Verdict:
Middle of the road, but above average. Good for documents; photos could be better.
Canon's mid-range iP3500 has some useful extras, including a PictBridge port to print direct from compatible cameras and the ability to print onto printable CDs. But it lacks some of the best features of Canon's more advanced printers. The most noteworthy difference is that its black ink cartridge is used only to print normal documents, while for photos it combines cyan, magenta and yellow inks to create a composite black.
That's not good for photo quality. Black tones aren't as deep as those produced by printers with a photo black cartridge, and most of the darker colours in our
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photos looked a touch pale. However, brighter images came out looking vivid - this is presumably the aim of excluding the black - and detail was generally sharp, although areas of delicate shading, often a challenge for inkjets without extra light inks, weren't entirely accurate. As we've come to expect from Canon, photos were produced quickly, with six 6x4in prints emerging in less than five and a half minutes.
Printed documents looked excellent in both draft and correspondence-quality print modes. Although the lettering on draft prints was less well defined, it was still dark and easy to read, although draft speeds weren't all that much faster. Higher-quality text was produced quickly and looked fantastic. Characters were solid, with no trace of fuzziness or smudging.
The mixed colour business documents from the iP3500 were fast and among the best in the group, with accurate tones and great performance on solid colours, marred only by slight bands left by the print head. The iP3500 produces great-looking documents on normal paper, but if you plan on printing a lot of photos, you should look for a model that uses black photo ink rather than composite black.
