Canon announced yesterday that they were releasing two new PIXMA inkjet models, the iP300 and the iP1800. Unlike most of their other PIXMA models, these two are just standard inkjets and not all-in-one printers. At $80 for the iP3300 and $50 for the iP1800, these will be some of the cheapest Canon models available. This could mean that Canon is moving into the entry-level inkjet market, an area that they have shied away from mostly, or it could just be that they felt like releasing two cheap inkjets.

Both these printers have a resolution of 4800 x 1200, which is what you would expect for a sub-$100 printer. That’s not to say the print quality will be bad, it’s just that you shouldn’t expect these printers to produce high-quality photos or anything like that. The iP1800 is rated at 20 ppm in black and 16 ppm in color. We can probably assume that since the iP3300 is more expensive it will be faster, but Canon failed to include the iP3300’s speed in their press release so it’s a big mystery. Perhaps it only prints a 1 ppm and they don’t want to reveal that. The iP3300 is “certified for Windows Vista” so for the .000000001% of people that are running Vista, you are in luck.

Canon is releasing some new inkjet cartridges for use in the PIXMA iP1800. The new cartridges are the PG-30 black and the CL-31 color and they will cost $16 and $20, respectively. Canon says they are introducing these new cartridges as a “low cost alternative”. The cost may be low (relatively speaking) but it remains to be seen how small these cartridges are. If they contain half the ink that regular Canon cartridges have, then they won’t be too much of a bargain. But, if they are comparable to existing cartridges, then Canon may have an answer to Kodak’s new line of cartridges.

Two New Canon PIXMA Inkjet Photo Printers Offer Style and Quality at a Value Price Point [Press Release]