Dot resolution Canon i9900 vs. ip6000D

[WhiteDog]

After trying every conceivable combination of driver settings, ICM, color environment and management settings, print quality settings, diffusion setting, and print processor selection, not to mention dozens of pages of paper, I have come to the conclusion that the i9900 print firmware is flawed. I am using the Inkpress paper test image for testing the output. Both machines were run as installed and then in similar setups. I finished with profile CNB69ECO on both machines. All prints were on Epson Glossy photo paper using the Photo Paper Pro setting in paper selection.

I tried the Pixma print processor assigned to the i9900 and it changed nothing for the better or worse.

Grayscale was invoked from the color image in the "print preview" window in Corel Photopaint by modifying the printer instructions to "grayscale" and secondarily checking a Corel function called "print all colors in grayscale," This combination gives superb true grayscale and very classy saturated prints. The one thing I did not try was modifying the color mode of the image to 8-bit grayscale, but this should make no difference as the ip6000D handled the situation beautifully and we are talking comparisons.

I can produce absolutely dot-free output in color and grayscale from the ip6000D, but the same image on the i9900 has the slightest dot visibility under color and a fair amount of it under grayscale. This is under a 10-power loupe, and when I say no dots for the Pixma that is exactly what I mean, as I am an old 4x5 photographer from the 60's and this ouptut is truly photographic. But not on the i9900 where tiny dots are off in the middle of nowhere like millions of specks of black pepper.

Maybe it doesn't matter, since we do not look at pictures from 1" away. But I remember that the firmware of the i9900 was updated in October of 2004 because of a need to upgrade the grayscale printing. I flashed mine at that time. Maybe the i9900 is just flawed, or it might just be the print head on mine. Perhaps it is the age, but I do not remember it producing better results in the past.

As a subtopic, there is no difference at all between the output of the 6-color ip6000D and the 8-color i9900, which of course takes larger paper. When I say no difference, I mean absolutely that just so that there is no mistake. If I were putting out commercial work today in letter size I would use the ip6000D.

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Grandad35]

WhiteDog,

I posted a close-up of a print from my i9900 at (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=392). Do your dots look different from these? The second photo in this post shows that the "dots" in a conventional print are much smaller than the i9900's dots. Even though the printer's dots are larger, they are still invisible to my unaided eye, and most people can't believe that my i9900 prints were produced on an inkjet.

I have never tested this personally, but the red and green inks are claimed to expand the color gamut when compared to 6 color printers. Unless you are printing deep reds or greens, it is understandable that there would be no difference in the printed color.

 

[fotofreek]

When comparing my prints from the i960 and ip5000, the quality is really comparable. The ip5000 has one picoliter nozzles, but even when used on a setting lower than the very best that can be produced with the ip5000, the prints are still comparable to the naked eye. I haven't compared them at high magnification.

 

[WhiteDog]

Thanks for the replies. My test image is located here http://www.inkpresspaper.com/PDI TargetLetter.jpg The test image contains a variety of colorful and contrasty items including a calibration panel (Kodak Q-60), Kodak color control patch, Gretag-Macbeth Colorchecker renditions chart. and a continuous gray scale up the right side, which is very useful in doing side-by-side comparisons of color output to grayscale. That is, when you print the picture twice on two halves of an 8x10 sheet, one grayscale and one in color, are the grayscales on the right side of both exactly similar? In some of my early efforts the grayscales had a slight magenta tint at 60 to 80% gray, and green at 15% to 30% on the same strip. This really shows how shifts can drive you crazy, but I have that part sorted out. I shall attempt to get an enlargement of my output to see if I can convey the comparison and the dot issue.