phil_v. Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Over the 2-years that I've owned my Canon i950 printer, I've only 'fed it' genuine Canon BCI-6 ink-cartridges (because of the disparaging test-reports on 3rd party cartridges). But golly gee-whiz, those OEM cartridges are expensive! Photography is my hobby (in retirement), so I'm again thinking about buying/using 3rd party compatible cartridges, some of which sell for as little as 1/4 the price of the OEM cartridge! I would like to hear from my fellow photo.net'ers who are using (or have tried) 3rd party cartridges in their printers... Do they present a greater risk of clogging? Are their colors fairly close to the OEM's colors? And how about their archival qualities compared to OEM cartridges? I'd appreciate it if you would share your personal experiences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlwolf Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 MIS refill kit, great color, its easy to do, about 1/5 the cost. Print on Red River Polor, Ilford Clasic Pearl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emre Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Using bulk ink is a lot of hassle. If price takes priority over quality, you had better send them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_v. Posted January 10, 2005 Author Share Posted January 10, 2005 Michael/Emre: I wasn't really considering refilling my cartridges with bulk ink, just buying replacement (filled) cartridges... As I indicated, this is my hobby and not my livelihood (I'm a retired teacher on a small income), so I would like to economize, but not if it imposes greater risk of head-clogging or apparent loss of quality! Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitmstr Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 For serious work I use Lyson inks however, I have found an off-brand (CG) that makes excellent Canon replacement inks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_sokal___dallas__tx Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 My first experience with MIS inks in my Epson 1280 was a disaster with lots of banding (which is presumably due to clogging) but so many people rave about MIS ink, that I stuck the eboni black cartridge back in and replaced my color cartridge with the MIS UT2 set. I tried about 10 differnet ways of doing B&W printing, trying all the recommendations of the gurus (like Paul Roarke) and this is what I learned: My favorite paper is Entrada, by Moab. It's matte and the prints have fantastic detail and contrast. Sommerset Enhanced photo, recommended by MIS, sucks. The only difference between black only printing and full ink set printing for black and white is tone, a slight and agreeable sepia type with the full graytone inkset. The BO printing with MIS Eboni was slightly better, with more detail, than the Epson ink, but probably wouldn't be noticeable except in direct comparison. The good news is not cloggin this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew_carlson Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 I tried some cheap ink cartridges in my epson R300 and it was pathetic. It convinced me to return to the OEM inks. Colors were flat or not even close. Returning to Epson brand inks cleared everything right up and I'm happy. The only thing I am considering now is going to a true bulk ink system with pints of ink - I've heard some good and some bad but its easier to get archival, quality, color. Problem is you have to print daily or it clogs and its tough to set up. I don't know if Canon has any type of Bulk ink/feed system, I've heard HP can't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron_w. Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Phil~ I can relate to your situation. I'm also using a Canon i950 (two years this Feb) and I too am retired. As soon as I needed replacement cartridges, I was shocked at the price of Canon cartridges, so I canvassed members in my local camera club as to what they were using and came up with the following two outfits. Both of them supply inexpensive compatible cartridges ($2 - $2.50): www.inkgrabber.com & www.private.abacus24-7.com I have been using their cartridges for over 18 months, initially from inkgrabber and more recently from abacus. The bottom-line is that I have not had any clogs, but the inkgrabber and abacus cartridges produce slightly different shades of color than the Canon colors (I noticed this after reprinting the same image-file on the same paper which I initially printed using Canon cartridges). I want to emphasize that while each product's color-tones are somewhat different from the other, the differences are minor and can easily be corrected in post-processing. I can't objectively comment as to any archival qualities, but for my printing purposes, these compatibles do a fine job and I plan to continue their use. Hope that helps! ~Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_v. Posted January 11, 2005 Author Share Posted January 11, 2005 Aaron, thanks for validating my interest in 3rd party ink-cartridges (as well as for those links)... much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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