Canon i865

[Metallo]

Hi guys,

I bought this printer some months ago, but I'm struggling with the colour set up, I'm so upset that unless I get an improvement out of this forum, I will sell the printer.

I used to have a HP 720C, excellent printer, but then it broke down and I decided to go for the Canon i865, one of the best on the market for my needs, according to reviews.
My needs: day to day printing on plain paper, sometimes photos, ofter printing printable CDs.

Yesterday I printed a printable CD and the printing was, well difficult to explain, but like having macroblocks on it, background was mostly black.

BTW, I only use original Canon cartridges.

Also, I've got problems to set the printer to print the colors I see on my screen.
I use sRGB IEC61966-2.1, Adobe Gamma, again, I'm not so refined to need perfection, but really sometimes what I print is totally different.

Presently my printer settings are:
Media Type: Plain Paper
Print Quality: Standard
Color Adjustment: Manual
Color balance: all "0"
Enable ICM: Yes Print Type: Photo Brightness: Normal

I know it's difficult to help without any picture, but I'm available to give you the necessary information you may need.

Also more questions:
When printing on printable CDs (Maxell PR), do I need to clean the surface of the printable CD first or any sort of precaution to improve the printing?
And the plain paper, can humidity influence the printing?

This is the first time for me on this forum, actually, this is my first forum in "Printing", hope you can really help me guys.

Thank you very much

Alex

 

[bobglen97]

I can't help you with the CD printing, but the only true screen/printer output comparision is using photo paper and and the photo settings on the printer. Start using a a good quality glossy paper, color adjustment at auto, and the glossy photo paper settings on the printer.

 

[panos]

Plain paper brand and humidity can SERIOUSY affect your documents. Although most users believe its humidity that causes problems, paper brand is far more important. Here are 2 samples from different brands of plain paper (same price though) with size 4 letters (very very small). As you can see, there is an obvious difference in quality. The best way to find a good paper for inkjet printers is to buy a minimum quantity (or simply request samples) and then compare the results with very small leters:

 

[Nifty]

panos, excellent point and thanks for the image! I remember I got some "multipurpose paper" at an office store and was amazed at how poor it printed compared to other brand "multipurpose paper". There are a LOT of variables when printing (ink, cartridges, environment, paper, printer, etc.) which is why it important to keep everything else constant while you change one variable while troubleshooting. Maybe we should start a thread on reviews of regular / plain paper!

 

[Metallo]

Hi,

Thank you for your comments.
Yes, tha plain paper I use may not be top quality but when it goes to CD Printing I do xpect at least good quality, at least correspondence on colors.
I definitely need to work around the color settings, also because some color consumes more than others.

Any other suggestion is very welcome!

Cheers
Alex

 

[panos]

Rob, I would be very happy to see a thread about plain paper. 98% of my prints are made on plain paper.

A friend of mine saw a booklet I made on the "good" brand I mentioned before and he wouldn't believe this wasn't a laser printer! A well selected paper brand is equally important to dpi's and picoliters! And well selected does not mean expensive!

(BTW, the "good" brand works well on both my cheapo HP and the Canon)

I believe that there should be at least three factors in judging plain paper quality, ordered by importance:

1) Text quality in small letters

2) Opacity. Its very important for plain paper not to let color (especially black) pass through the other side because that destroys the purpose of double-sided printing...

3) Color quality in graphs and photos.

 

[Nifty]

Panos, I hereby dub thee master of the plain paper topic! Go forth and post a new thread!

Here's your category: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=15

 

[Metallo]

Hi,

While browsing your excellent forum, I read with interest the Refill and Non OEM cartridges posts.
It looks like Inkgrabber is doing very well in term of quality and price.
Honestly, I'm behaving exactly as Rob describes into his post of her "baby pumpkin girl"

Canon cartridges are expensive, and not only Canon I must say, I'd love to test Inkgrabber ones, but I live in Europe and I'm afraid shipping would "eat" all the savings.

Do you have any suggestion in Europe?

Thanks
Alex

 

[Mark]

Hi Alex:

All is not Lost! As a matter of fact, the news is pretty good. Two quite viable options:

1) There are some vendors in Europe that are even cheaper than the ones in the U.S. I found one example that offers 20 BC-6 cartridges for under 16 Euros + 5 shipping: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=78805&item=6768828544&rd=1#ShippingPayment (I have no familiarity with this ink...just an example - seems there are lots of choices out there, many with lengthy guarantees.)

2) We are dual nationals and are frequently back & forth but sometimes find the need to send things via mail. If your only source of choice is in the U.S., you can ship a large Global Priority Envelope for $9 to Europe. It will hold 16 or so cartridges unpacked or about 8 if left packed in the box. Forget about UPS, Fedex, etc. for int'l shipping unless you recently inherited money.

Hope this helps & Best Regards,
Mark

 

[Metallo]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your reply.

In reality what I meant, (I apologize for not having properly explained) is that Inkgrabber quality has already been tested by you guys and more than one person is happy with the quality.

In Europe, there are many Non OEM websites, that's not an issue but I don't know any forum similar to this, mostly focused on Canon printers, therefore, difficult to say which seller is selling good stuff or not, unless I discover a similar forum in Europe.

I will continue to look and once I find something, I'll post the URL on this forum so that our EU friends can have alternatives.

Cheers
Alex