesive back. You can peel off the protective backing to turn your photos into stickers.
The cost per print with a Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer is slightly more than you would pay when you use a desktop printer. It also produces pictures with slightly lower image quality. On the other hand, the mini printer hardly needs any maintenance. It gives you the convenience of printing photos in the moment without worrying about replacing or refilling ink cartridges.
The Canon IVY Mini Photo Printer comes in three two-tone color schemes. All three have white on top and a pastel color on the bottom and around the edge. You can choose from White/Slate Gray, White/Rose Gold, and White/Mint Green.
The Canon IVY printer is a superb pocket photo printer that uses ZINK printing technology to process quality wallet-sized photo prints.