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Canon Pixma Pro9000 Photo Printer

Ann McRaeAnn McRae Registered Users Posts: 4,584 Major grins
edited November 29, 2006 in Digital Darkroom
Anybody know anything about this new beauty?

ann

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    David_S85David_S85 Administrators Posts: 13,189 moderator
    edited November 18, 2006
    ...bump...
    My Smugmug
    "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
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    marlinspikemarlinspike Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited November 19, 2006
    The Pro9500 is actually the new one, coming out in a couple months.
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    StanStan Registered Users Posts: 1,077 Major grins
    edited November 19, 2006
    Hi Ann,

    I googled some for the 9000 and found several good links to both the printers 9000and 9500 here where they talk about ink life in the dye inks Here by outback photo and here where a comment made by an Aussie complains that the printers will not be released in Australia.

    I think Andy has the predecessor to this printer, and he rated it very highly. Print technology has moved on since then. So the image quality will be as good as can be. I guess it then comes down to how often the heads clog, how much ink is left in the cartridge when it says it is empty and how mush the ink is.

    I look forward to hearing some users opinions of these

    Cheers
    Stan
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    SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited November 19, 2006
    Ann,

    Not knowing what your intended use is or your budget, it's pretty hard to say whts best for you. I know that my next printer will one of the new Canon pigmented ink printers. My reasoning is based on print life, 3 black inks (installed) for B&W prints, and wide paper choices.

    Sam
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    Ann McRaeAnn McRae Registered Users Posts: 4,584 Major grins
    edited November 19, 2006
    I don't know what my print needs are either - so I guess I really have none.

    I am a culprit in not printing my own stuff - waiting for that next great shot.
    Having a large scale (13 x 19 is big enough) at home might set me free or it might not.

    I hadn't kept up on printers so when I saw the i9900 price at $300 cdn and then the ad for this one, I thought 'Wow, wonder what it is all about'

    I'm just looking for real life impressions from actual users, if possible.

    Thanks all

    ann
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    Ric GrupeRic Grupe Registered Users Posts: 9,522 Major grins
    edited November 19, 2006
    [quote=Ann
    McRae
    ]I don't know what my print needs are either - so I guess I really have none.
    ann
    [/quote]

    I've been waiting for this one myself. Was supposed to be out in October. I want to print larger and have had good luck with Canon printers. I've read all the hype....now I want to see an honest review.
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    Ric GrupeRic Grupe Registered Users Posts: 9,522 Major grins
    edited November 19, 2006
    The Pro9500 is actually the new one, coming out in a couple months.

    No.....there are two.

    http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=117&modelid=12892
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    Ann McRaeAnn McRae Registered Users Posts: 4,584 Major grins
    edited November 19, 2006
    Funny thing - I could not get that info from the Canon Canada site on Friday. But Best Buy Canada is advertising them, and so is my favorite local camera shop.

    Wonder if santa will smile this way?

    ann
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    DeeDee Registered Users Posts: 2,981 Major grins
    edited November 20, 2006
    At work
    we had the Canon 13x19 borderless printer with 7 ink cartridges. I loved it! I didn't love how it drank ink so fast and the new cartridges cost so much.

    I didn't have any problems with clogging (like I did with all the Epson printers I've owned in the past) and from being a die hard Epson fan, I purchased two of the small (8.5 x 11) Pixma printers last year. My daughter has one and I have another.

    I do have an old Epson 3000 (17 x 22) printer and some left over large paper, but I haven't printed any large photos in some time.

    I wore out one Pixma printer -- my daughter is into digital scrapbooking and we print 2 borderless copies of each page for the great grandmothers who are computer resistant. She usually scraps 7 or more pages a week.

    My Pixma got an ink overflow error, and since it was still under warranty they replaced the printer, rather than "fixing" it. I'm not sure if this would be a problem on the larger printers or not. Keep your warranty/sales slip handy though.

    Since the ink cartridges (there are 2 in this pixma) are so terribly expensive, I've taken to refilling them myself. Even the refill ink is pretty expensive. (but cheaper than new cartridges)

    Canon printers devour Photo Magenta... I always have lots of black and I suspect these inexpensive printers heavily use colors to make up their blacks instead of using black.

    All in all, I've been very happy with the Canon, not having to fight the clogging that I had on the Epson is great. Oh, and refilling the cartridges isn't the total answer, they will clog after 4 to 6 refillings and then we have to use a brand new cartridge.

    If you are just getting into printing, you probably won't be printing the amount of prints that I do on my little printer... so this won't be a problem for you.

    I was also impressed, that on 2 less than $100 printers, there were adjustments for paper feed and bottom cleaning... something I didn't have on the Epsons. Maybe Epson doesn't need that, but I did used to get smears on new pages after printing on the Epson occasionally.

