Anyone else tried the new Canon i9900?

[d_weissman]

WOW. I received the new Canon i9900 last week. The prints are

fantastic. I gave up on Epson last year because of nozzle clog

problems, what a drag. I bought a Canon I900d and was from the

first print. Using PS and quality paper, I sell my work, I have no

regrets. This new widebody.....13x19 is great. I would like to hear

from anyone else who has had the luck to use this new printer. For

those of you who live in an "Epson Printer Bubble....think outside

the box! Explore new worlds. BTW if you ever have a problem with

the printer head it is user replaceable. Just unclip the bad one,

clip in the new one. You do not have to ship your printer out for

service.

[ronald_smith2]

Is it me, or does most everyone who frequents this forum become Canon photo-quality printer lovers? It seems that Epsons are falling behind the pack. I'm soon about to invest in an i960 and I feel better and beter about it with each passing thread-;)

[jon_austin]

I haven't seen the output from the i9900 yet, but given the extra two colors and the fantastic results I get from my S9000 and i950, I'll bet it's awsome! Congratulations!

 

I bought my S9000 about two years ago for $500. Just as it dropped in price when the i9100 shipped, you can now get an i9100 less than 300 bucks. The only features the 9100 has over the 9000 are increased horizontal resolution and borderless 13x19. Neither was sufficient to get me to upgrade. But when Canon replaces the i9900 (probably in another year), I'll be watching for its closeout price!

[rob t.]

Are these inks "archival", like those from the Epson 2200?

 

How much is the Canon i9900 going for?

[paulglenn]

Have you tried printing black & white images with the i9900? I would be interested to know how that works with the 9900. I presently have an i9100, but grayscale images just don't cut it with the Canon inks!

 

This is an opportunity for Canon and third party ink suppliers... but will they see it? Due to the easily changeable printheads, users can easily have a set of color inks and a set of b&w inks. I'm doing this presenlty using Lyson Quad Black ink, but due to the characteristics of the Lyson inks, the prints only look good in daylight or equivalent light. I'm still not satisfied with that. InkjetMall is working on PiezoTone inks for the Canon printers, but haven't started selling them yet.

 

Paul Glenn

[bill_tuthill]

"Canon photo-quality printer lovers?"

Did you miss this thread, <A HREF="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=006APK">

Can the Canon i9100 really be the worst printer ever made?</A> ??

<BR>

The i9900 is currently about $500.

I think having 8 separate ink cartridges (and being forced to

stock backups for all 8 due to questionable availability)

is not necessarily an advantage. That's $87 in ink inventory.

OTOH Epson seems to amuse themselves designing incompatible ink

cartridges.

[perry_fatuova1]

Can you please clarify a couple things for me. I was about to buy the i9000 an then lots of reviews talked about the "half toning" and screened look on certain parts of the images. Also there was lots of banding. There is conjecture that the i9900 will be an improvement and eliviate that? Is it fixed? Hoa is the print quality in comparison to your I900D? Do you see a difference with the 8 inks?

thanks a lot,

 

-Perry

[jon_austin]

To Bill Tuthill: I've had my S9000 for nearly two years, and have never had any problems finding ink cartridges; in fact, several on-line vendors sell the OEM cartridges for a few dollars less than list. Canon has been using the same cartridges (BCI-6 series) in its better inkjet models for at least two years, so I think they have a long life cycle ahead. Also note that in "average use," some of the cartridges are used much less than others. On my S9000, I seem to go through the Photo Cyan (PC) and Photo Magenta (PM) tanks noticeably faster than the others. According to the i9900 manual, the red and green tanks are projected to last about twice as long as the black and cyan, and about 7 times longer than the PM and PC. Since the printer driver lets you know when you're running low on any individual color, you don't have to keep new cartridges in hand (although I do); if you're doing low volume, you'll have sufficient ink for several prints before the tank runs dry.

 

To Perry Fatuova: I assume when you refer to the i9000 that you mean the i9100. By all means, consider all reviews, both professional and end-user, but also go to a store and get a demo first hand. I have the older S9000, and I think the output is awesome. I only had a banding problem once (about 6 months ago, on two 4x6 prints), and it was minor. I cycled power to the printer (which causes it to go through some kind of audible printhead movement cycle), and it hasn't recurred. I think it's also important to use OEM paper and inks for the best quality. I have both an S9000 (2400x1200dpi) and an i950 (4800x1200), and I have to look very closely (i.e., under magnification) to see the difference in the quality, if any.

