Quality full-frame 8" x 12" printing with Canon S900 photo printer

Dear photo.net community:

 

I recently went semi-digital with a Canon S900 photo printer and

Canon FS 4000 US slide/negative scanner. I am VERY happy with the

output of this combination when using Canon Photo Pro paper.

However, I want full frame (8" x 12") prints, and Canon does not

appear to offer either US Legal (8.5" x 14") or A4 (8.3" x 11.7")

Photo Pro paper. With the objective being highest quality and

longest longevity, does anyone have any suggestions? My first

thought was to buy Canon's A4 (11.7" x 16.5") paper and cut it in

half, but I'd like to avoid this if there is a better solution.

 

Thanks much in advance,

 

--Dave Ziegler

Will the printer do borderless 8" x 12"? The spec sheet says borderless 8.5" x 11" (letter), so I would call or e-mail Canon support (the e-mail support is reasonably good for their printers - stinks for the EOS system). Also, if it can do borderless 8" x 12", borderless printing does result in some cutting off the frame on one side. In either case, you may need larger paper to print a full frame 8" x 12".

 

Only Photo Pro paper is rated to 25 years with this printer (I guess we will have to wait to see if Canon is right). I like the paper, but find the surface quite fragile and very susceptable to scratches from the printing process. Because of this, I have been using Epson premium semi-gloss and heavy weight matt, and take my chances on longevity.

I used the epson 8x24 panoramic paper cut in two. Obviously I take the chance with longevity. The Canon inks print very well on epson papers (and miserably on kodak papers).

i used to have an S900, but returned it for an S9000, so the

media size isn't an issue i've come up against

 

you say you want maximum quality + longevity

 

longevity...

 

my direct exprience is that no canon paper is worthwhile, one

epson type (colorlife) *may* be ok but i haven't tested it, the other

epson papers are as bad as canon's

 

the main issue is the cyan dye, it is highly sensitive to

environmental conditions, it can fade visibly within a week, the

effect is that the print develops an orange/brown tint

 

i carried out testing, not at high light levels, but in the shade with

no protection from city air (London), the results with most canon/

epson/other papers were very consistent: cyan fades fast

 

many people say they do not get fading, and many have the

problem i do, i assume that local/seasonal environmental

effects are involved

 

canon photo paper pro - 1-2 weeks,

epson premium glossy photo paper - 1-2 weeks,

epson glossy photo paper <1 week,

epson hw mattte 2-3 weeks

 

the paper that stood out was Ilford Gallerie Classic (not IG

Smooth), it has not faded at all even after 5 weeks

 

the papers that fade fastest use a nanoporous/ceramic coating,

these dry very fast, but offer little or no protection to the dyes

 

the IGC papers use a different technology that binds the dyes

into the coating, the downside is that they take much longer to

dry

 

but the quality is excellent and so far my testing shows no

fading, nor have i seen anyone reporting fading with IGC

 

so my advice for longevity is use the IGC papers

 

if you need matte then epson heavyweight matte is nice, but it

will fade much faster than IGC

 

fading can be greatly reduced by framing behind glass,

presumably IGC will retain its advantage here too

 

someone has been testing several different printers/media for

longevity in framed conditions, their results are here...

www.livick.com/method/inkjet/pg2d.htm ...based upon their

results the benefits of framing are still not enough to get

reasonable life from most papers

 

quality...

 

i'm using a mac with os 10.2 and photoshop 7, i use the canon

osx driver (v1.5.0) at the highest quality setting (which must be

selected manually) and disable all canon's colour correction/

'enhancement', i only use ps colour management

 

for the best colour the only option is to use colour management

and profiles specific to your printer and the media types you use

 

i found some papers give a greenish cast if used without a

custom profile

 

there are many profiling packages, some very expensive, i use a

package called Profile Prism (wwww.ddisoftware.com) it is

about $70 i think, it is windows only but runs ok on the mac

under virtual pc

 

creating good profiles requires a sound methodical approach, it

took me a few attempts to refine the right technique, but the end

results have justified the effort

 

other tips...

 

leave the printer powered up all the time, otherwise you will

waste a *lot* of ink in cleaning/priming cycles when it is turned

on, also avoid opening the lid unless you really have to as this

also triggers a cleaning cycle

 

make sure the printer is on a very solid surface, if the surface is

unstable you can get banding

 

the inks that are used fastest are photo-cyan and photo-

magenta, followed by yellow, expect to use pc/pm 3-4x faster

than other colours, and yellow 2x

 

when you get an "out of ink" message there is usually enough

ink left for 2-3 more 10x8 prints

<i>leave the printer powered up all the time, otherwise you will waste a *lot* of ink in cleaning/priming cycles when it is turned on, also avoid opening the lid unless you really have to as this also triggers a cleaning cycle</i>

<p>Are you sure you are not going to kill your print head doing this? At least on the EPSON's, the purpose of turning it off is so that the head can be capped and the ink does not dry.