Didgets
Downsized digital printer makes photos a snap

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Canon CP-10 printer plugs into the PowerShot camera. Images are printed using dye sublimation, which may last longer than ink-jet prints.

devise an utterly new device, it can always make the old ones smaller.

Witness the progress made in printers for digital cameras. Canon has just released its CP-10 printer that churns out credit-card-sized, glossy prints of your digital snaps, as well as sheets of those teeny photo stickers the kids love, all emerging from a chassis about 5 by 4 inches. Sold at Francis Camera and Kaimuki Camera, it plugs into the PowerShot camera models A10, A20 and S300.

The printer uses a process called dye sublimation, which means the image is embedded, color by color, in plastic film layered on the print paper and then protected with a final coating. These images last longer and are cleaner than ink-jet prints, which comprise a collection of tiny dots.

The folks at Canon locally think this will appeal to business folk with a need to impress a client or techie vacationers, who can hand a snap to Grandma. Awfully convenient if you need a passport pic, too.

Of course, convenience comes at a price: $399 for the printer, $13 to $17 for printer paper. Got the picture?