[perry_fatuova1]

OK I just bot the i9900 on Friday May 14th. All I can say is that it is absolutely incredible. I am VERY VERY particular about the quality of my prints, and VERY specific about what labs I use. (I shoot LOTS of Velvia, and still use old school Ciba labs not digital) . SO the switch to digtal was big for me.

I started out w/ 4X6 prints which are VERY fast and beautiful. As good if not better then a photo lab.

Then I took a picture of my daughter and blew it up to 13 X 19 (6 megapixels I think) (Canon Pro Paper), besides only taking a few minutes to print, the quality is UNBELIEVEABLE. It is truly comparable to Ciba prints done on Fuji Crystal Archive, or Ilfochrome high gloss papers. The gloss on the Canon Pro paper is just great, and there are NO banding lines (I've been looking for them) nor are there any "digital effects" in the picture. When I try to adjust the image too much in Adobe (Again JUST A BEGINNER here) there is some funky effects. But I really have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to editing software. I don't have any experience with the 960 or the 9100, but this thing is just amazing.

 

I HIGHLY recommend this printer.

 

-Perry

[watchin]

I've been using the S9000 for a year. It is the only printer

I would use (except if maybe some kind soul would "donate" a 9900 ;{).

 

I have never seen the banding, nor had a clog. I loose more output

due to silly stuff I do than anything the printer has done. Although

it's the older model (no borderless above 8x10) I have had no complaints

from any of my clients. The issue on layering disappears once the

the prints have "setup" overnight. The gray scaling is a bit dicey

and takes careful control with the curves, but sepia toning is beautiful.

 

I've put it's prints up agains $3000 sublimate printers and they

may match it but haven't beat it yet.

[bruce_person]

I've had mine only a couple of days but I'm a photoshop CS user. Since Cannon is trying to conserve on words in their manuals, does anyone know what color profile you should set print preview to if you are using photo paper pro? After all what is canon i9900 mp1? or pr1, or pr2, or sp1 or do we just use the BJ Color Printer Profile 2000 (I assume this is Canon - at least epson profiles say what model of epson and what paper and even what resolution).

 

My second question is what about these new driver color management profiles - what are these guys? Does anyone know if their is a Canon whitepaper on what is what?

 

My last question, is assuming that I choose the right color profile for my i9900 for the right paper and set the proper driver in color management at the driver level, do I check icc on or off in this photoshop centric environment?

 

I called canon and someone very young just told me that it is all automatic and I shouldn't worry about it.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

p.s. by the way, I've had a i950 for about a year and all I could figure out was to use the BJ Color Profile 2000 in photoshop and then use the CNBJPRN2 driver set to manual and turn off icc and everything else I could find in the driver. I tried doing this in the i9900 but I got some colors that were pretty far off. Perhaps someone with an i960 or a i950 could set me straight on how to use photoshop color printer profiles, set the drivers color management and how they set the printers setting for the most accurate color on an i950.

 

Thanks again.

[chaddro]

Challenge for i9900 users... go out and shoot something with a very shallow depth of field so that you have a large out of focus area. Pick an area where the background will give you a nice gradation of midtone (grays blues and greens) of medium lightness.

 

Prints that at 300 dpi, and let us know if canon fixed the microbanding of the i9100. If all else fails, I'll shoot and post a picture for testing.

[rob hecker]

Bruce,

 

Regarding the settings and an explanation for the i9900, Canon tech support sent me this (actually useful!) response:

 

The color profiles provided and listed below are for printing images

that are saved in Adobe RGB color space. See below for the profiles and

their meanings.

 

i9900 MP2 is for Matte Finish with a custom quality setting of 2.

 

i9900 PR1 is for Photo Paper Pro with custom quality of 1.

 

i9900 PR2 is for Photo Paper Pro with a custom quality setting of 2.

 

i9900 SP1 is for Photo Paper Plus media Glossy with custom quality of 1.

 

i9900 SP2 is for Photo Paper Plus Glossy media with a custom Quality

setting of 2.

 

When not using an Adobe RGB color space image, use BJ color profile 2000

for the best results.

 

Below are the steps necessary to utilize the Adobe RGB Color Space

profiles with Photoshop.