    Good luck with your new printer...
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    davemj98davemj98 Registered Users Posts: 225 Major grins
    edited November 20, 2006
    Canon use
    I have used my Canon S300 and S9000 extensively. My S9000 recently died of inattention and neglect and finally a fatal print head error. I am looking around for a replacement, and was hoping there would be more responses to your post, but it looks like not. I have custom 13 x 19 frames for my stuff in the living room, so I am an infrequent but dedicated user. Hope you get more replies; I am also looking at the epsom wide carrige printers.
    Regards, david
    davidsdigitalphotography.com
    Alpha 99 & VG, 900x2 & VG; 50mm1.4, CZ135 1.8; CZ16-35 2.8, CZ24-70 2.8, G70-200 2.8, G70-400, Sony TC 1.4, F20, F58, F60.
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    SamSam Registered Users Posts: 7,419 Major grins
    edited November 22, 2006
    Ann McRae wrote:
    I don't know what my print needs are either - so I guess I really have none.

    I am a culprit in not printing my own stuff - waiting for that next great shot.
    Having a large scale (13 x 19 is big enough) at home might set me free or it might not.

    I hadn't kept up on printers so when I saw the i9900 price at $300 cdn and then the ad for this one, I thought 'Wow, wonder what it is all about'

    I'm just looking for real life impressions from actual users, if possible.

    Thanks all

    ann

    Ann,

    Just to add a little more to this discussion. I have the i9900, and the reason they are turning up at bargain prices is because it’s being discontinued. This is a great printer, producing stunning prints, with all the color and detail you could want, but it uses dye-based inks, which can fade quickly in many display environments. Unfortunately the Black & white prints are not acceptable to me however.

    Also printing at home with a desktop inkjet printer will cost more that sending it to an online lab, or even your local pro lab. You will spend more on ink and paper than whatever dollar figure you now have in your mind. Almost forgot! Once you get that exciting new printer you will want to get a standby ink set. For the i9900 it will run you about $100. Paper, yes your gona want about another $100+ to experiment with. Then if you can’t get the prints to match what your seeing on your monitor, you will be learning all about color management. (Color management does have other benefits, and is worth it even if you don’t print at home.)

    What you gain is instant satisfaction, and the dual edged sword of total control.

    Canon does have new dye based ink printers with newly developed long life inks, but I don’t know enough about these to know how they will hold up in the real world.

    With the technology where it’s at today, if total control, wide choice of paper, long life are you goal, and you accept there is premium cost to this, then I would recommend waiting until the new 9500 is available. This should be a kick a__ printer!

    Disclaimer: These are the random firings of my abused neurons, and may or may not have any bearing on the real world.

    Sam
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    MikeKellyMikeKelly Registered Users Posts: 8 Beginner grinner
    edited November 29, 2006
    InkRepublic i-Remove cleaning kit
    Dee wrote:

    All in all, I've been very happy with the Canon, not having to fight the clogging that I had on the Epson is great. Oh, and refilling the cartridges isn't the total answer, they will clog after 4 to 6 refillings and then we have to use a brand new cartridge.

    I am guessing this is because of the print head design. Epson put the print heads in printer, this is better design to save our earth - not to waste too much resource. HP and Canon design the head with cartridge, so you would keep throwing away them. After all, Epson is more concerning about the whole environment.

    For the clogging issue, here has a very good cleaning kit to remove the clog. It's very easy, almost dummy proof -

    InkRepublic i-Remove cleaning kit
    http://www.inkrepublic.com/iRemove.asp
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    kini62kini62 Registered Users Posts: 441 Major grins
    edited November 29, 2006
    MikeKelly wrote:
    I am guessing this is because of the print head design. Epson put the print heads in printer, this is better design to save our earth - not to waste too much resource. HP and Canon design the head with cartridge, so you would keep throwing away them. After all, Epson is more concerning about the whole environment.

    For the clogging issue, here has a very good cleaning kit to remove the clog. It's very easy, almost dummy proof -

    InkRepublic i-Remove cleaning kit
    http://www.inkrepublic.com/iRemove.asp

    Canon does not put the print head in the cartridge. But they do have user replaceable print heads that just pop in. I thought Epson had the printheads in the cartridge that's why no one makes generic cartridges for them.

    And for the other post on home printing being more expensive, a lot depends on how big you print, what paper you use etc...

    I looked into estimated print costs using an HP9180 based on HP's estimated number of prints per ink set versus some of the lowest priced on line photo labs and once you got to about 11x14 or bigger the per print costs started to even out and gradually shifted to home printing being a little cheaper as the print size rose to the size limit of the printer.

    This was without factoring in the initial cost of the printer which of coure would have to be ammortized over the life of the printer and number of prints done.

    All and all printing relatively large prins at home compares very well with having them done at the more mid-ranged photo labs like mpix or smugmug's EZ print lab.

    Plus you get instant results and you have full control over the output. Of coure you can't send back the ones you're not happy with either:D

    My one and only try at ordering was an 8x10 from Costco. Everything had a greenish or blueish tint (both were there in various parts of the photo), it was dark, what was supposed to be pink came out magenta, and they "trimmed" my 8x10 to 9.75x7.75. The photo I sent them was cropped to exactly 8x10 and needed to be trimmed that way in order to not crowd what was at or near the edges.

    I printed same thing at home on my Pixma 5000. Colors were spot on as seen on the screen and as I wanted, it was the right size, the paper was better and I didn't have to wait 10 days to get it.

    Gene
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