Canon Pixma iP8750 review

The Pixma iP8750 is a decent compromise for anybody who wants a photo printer capable of delivering A3+ prints, but doesn’t have the space or budget for the Canon Pixma Pro-100.

Smaller and lighter, it consumes just over half the desk space of the Pro-100 with everything folded away. Inside, it employs a six-ink cartridge system instead of the eight inks inside the Pro-100. One of those is a double-sized Pigment Black cartridge, which costs around £10, and should see you through up to 500 document pages. There are XL-sized versions of all the cartridges, which makes it a more economical choice than the Pro-100 as a general-purpose photo and document printer.

Canon Pixma iP8750 review: running costs

Photo-printing costs are slightly higher than the Pro-100 when using standard cartridges, even though it uses two fewer tanks. Buy those XL cartridges, however, and you can print a borderless A3+ photo for £1.55 (excluding paper), which is cheaper than its sibling. All those cartridges can be replaced individually and, as with the Pro-100, an LED flashes on each cartridge when it’s empty, which eliminates any danger of accidentally binning a half-full cartridge.

The Pixma iP8750 has a higher resolution than the Pro-100, delivering photos at up to 9,600 x 2,400dpi, with a droplet size of only 1pl, compared to the Pro-100’s 3pl. Yet we couldn’t see any difference in the sharpness of our test prints.

We did notice a difference in colour accuracy, however. The subtle shades of brown in the rocks of our test landscape image were crushed into a darker mass by the iP8750 – although it wasn’t as bad as the Epson Expression Photo XP-950, which turned those brown rocks into a charcoal grey. Likewise, skin tones in our studio portrait were less natural, and a purple tinge marred the subtle gradient in our black-and-white product shot.

Canon Pixma iP8750 review: print quality

That said, viewed in isolation, the quality of photo prints from the iP8750 was high, and we certainly wouldn’t be ashamed to frame the results. Detail is exceptional, and the printer doesn’t hang around: a top-quality A4 photo print arrived in only 1min 36secs, which is right up there with the front-runners. The 1min 9secs it took to deliver our five-page colour brochure is nothing to be ashamed of, either.

As with the Pro-100, there aren’t many bells and whistles. There’s Wi-Fi support, but no Ethernet socket, and AirPrint compatibility, allowing you to print photos directly from your iPhone and iPad using Canon’s slightly clunky app. There’s also an optional disc-printing tray, which may appeal to wedding photographers or those regularly burning discs for friends and family.

The Pixma iP8750 is a serious contender for anyone who can’t justify the extravagance of the Pro-100. It delivers crisp prints, albeit without the pristine colour accuracy of its sibling, and it isn’t wasteful when churning out documents either.