Question Mark on Canon Selphy CP1200 Screen

Canon Selphy CP1200

I picked up a Canon Selphy CP1200 photo printer.

It’s a dye sublimation printer, meaning you have a roll of cellophane ribbon instead of ink. The 4×6 pictures it produces look pretty good.

There is a small variety of papers: 4×6 glossy photo, 4×6 postcard, and square stickers. I’ve only tried the photo paper.

The first photos I printed were from my smartphone, and that went well.

I haven’t figured out how to connect my MacBook via AirPrint. Probably boneheadedness on my part and Canon’s email support only parroted the instructions found elsewhere.

I’m using this machine to pass on Facebook photos to someone who doesn’t use a computer, and printing FB pictures from a USB thumbdrive was hit and miss for me. The Selphy is pretty particular about the format of the jpegs it prints; many photos showed question marks on the screen even though they contained thumbnails, and they wouldn’t print.

If you are also facing this problem, the easiest solution is to export the pictures from Photoshop or the open source version, Gimp.

If the photo has a color profile, Gimp will ask if you want to embed it. Click Convert to embed it.

When exporting jpg in Gimp, be sure to use the following options:

  • uncheck Optimize
  • uncheck Progressive
  • check Save thumbnail

These choices will come up after you select jpg and say save, yes replace.

Leave both EXIF and XMP info boxes check marked.

I’ve had no problems since following this process.

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