droolicious : Canon

Free Printable Craft Calendar for Kids

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 05 May 2009 15:00:00 GMT

It looks like something you'd need to pay for, but this printable craft calendar by artist Ayako Fujioka is totally free: Just grab your preferred paper (matte photo paper is recommended) and print the 8-page PDF or doc from Canon's Creative Park. There's no year marker with this little monkey, so it's as relevant now as the day you have time to get to it -- and with your own little monkey running around, that could be a while.

CES 2009: Canon Vixia HF200 HD Camcorder- Great For New Families

Chris Ford — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:00:00 GMT

At the Canon booth I asked one of the camcorder representatives to suggest a good HD camcorder for new families. The scenario I gave him was a couple is having a baby for the first time, and they want to buy a camcorder that still recorded in HD, but wasn't too expensive. The camera he suggested was the Canon VIXIA HF200.

The Vixia HF200 records in full HD (1920x1080) directly to a SD card. It has HDMI out, face detection and image stabalization. It doesn't have an on-board memory (the SD card is the only option) but at that price it's a camcorder with a ton of features that you'll be sure to have for more than a few years.

Canon Vixia HF200 will retail for around $849 and should be available in the US in March.

CES 2009: Canon Selphy Portable Printers

Chris Ford — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Canon has updated their Selphy portable printers, and for some people a printer that only prints 4x6 pictures might be overkill. But for families I think they're pretty great.

All the Selphy printers use dye-sublimation printing and (in my judgement) make great looking 4x6 prints. Two units the ES3 (on the left) and the ES30 use a cartridge system, which keeps the paper and "ink" (dye really) all in one unit. So there's never a situation where you run out of ink before you run out of paper or vice versa. The CP770 (on the right) and CP760 use a separate dye and paper system. All of them are portable, and they even have features where you can put borders, words and other "creative" things onto the prints - a feature particularly good for kids.

The printers take all forms of cards directly from your camera as well as the Pict Bridge system or a USB connection to your computer. The prints will cost you about $0.28 per print.

Prices range from $99.99 to $199.99. Check them out at USA.Canon.com.

CES 2009: Canon Powershot A1000 Digital Camera

Chris Ford — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:00:00 GMT

The last camera today in the "what do I get for my little budding photographer" series is the Canon AS1000. It's slightly pricier than the others, but trust me. Not many people have ever been disappointed buying a Canon digital camera.

The Powershot A1000 is as "idiot proof" (my term, not theirs) as Canon makes a camera. It's a 10 megapixel camera that runs on AA batteries, so your kid won't ever have to keep track of charging it or keeping it charged. It's also got a nice flash on/flash off setting, which lets you make that decision and the camera will do the rest.

It retails for around $199. Check it out at Canon.com.

CES 2008: Canon Selphy Compact Photo Printer

Chris Ford — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:07:00 GMT

The Canon Selphy is a compact photo printer that only prints 4-by-6 photos. The idea is that if you have a small, (relatively) inexpensive printer that just prints photos, you'll end up printing more photos and enjoying your digital camera even more. The Selphy is not unlike a lot of other printers available just like it, with a few cool exceptions.

The Canon Selphy prints great 4-by-6 photos (the image quality of the examples they showed were really quite good), connects to your computer via USB and can take all forms of removable media cards as well. Like some other printers, you can also edit the photos right on the machine and include some goofy effects like "thought bubbles" onto your photos, but the coolest feature to me is in the ink and paper.

Instead of loading paper and ink separately, they both come in one handy cartridge (the cartridge is pictured sticking out of the machine on the right side). Each cartridge has the paper pre-loaded with enough ink for that much paper. Once the paper is out, you load a new one with fresh ink. No more "out of ink" messages--if you're out of paper, you're out of ink. It's a simple solution that I think would work not only for parents but also for kids who are taking pictures with digital cameras. The cartridges are $14.99 for a 50 pack, which comes out to about $0.28 per photo. One odd thing though: The backing on the paper has lines for postcards (as if everything you printed you were going to turn into a postcard). It's kind of weird, but I can't really think of a reason why you would care what's on the back side of your photos anyway.

The Canon Selphy has an MSRP of $199. (There is also a smaller version without the editing features or the cartridges for $99).