Canon S-800 time for printhead?

[Jane]

I have been battling with poor nozzle checks on a Canon S800. I have done about all of the cleaning methods (at least all those that I can find). The canned air seems to have even made things worse. This is what it was when I tried to finish opening it up

and this is what I get now after

(Please disregard the colors in these shots; I had to play with levels in PhotoShop to get the lines of the nozzle checks to show and there still isn't enough contrast for the PC to show.) I did try with different ink tanks and that doesnt seem to make any difference.

I had a Canon BJC-8200 before getting the S-800 when the 8200 developed a problem. The BJC-8200 had no warranty as it was purchased on e-bay but was registered with Canon. Then they offered me an extended warranty. I took it and used it which led to a number of exchanges do to goofs by Canon (including by one of their senior techs). So, at this point I also have a BJC-8200 which I cleaned before putting away and a brand new printhead for the BJC-8200 that was part of the compensation from Canon for their goofs. When the S-800 was giving me poor nozzle checks around Christmas (different color than currently) I pulled out the BJC-8200 and after using a cleaning solution because of two borderline colors (as I remember it dont quote me) it did just fine but much slower than the S-800. Then I worked with the S-800 and seemed to get it going. So, ran cleaning solution through the BJC-8200 and put it back in storage.

I have about come to the conclusion that the current printhead in the S-800 has seen its days. At least a couple of places show the QY6-0035-000 for BOTH the BJC-8200 and the S-800. But, one unopened one I got for the BJC-8200 is labeled BC-50 for BJC-8200. All this has me wondering what would happen if I put the used but working printhead from the BJC-8200 in the S-800. I have been satisfied with photo printing from both but prefer the speed of the S-800. I think I remember someone on the printer forum on dpreview making the comment that I should save the BJC-8200 printhead for just this purpose at the time that I bought the S-800 rather than pay for a repair of the BJC-8200 as the S-800 was on clearance because of new models coming out. Are any of you here familiar with these printheads and how well the one from the BJC-8200 would do in the S-800???

Sorry to be so long winded; but it is a long story.

 

[Grandad35]

Jane,

A few questions:
1. What inks are you using?
2. If you ignore the problems with the nozzle checks, do you see any other problems when printing?
3. It is hard to tell from the image, but are the problems confined to the photo magenta and photo cyan?
4. Are the 6 color bars solid, or do they have lines where ink is missing?

These nozzle check patterns are typical of what I call a "nozzle firing" problem, and are usually related to an ink problem. Would it be possible to get a better picture/scan of this printout? Printing on glossy photo paper sometimes gives a better image.

 

[bobglen97]

I think I remember someone on the printer forum on dpreview making the comment that I should save the BJC-8200 printhead for just this purpose at the time that I bought the S-800 rather than pay for a repair of the BJC-8200 as the S-800 was on clearance because of new models coming out. Are any of you here familiar with these printheads and how well the one from the BJC-8200 would do in the S-800???

Sorry to be so long winded; but it is a long story.

They are the same printhead....see link below

Bob

http://www.weink.com/ecom/catalog/genuine_canon_brand_replacement_0035_printhead_4016728.htm

 

[Jane]

Jane,

A few questions:
1. What inks are you using?
1a. I get the same nozzle check if I have an original Canon that has been refilled with MIS ink or an aftermarket tank from CompuBiz Inkjet in the troublesome slot.

2. If you ignore the problems with the nozzle checks, do you see any other problems when printing?
2a. When printing the MIS "purging test pattern - 6 color printers" I get banding of magenta, cyan, and photo magenta with the most pronounced in the magenta unless I kick quality all the way up to the "fine" end when set to Standard, plain paper and auto output. This driver has five ticks to the quality setting. The "standard" plain paper one is the 2nd from the "fast" end. The center one is grayed out. When set to the one just left of the "fine" end the magenta has almost a brick like pattern to it and is generally lighter than normal; there is a very slight banding in the photo cyan and a bit more in photo magenta. On "fine" magenta is the one that has more of a "noise" look to it than banding and is generally lighter than normal. What has done the best over the years for photos is on Jet Print papers set to "super photo", "high gloss photo film", "Fine", "Image Optimizer and Image Optimizer PRO" both OFF, color adjustment checked, use ICM NOT checked, output style "accurate", Brightness "normal", Intensity" on center setting and no special effects. When the test is printed this way the magenta shows a very slight just not as smooth quality as normal and somewhat lighter than normal. Actual photos it is hard to describe but doesn't match screen as it did before. Incidently, I have been using MIS ink for years.

