New Canon MP980

[mikling]

Got a close look at the new Canon MP980 as well. This replaces the MP970. Interesting printer.
They've removed the light magenta and light cyan from the 970 but added a gray tank for B&W printing. The pigment ink stays as before.
One thing though, their cartridges are indeed very small. I heard they were going to get smaller but I never realized that much smaller.

What was interesting was that Canon showed output from both the 980 and 9500. The differences between the two was indeed slight and would not be noticed by many consumers. Interesting they used an identical image that I had used once in comparing an Epson R200 to an iP4200 and the difference between the two was similar to that of the 980 and 9500. I saw increased tonal depth and dynamic range in the 9500 output just like the R200 seem to have this better than the iP4200. The 4 color printers appear to give a brighter image as if gamma was bumped up a bit and just seems to give up a bit of dynamic range at the same time.

Despite the theory of 4 color printing potentially doing it all, the multicolor models just seem to consistently exhibit higher quality images. Is it the extra colors that provides this advantage ? it could be another design criteria. I also wonder if the 4 color machines are targeted at consumers who might prefer bright and vivid pictures and where tonal and dynamic range is not an issue. I don't know exactly. But the comparison of output between their top end 9500 and 980 is an indicator of their deign criteria for target markets.

 

[billkunert]

HP had some printers a few years ago(maybe they still do) that used a grey cartridge for black & white photo printing. If I remember correctly it was similar to the 58 photo cart only had black and grey instead of photo color ink. Never saw the output from one but was supposed to improve B & W quality.

 

[mikling]

Hp has had a unique line of desktop photoprinters that included the option of using gray inks for B&W printing. When so equipped, a total of 4 gray black colors were onboard to be used. Whether it solely used the gray cartridge for B&W printing, I am not sure. However, these printers supposedly produced nice dye based B&W output. Alas, those cartridges held so little ink.

 

[panos]

I'll never buy any of these models, even if a resetter becomes available.

Smaller cartridges means more time spent to replace them, more maintenance cleaning cycles and more time spent on refilling.

Smaller cartridges also means that letting the printer finish a large job and returning back in the next morning will no longer be an option as one of the cartridges will probably get empty and the printer will wait for it to be replaced. Not to mention that if you have gone through the route of cancelling the counter your printhead will be damaged beyond repair.

It seems this time Canon has become really serious against refilling. But they are hurting customers who don't refill in the process.

 

[headphonesman]

I'll never buy any of these models, even if a resetter becomes available.

Smaller cartridges means more time spent to replace them, more maintenance cleaning cycles and more time spent on refilling.

Smaller cartridges also means that letting the printer finish a large job and returning back in the next morning will no longer be an option as one of the cartridges will probably get empty and the printer will wait for it to be replaced. Not to mention that if you have gone through the route of cancelling the counter your printhead will be damaged beyond repair.

It seems this time Canon has become really serious against refilling. But they are hurting customers who don't refill in the process.

If they really wanted to make a new selling point they could make the carts bigger pointing out they had also reduced the cost as well , that would attract both new and old users (and refillers).

 

[pharmacist]

Haha, my evil thoughts: just program the printer to make more cleaning cycles than the older models to waste more ink and let you buy more cartridges, which are even more expensive in price/ml than the older CLI-8 cartridges and giving the shareholders of Canon more money.....

 

[Tin Ho]

In my opinion Canon removed PC and PM ink cartridges from MP970 because MP970 did not sell well. MP970 is not replaced by MP980. It is simply discontinued. The majority of people who buy inkjet printers are not for printing photos. They do not need the two extra cartridges. MP830 on the other hand sold very well. MP980 will disappear as fast as they show up in computer stores. The traditional wet print process is still the best for black and white photos. Who will buy inkjet printers for serious black and white printing? The majority of people who buy inkjet printers for printing photos do not buy multifunctions. They buy ip6700d or pro9000 instead.

By the way, despite Epson R200/300 has the light Cyan and Magenta they are no match to Canon IP4200's photo quality. I have compared extensively among this class of Epson printers with Canon ip4000, ip4200, ip4300 and ip4500. I have to describe this class of Epson printers wimpy. Canon ip4x00 printers are far superior in tonal depth and wider range of colors. Epson Piezo print heads lack the true native resolution and its ink droplet size is no match to Canon's. These are among the reasons this class of Epson printers compare poorly to Canon ip4x00 series printers.

Printers that usi pigment based inks are of course a different class of printers. Epson is far ahead of the game of course. I have tried a few low end Epsons with Dura-Brite ink. I still much prefer Canon printers despite the inks are not archival. I can't give up the superior vividness of dye based inks from Canon printers. There are too many colors to give up to print photos with pigment based inks.

 

[pharmacist]

I think Canon should have introduced a A3+ printer with the same printhead used in the MP970 printer, let's call it the Canon IX6600, then you will have a marvellous A3+ printer which is a true allround 6-colour printer giving superb photo quality prints and the black PGI-5Bk guarantees deep black text prints.

 

[mikling]

It's becoming very obvious what Canon's direction is. They are following HP's.
The Canon rep emphasized the lower cost per cartridge( not mentioning lower capacity) and the LOW INITIAL cost. We all know that HP is the one that originated this game and due to its success continue with it in the consumer arena. It is the one that produces the most profit and attracts the largest base with its low initial cost. That game simply works and looks like it always will for the general consumer for the foreseeable future.

 

[jflan]

Otherwise known as the "Gillette Business Model" based on selling the public, razor blades that fit their durable blade holders.
The scheme became obsolete with the introduction of the disposable Bic razor.....Hmmmmm :|