Canon i9900 - any experience/thoughts

[WesternGuy]

I am looking at acquiring the Canon i9900 photo printer and would be interested in hearing of anyone's experience with it. Most of the things I have found on other photo sites suggest that it is a good printer. I have no experience with photo printers, so this would be a first. Any thoughts, ideas, opinions that anyone would care to share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

WesternGuy

 

[Manuchau]

I have owned one for over a year now, and have printed many, many photos with it. I only have good things to say about it..it is fast, quiet, and the quality is superb. It works very well with a large number of different photo papers as well - Ilford is a personal favourite of mine.
Purchase this model ony if you need to print images larger than letter-size; If you don't print large (up to 13 x 19) photos, then go for the smaller ip8500 instead - it uses the same 8-colour inks and printhead...You won't be disapppointed with either model.

 

[Grandad35]

WesternGuy,

I now have two i9900s. When it became obvious that all of Canon's new printers would have chipped carts, I decided to buy a spare while new i9900s were still available. They are still available for under $400, but I got a slightly better price by waiting for a deal to pop up. I figure that I have saved close to $2000 in ink costs over the past 21 months by refilling, making it easy to justify buying a spare just in case there is a long term refilling problem with the new chipped carts.

In terms of print quality, I agree with Manuchau's comments. AFAIK, the i8500 is no longer available from Canon, but you may be able to locate one still in stock somewhere.

I use Qimage to print, and find that it produces sharper prints than other printing packages that I have tried (including Photoshop). Qimage also supports color management (as does Photoshop).

Do you plan on using OEM ink, prefilled 3rd party carts, or refilling? I do not recommend prefilled carts, as the ink supplier can be changed at any time. My recommendation is to refill with a quality bulk ink and to locate (or buy) custom printer profiles for your ink/paper/printer combinations.

I print on Kirkland Photo paper for prints that will not be framed and displayed and on Ilford Classic Pearl for prints that will be framed and displayed for long periods. This link (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/docs/inkjet-fading.php) is a discussion pf print longevity on this type of printer with several papers and inks, in case you are interested in the subject.

 

[WesternGuy]

Manachau and Grandad35, thanks for your comments. It looks like I am probably on the right track I will probably stick with oem ink for awhile, until I get into this technology a bit more.

Maybe one of you could explain "chipped carts" are. This is a term I have seen, but am not familiar with. I am also unclear on the processes involved in "refilling" -- guess I have some more research to do.

Again, thanks for sharing your insight.

WesternGuy

 

[Grandad35]

WesternGuy,

To find the "Chipped carts" posts, use the search feature and enter "chipped AND carts". For example, see:
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1096
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1145
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1025

There are literally hundreds of posts on refilling BCI-6 carts. This thread (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=28) covers a lot of territory on this subject, as does this web site (http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/inkjetstuff1.html).

 

[WesternGuy]

Grandad, thanks for the links. I will definitely check them out.

WesternGuy