Dye vs pigment inks for plain paper

[Anadrol]

Hi all !

I own a Canon Pixma PRO-1 but refilling it with non OEM inks is a true nightmare.
So I want to buy a printer that is more refilling friendly.
I consider buying my inks from Precision Colors, or please advise me an alternative.

I hesitate between dye and pigment inks (meaning PRO-100 and PRO-10).
I need utmost color accuracy from scans (originals are on plain paper), and I will print on plain 100g paper.
I have a X-Rite i1 Pro 2 + i1Publish Pro 2, I scan with an Epson V750 Pro calibrated scanner (is anything better ? ).

Of course details accuracy is very important too.
I did read that I'd lose precision with dye inks, but the droplets are 3 pl on the PRO-100 vs 4 pl on the PRO-10 so well I wonder (I know that it's more complicated than that of course).

Results with the PRO-1 are truly excellent on plain paper (if calibrated) but a tiny bit duller than the originals, that's why I consider dye inks, longevity is not important.
I rarely print black and white pictures.

So please, would you rather advise me dye or pigment inks for plain paper ?
Basically my goal is to get perfect copys from the originals.
Aside ink type, is there anything that I should know about the workflow please ?

Thank you all !

 

[Roy Sletcher]

I am sure others more knowledgeable that I will soon rush in with advice.

On thing that comes to mind. Do you live anywhere near a canon agency or photo retailer.

Most in my area will make comparison prints and answer question. Especially if they think a sale is in the offing.

I have had prints made by Canon whereby I sent them a digital image, and they posted back a finished colour print. Still got a couple kicking around if only I could find them. I mainly used them to see how my prints compared to Canon`s experts doing the same print.

RS

 

[Anadrol]

Thank you Roy, that's a magnificient idea !

I will contact them.

Kind regards.

 

[The Hat]

If you’re looking for true colour accuracy then pigment has to be the answer because it’s only a matter of time before the dye ink will alter in certain conditions for your accuracy to falter.

The next thing is to use a paper surface that will be more acceptable to your inks and help you achieve better colour accuracy, the use of gloss optimiser can also help in these situations.

If you stick to the golden rule of allowing the printer to detect the paper surface you’re using then you will battle continuously with colour accuracy, turn that off and take control of your paper setting.

When you use any other ink other than OEM then profiling is essential to gain control of your colour output, and whether you choose to use Media setting of High, Standard, Custom or overprinting (double pass), all of these will influence/alter your final colour output.

I have used inks from Precision Colors and also from Maetone in China PIXMA PRO-1 replacement cartridge, with CHIP, PGI 29 and I am very happy with my colour accuracy from both, but now I am currently using my own mixture of inks from Precision Colors to refill my Pro 1.

To be honest if you seek colour consistency then search for an ink/paper combination, then after profiling stay with them don’t keep changing; otherwise you’ll spend all of your time getting nowhere fast.

Just because you got the best equipment don’t think for one moment that colour accuracy is guaranteed, just when you think you’ve got it right it can change in an instant my friend and leave you wandering aimlessly..

 

[martin0reg]

...
Results with the PRO-1 are truly excellent on plain paper (if calibrated) but a tiny bit duller than the originals, that's why I consider dye inks, longevity is not important.

With pigment ink on matte paper, including plain paper, you have to choose the matte black, not photo black, to get deep blacks. Anyway pigment inks could be less vivid than dye on some sort of paper, actual this depends on the ink and the paper and the profiling...

Besides I don't think that plain paper could be the proper choice for printing any kind of photos or photographic reproductions, because there is no coating at all to bring out the color gamut and sharpness/resolution of the printer and ink.