Newbe needs advice on new printers please.....

[Soja]

I'm the family 'photographer', I don't sell anything but when a family member needs pictures they come to me. I had a HP 2000C for 'general' printing and my Canon S800 for photographs. I do a lot of old photo restoration (for the family) as well. My HP just 'retired' and I was thinking of the Canon i9900. I am concerned however, that as soon as I buy it, a new model will come out next week. I have been doing my homework and know how long the i9900 has been out and thats why I'm worried. Does anyone know anything about new Canon models or, perhaps a web site that tells whats coming out? My homework included reading tons of stuff from this web site and I know how good the i9900 is from other peoples posts.
ANY information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Soja

 

[fotofreek]

The i9900 is a really good printer and the cartridges are refillable with bulk ink which is available from several vendors. The most poplular ones on this forum are MIS, Formulabs (from Alotofthings) and Hobbicolors, available on ebay. There will ALWAYS be new models, but they are not necessarily "new and improved." Until the present new Canon printers hit the marketplace with new inks and cartridges the "i" and "ip" series were essentially the same except for a few bells and whistles, and they used the same ink cartridges for several years. In the 8.5x11 size printers I would still buy the i960 if it were available in spite of the two model series that came after it. I'm sure you will hear the same thing about the i9900.

 

[tyamada]

There are many different rumors on the replacement printers for the Canon iP8500 and i9900. Most of the ones I read were 10 pigmented inks, price ????. The rumors also have the replacements being released from spring to summer 06. If you want one of the older printers, the supply is slowly drying up, the only older printers that are available are the ones in the pipeline, none of the older printers are being made anymore.

There was a little dabate going on at: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=16699008

 

[zstringer]

The review of the 9900 on Steve's Digicams, http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/canon_i9900.html, is dated 5/8/2004(!). Looks like a totally awesome printer. I didn't see any newer Canon printers reviewed that had a paper size of 13" x 19". I don't see how you could go wrong with the 9900. Personally I have the i960 which continues to amaze me with incredibly high output quality.

Have you considered the Epson Stylus Photo R1800 (http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/epson_r1800.html)? Wide format, 8 inkjet cartridges, etc.

Good luck and happy printing!

 

[hpnetserver]

I remember seeing somewhere that said you can plug in CLI-8 cartridges into BCI-6 slots of older Canon printers. The chip on the CLI-8 cartridge will not have any functionality but you do get newer ink from the CLI-8. Don't know if CLI-8 has red and green though. I suspect that there is any real difference in CLI-8 ink and BCI-6 ink. If there is a real advantage in CLI-8 ink it would have made both i9900 and ip8500 outdated and should have been discountinued and replaced with new ones that use CLI-8 cartridges. But They are still Canon's flagship printers. It makes me wonder if the advantages of the new ink in CLI-8 is only a sales pitch, a sugar coating for an excuse to put on the chip on their cartridges. There are only a few models right now that use CLI-8. If the sale of such chipped printers are not bad they will put the chip on all their new models. If the chip is proven a roadblock of their sales then BCI-6 will lead the way. We will see the verdict from consumers soon this year.

 

[Lette]

I'd search to google and here's another review on Canon i9900:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001DBHNA/002-2964020-3080802?v=glance&n=172282
http://printscan.about.com/od/printerreviews/fr/RU_Canoni9900.htm
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRINT/CI9/I9900.HTM

Hope it helps.

______________________________________
Business Cards Printing Services
"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."

 

[Soja]

Thanks for all your input.
It's clear now that if one is concerned about $$ then get the i9900 because waiting for the new printers puts you into fall before you get the 3d party inks and with the big price increase, money is an issue. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet on the archival inks. (Or buy an Epson at $150 more!)
I'm ordering the i9900 this weekend so any more input is going to be appreciated.
Thanks.

Soja

 

[hpnetserver]

Good decision on i9900. You can either use cheap 3rd party ink supplies recommended by many from this forum and print happily and save, or you can always use Canon OEM BCI-6 cartridges at a cost that is still way cheaper than that of Epson's. If you believe in Canon's bluff (or not bluff) you still have an option to buy Canon's CLI-8 cartridges (except for the red and green) and get the best archival prints from Canon's latest technology in dye based inks. There is no comparison in photo printing between pigment based ink and dye based ink. Pigment based ink gives your photo a look of painting. Dye based ink gives your photo the real look of photo. I have ip8500 which is basically the same as i9900 except smaller footprint. Absolute best photo printer ever had. Try to print on inkjet canvas and watercolor paper. Just fantastic.