3. It is hard to tell from the image, but are the problems confined to the photo magenta and photo cyan?
3a. The problems are mainly in the magenta and to a lesser extent in the photo cyan.

4. Are the 6 color bars solid, or do they have lines where ink is missing?
4a. The "C" bar (which is magenta) has a couple of white lines in it.

These nozzle check patterns are typical of what I call a "nozzle firing" problem, and are usually related to an ink problem. Would it be possible to get a better picture/scan of this printout?

A. I too was very disapointed at how this showed up when posted. I had done a photo of the printouts (outdoors) as they do not want to scan will. Also, think the small size of what shows up in a post is a factor. Is there a way I could e-mail you a larger copy?

Printing on glossy photo paper sometimes gives a better image.

Thank you for your attention to my problems. I discovered this site only a short time ago; but in doing a through reading of what has come before have discovered you as one of the most respected members.
Jane

 

[Jane]

I think I remember someone on the printer forum on dpreview making the comment that I should save the BJC-8200 printhead for just this purpose at the time that I bought the S-800 rather than pay for a repair of the BJC-8200 as the S-800 was on clearance because of new models coming out. Are any of you here familiar with these printheads and how well the one from the BJC-8200 would do in the S-800???

Sorry to be so long winded; but it is a long story.

They are the same printhead....see link below

Bob

http://www.weink.com/ecom/catalog/genuine_canon_brand_replacement_0035_printhead_4016728.htm

Yes, Bob that is one of the places that I was referring to NOW offering the same printhead for both models. But, what I have on hand from the BJC-8200 is in a package that is marked differently = BC-50 for BJC-8200 rather than QY6-0035-000.
Jane

 

[Jane]

Jane,

A few questions:
1. What inks are you using?
1a. I get the same nozzle check if I have an original Canon that has been refilled with MIS ink or an aftermarket tank from CompuBiz Inkjet in the troublesome slot.

2. If you ignore the problems with the nozzle checks, do you see any other problems when printing?
2a. When printing the MIS "purging test pattern - 6 color printers" I get banding of magenta, cyan, and photo magenta with the most pronounced in the magenta unless I kick quality all the way up to the "fine" end when set to Standard, plain paper and auto output. This driver has five ticks to the quality setting. The "standard" plain paper one is the 2nd from the "fast" end. The center one is grayed out. When set to the one just left of the "fine" end the magenta has almost a brick like pattern to it and is generally lighter than normal; there is a very slight banding in the photo cyan and a bit more in photo magenta. On "fine" magenta is the one that has more of a "noise" look to it than banding and is generally lighter than normal. What has done the best over the years for photos is on Jet Print papers set to "super photo", "high gloss photo film", "Fine", "Image Optimizer and Image Optimizer PRO" both OFF, color adjustment checked, use ICM NOT checked, output style "accurate", Brightness "normal", Intensity" on center setting and no special effects. When the test is printed this way the magenta shows a very slight just not as smooth quality as normal and somewhat lighter than normal. Actual photos it is hard to describe but doesn't match screen as it did before. Incidently, I have been using MIS ink for years.

3. It is hard to tell from the image, but are the problems confined to the photo magenta and photo cyan?
3a. The problems are mainly in the magenta and to a lesser extent in the photo cyan.

4. Are the 6 color bars solid, or do they have lines where ink is missing?
4a. The "C" bar (which is magenta) has a couple of white lines in it.