 

Use the following settings to print Adobe RGB images with extended color

gamut.

 

1. Open the image file recorded in Adobe RGB color space.

 

2. Associate the Adobe RGB ICC profile with the image.

Check [Adobe RGB (1998)] in [image] --> [Mode] --> [Assign

Profile...],

then click [OK].

 

3. Set Color Management in Print with Preview.

3.1 Check that [source Space] is set to [Adobe RGB (1998)].

3.2 Set [Print Space] to [Printer Color Management].

3.3 Click [Print...].

 

4. Set up the printer driver.

4.1 Set [Media Type] and [Print Quality].

Dedicated ICC profiles are provided for three different media

types.

For normal use, set [Media Type] to one of the following:

Photo Paper Pro

Photo Paper Plus Glossy

Matte Photo Paper

Set the desired [Print Quality].

 

4.2 Select [Manual] in , then click [set...]. Check

[Enable ICM] in the [Manual Color Adjustment] window.

[Enable ICM] is not available in Windows 95. For Macintosh

computers, select [ColorSync] in .

 

5. Print. The image is printed with the print quality and on the media

type

set in [4-1].

 

Printing using intents to suit requirements

 

Photoshop includes four different intents. Using dedicated ICC profiles,

modify the intents as follows for different print objectives:

 

1. Open an image recorded in Adobe RGB color space.

 

2. Associate the Adobe RGB ICC profile with the image.

 

Check [Adobe RGB (1998)] in [image] --> [Mode] --> [Assign

Profile...],

then click [OK].

 

3. Set Color Management in Print with Preview.

 

3.1 Check that [source Space] is set to [Adobe RGB (1988)].

3.2 Select [Profile] in [Print Space].

3.3 Select [intent] in [Print Space].

3.4 Uncheck [use Black Point Compensation].

3.5 Click [Print..].

 

4. Set up the printer driver

 

4.1 Set [Media Type] and [Print Quality].

4.2 Select [Manual] in and click [set]. Set [Print

Type] to [None].

 

5. Print. The image is printed using the dedicated ICC profile selected

in

[3-2] and the intent selected in [3-3].

[how786]

Hi,

Great thread. I've used Epsons for many years but now have switched to the i9900. I need a little help.

 

1-Where do I set the dpi to print at? I cant find it in the driver.

 

2-On my 1280 I was using Ilford Smooth Gloss, Epson PG and Heavywgt. Matte. Any other papers that would excel with this printer?

 

3-Being new to Canon and their drivers, I'd appreciate any hints or tidbits.

 

Best

Howard

[michael_kersenbrock]

There isn't an explicit "dpi setting", I think the closest to that is the paper-selection. With photo papers, it's probably running at the max 4800x2400 dpi setting where perhaps the custom quality/fineness control adjusting things some although that might just adjust quality having to do with dithering). If plain paper is selected, "dpi" is probably very low. "high resolution" paper probably is inbetween. Etc.

 

Using photoshop's color management (and usually using relative colorimetric "intent") to do the color space convesions, I find that my print matches my (spyder calibrated) screen and the print is spectacularly good. I replaced my old dye-sub printer with the i9900 and am quite happy.

 

No faint lines or any such things visible, and I've checked prints using a 10x Edmund jeweler's loupe. Looks great even looked at that way. Also prints so fast it's amazing to see.

 

For glossy prints which are my norm (okay, I'm unimaginative), Wilhelm rates the BCI-6 inks (albeit w/o the new two colors) at 38 years for the canon Photo Pro paper. Same source (in same article) rates Epson 2200 (on premium glossy paper) at 50 years. I'm happy with that (and the Epson isn't exactly glossy when looking at the result, it looks good, but kind of 'strange' due to variable reflectivity).

 

Mike

[matt_von_wahlde]

I also just got a i9900. I also have an Epson 2200, which I am comparing now. The first i9900 I received exhibited subtle, but noticeable banding. Didn't like that and returned it. The replacement exhibited no banding. I tested the same images on both the Epson and the Canons. The Canon support indicated that this happens from time to time (due to being a mass produced item.) Overall, everyone I show prints to prefers the i9900 over the 2200, but I still think the epson is much better on the shadows and details, but does lack the vibrant colors. Bottom line is: if you get a copy that bands, take it back right away. I would inquire about the return policy. I would not buy this kind of thing online because of this.