A cell printer creates enjoyable sticker photographs

The digital camera’s transition from film to digital meant that photographs not wanted to be printed on paper to exist. However, pictures ought to exist in additional than simply pixels. That is why I’ve began making an attempt out portable smartphone printers, compact units that spit out prints on-site with out the wait. The Canon Ivy 2 isn’t just a photograph printer that you may take with you, however spits out sticky-back photographs that you may stick virtually anyplace.

Cell picture printers are not arduous to search out. Nonetheless, the Canon Ivy 2 differentiates itself with cartridge-free Zink printing, a seamless setup, and the choice to print borderless business-card-sized prints or round stickers. However as knowledgeable photographer, I am choosy about my prints. So how does the Ivy 2 maintain as much as scrutiny?

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Canon Ivy 2

$86 $100 Save $14

Utilizing Zink know-how, the Canon Ivy 2 spits out small picture prints or stickers utilizing a smartphone app and Bluetooth. The printer creates colourful, borderless prints with a sticky again. I discovered the Ivy 2 to be straightforward to arrange and enjoyable to print with. Plus, the substitute paper is extra inexpensive than many rivals. However, the colours are sometimes just a little off and the battery life is proscribed to twenty prints. Nonetheless, it is a win for anybody who needs to simply flip their photographs into stickers.

Dimensions

4.7 x 3.3 x 0.8″

Photograph Measurement

2 x 3″

Connectivity

Bluetooth

Model

Canon

Movie kind

Zink

Battery life

20 prints

Execs

• Straightforward to make use of
• Borderless prints with a sticky again
• Choice to print round stickers
• Reasonably priced paper refills

Cons

• Low battery lifetime of simply 20 prints
• Colours can typically be totally different from the display screen

Increase

Associated

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Specs, value and availability

The Canon Ivy 2 was introduced within the fall of 2022, with a listing value of $99. The moveable printer makes use of Bluetooth to wirelessly print photographs from an iPhone or Android machine. The Ivy 2 makes use of Zink know-how, which embeds dye crystals into picture paper, eliminating the necessity to purchase or load ink cartridges. Paper for the printer ranges in value from about $30 for 50 sheets to $15 for 20 sheets of circle pre-cut stickers (40 stickers complete).

What I like in regards to the Canon Ivy 2

The printer is easy to make use of

The Canon Ivy 2 is a conveyable picture printer sufficiently small to tuck into a handbag and even an oversize jacket pocket. Measuring about 4.7 inches lengthy, it is thicker however shorter than a typical smartphone.

The Ivy takes little or no setup earlier than the gadget is able to print. After charging and downloading the app, the printer linked to my iPhone utilizing Bluetooth in only a few seconds, with none of the connectivity confusion that wi-fi printers generally convey. The on-screen directions then walked me by loading paper, which merely concerned opening the pack and loading the whole stack with the blue calibration sheet face down. The Ivy 2 holds as much as 10 sheets at a time.

The Canon Mini Print app is sort of simply so simple as the printer itself. The house display screen is populated with shortcuts for printing a borderless picture, or working with collages, pre-cut stickers, graphic layouts, and even utilizing the printer as a label maker. Earlier than making a print, you should utilize a few of the easy built-in instruments to crop, add filters, make minor changes, or add stickers and textual content. From there, it’s a easy matter of tapping the print icon.

One of many causes that the Ivy 2 is so compact is that it would not want ink cartridges. As a substitute, it makes use of Zink paper. Zink paper makes use of embedded ink crystals, that are activated by warmth through the printing course of. The result’s a water resistant, tear-resistant picture. The Canon Ivy 2 makes use of 2×3 inch paper for enterprise card prints. The again can be peeled away to show the picture right into a sticker. Or, the Ivy 2 can be suitable with pre-cut round sticker paper, which prints two circle pictures on one sheet.

The sticky-back design and hard-to-destroy nature of the Zink paper is without doubt one of the greatest causes to decide on the Ivy over a printer that makes use of a special course of. The sticky again makes prints enjoyable to brighten with. I even caught some circle stickers on my cellphone case. In fact, there are sensible makes use of as effectively, just like the app’s label designs for duties like labeling all of your youngsters’ college gadgets.

One other key function is that the Canon Ivy 2 is able to spitting out borderless prints, a function that differentiates the printer from choices just like the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link 3, which makes use of a bordered instantaneous movie as an alternative of paper.

The price of Zink substitute paper is one other key spotlight. A pack of fifty sheets sells for about $30, making the price round 60 cents a sheet. By comparability, Fujifilm’s instantaneous movie printers usually value between 90 cents and $1.50 per picture.

What I did not like in regards to the Canon Ivy 2

Coloration outcomes can range and battery life is low

As a photographer, one in every of my greatest struggles is that colours on a photograph range from display screen to display screen, in addition to from printer to printer. The Canon Ivy 2 is not any totally different. The prints had a bent to be barely extra saturated and, at occasions, a bit darker than the digital file. Gradations and transitions from one shade to a different additionally weren’t fairly as clean, at occasions showing textured or noisy when the unique file contained little noise. At occasions, the sides of the picture or sticker do not fairly line up with the preview on the app, so leaving some wiggle room on the sides is crucial.

That is all par for the course on a printer that matches in your pocket, nonetheless, and whereas the print high quality diverse a bit from the display screen, the picture high quality was nonetheless acceptable. Printers that solely print a three-inch picture aren’t going to be very detailed by nature. Textual content printed on the pictures needs to be stored pretty giant and in a easy font for the highest quality. I might nonetheless readily use the pictures the Ivy 2 spat out for handing out to pals, scrapbooking, label making, or hanging on the fridge.

As a result of the Ivy 2 makes use of warmth to activate the ink crystals embedded within the paper, the battery life on the printer is short-lived. The specs listing the battery life at 20 prints and, certain sufficient, after 15 pictures, the remaining juice was hovering round 30 %. The battery life is nice sufficient for handing out a couple of prints to pals, however if you happen to’re planning a marathon scrapbooking session, you may wish to pack a charger. Fortunately, the Ivy 2 makes use of a typical USB-C cable to recharge.

Whereas I liked the simplicity of the Canon Mini Print app, at occasions I discovered the app a bit too easy. I might have liked it if the display screen might listing the variety of pages remaining, as there is no type of indication on the printer or the app what number of pages stay inside. I additionally discovered the app’s built-in digital camera mode too easy — I bought higher outcomes once I used my iPhone’s native digital camera app, after which imported the picture from my digital camera roll.

Is the Canon Ivy 2 value it?

Purchase it for the sturdy sticker prints

The Canon Ivy 2 is a succesful moveable picture printer ideally suited for handing out prints to pals, scrapbooking, or adorning your gear with customized picture stickers. The Zink know-how implies that the printer is able to not simply borderless prints, however sticky-back pictures which can be arduous to wreck. Few mini printers can print in a couple of measurement, however the Ivy 2 can create business-card-sized prints or round stickers relying on the paper you purchase. All that can be wrapped up in tech that is exceptionally straightforward to make use of.

Canon Ivy 2

$86 $100 Save $14

Is the Canon Ivy 2 my new favourite picture printer? My favourite remains to be the Instax Mini Hyperlink 3 which converts digital pictures to instantaneous movie, however that is primarily a private selection motivated by my love for the movie’s colours and nostalgia. If neither nostalgia nor retro colours are excessive in your precedence listing, the borderless, hard-to-destroy, inexpensive prints will seemingly make the Canon Ivy 2 a best choice. It is a superb gadget for crafters in addition to anybody who needs to print (and stick) photographs proper from a smartphone.