These nozzle check patterns are typical of what I call a "nozzle firing" problem, and are usually related to an ink problem. Would it be possible to get a better picture/scan of this printout?

A. I too was very disapointed at how this showed up when posted. I had done a photo of the printouts (outdoors) as they do not want to scan will. Also, think the small size of what shows up in a post is a factor. Is there a way I could e-mail you a larger copy?

Printing on glossy photo paper sometimes gives a better image.

Thank you for your attention to my problems. I discovered this site only a short time ago; but in doing a through reading of what has come before have discovered you as one of the most respected members.
Jane

 

[Grandad35]

Jane,

Can you print this image using the settings that maximize the problem and then scan it or take a picture of it? Crop it tight, change the image size to 1500 pixels on the vertical axis and reduce the jpg "quality" setting to get its size under 250Kb (the original is only 59k at 800x1050 pixels). Don't adjust anything else in PS - post the uncorrected image.

 

[Jane]

Sorry for the delay in response I have had other competing projects.

Grandad, does it matter if the colors from the printout you request match my screen? When I move my cursor over the image in your post, and little icons come up and I click on the one to save it I get a dialog box when I go and open it. It says Embedded Profile Mismatch and then The documents embedded color profile does not match the current RGB working space. And lists Embedded: Adobe RGB (1998) and Working: Monitor RGB-sRGB 1EC61966-2.1" It asks How do you want to proceed? and gives the choices of Use the embedded profile (instead of the working space). Convert document to the working space and Discard the embedded profile (dont color manage). The dot is in front of the third item as if that is the default. If I print using that or by just clicking on the printer icon that comes up by moving cursor over the image in you post the red prints much move orange that it looks on my screen and the magenta prints much more red. I do get the lines in the same pattern as when printing the MIS Purge 6 file.

Also, I am surprised that you said that my prior image files are so small? Does the server automatically compress them? All of these files on my hard drive are over 100k. I dont remember if there was a choice I had to make at the time I uploaded them.

 

[Grandad35]

Jane,

For the purposes of this test, it doesn't matter that much which option you select, but my preference would be to use the embedded aRGB space. When I wrote that you shouldn't adjust the colors in PS, I was trying to say that you shouldn't adjust the colors in the scanned image before posting it.

This isn't important to the test, but by way of explanation I shoot and process in aRGB to get the slightly larger color range that it offers. To see an example of the reduction in color range, load a copy of the image into PS using its aRGB embedded profile and then use "Image/Mode/Convert to profile". Select the "sRBG" Profile and either "Perceptual" or "Relative Colorimetric" for "Intent", then click the "Preview" on and off to see the reduction in the range of colors imposed by sRGB. Then select the profile for your printer and do the same test. It's amazing how much some of the colors are shifted when printing - do the colors on the screen match what was printed?

In any case, the important thing will be to look at the scanned image to see which color is banding. I don't remember saying that your image sizes were small, only that a more detailed scan would help to see the problem. I also said that your scanned image has to be kept under 250 kB to post it. When you save the image after cropping and setting the image size in PS, use the "File/Save As" command. When the "JPEG Options" box appears, the file size is shown at the bottom - if the file is too large, lower the "Quality" setting until it is small enough.

 

[Jane]

Here are a few scans one as per Grandads suggestion. The first is a printout of the file that Grandad suggested

the second is a scan of a printout of the MIS file Purge 6

the third is a scan of just part of a nozzel check which I hope shows the missing segments better than the earlier post of a nozzel check

I am not sure what happened to this during the upload process in viewing the preview of my post there is distortion in the nozzel check one (the last item) which on my monitor before uploading is very clear especially if viewed at 100%. There are NO missing segments of horizontal lines in the black, 2 missing segments of horizontal lines in the cyan, the magenta has been the big problem and I haven't counted, there are none missing in the yellow, quite a few are missing in the photo (or light) cyan but have not counted, and finally none are missing in the photo magenta.

All comments welcome
Jane