Profile and paper for Canon Pro 9000 mkii

ni9eofse7en

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Just my thoughts on best paper and profile on the Canon Pro 9000 mkii.

I have yet to fully understand colour management, so I have relied upon the paper maunfacturers instructions, along with info from experienced users on this and other forums.

Lidl Unicorm Premium Photo Glossy 240gsm - a bit flat using std Adobe RGB settings, but at a price thats acceptable for snap shots.

Lyson pro photo 265 gsm paper, gloss and satin - dissappointing - with ICC profiles produced images which were muddy with a green cast. I was supplied with a test print done on an Epson 2400 which was very good, so based this as a standard. Unfortunately when I asked the supplier for their thoughts on the quality I got, the answer was confusing and left me with more questions. Lyson products may be very good given the right printer and more experienced hands, they seem to be aiming very much at Epson users, so for this Canon user its a no no.

Innova - IFA49 Ultra Smooth Gloss 285gsm - using ICC profile prints were overstaurated with red. One image was a row of Beach huts and the hut in red in the foreground lost most of its contrast. The door for example when printed on cheap paper shows the joints and laps as I would expect, On Innova its all but washed out by the red. IFA36 280gsm Polycotton Gloss Photo Canvas although the image was warmer than photo paper, I like this canvas and it did not feather on the print as Pharmacist advised it can using dye inks.

Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss 290gsm - read a few good reviews on this paper, and have used Ilford products before in the darkroom so expectations were high, and so far I am pleased with the results. A B&W print, for which the Canon Pro 9000 is not recommended for, are excellent - solid blacks, good midtones and lovely clean whites. it makes me want to dig out some old 35mm negatives and see what I can produce. Colour prints are rich if a little too dark for my eyes, a little tweak here may be all thats needed, but the best I have produced yet. I used the ICC profile and followed Ilfords own printing guide. I have ordered a box of Satin so will try this when it arrives in the next few days.

Its only a mini test, however it was driven partially by other reviews on the above and the desire to produce A3+ prints within a mid range budget that I could be proud of, and hopefully to be of help to others.

And now to throw a cat amongst the pigeons as we say in Yorkshire. The carts in the printer are a mix of Canon originals whilst the Photo Magenta, Photo Cyan and Yellow have been refilled with ink from Octoinkjet so things may change, but given reviews and info on the replacement ink, I don't think it will be too far off from producing results seen to date. If anyone is interested I will publish test results when I am using refilled on most if not all the carts ( I think the green and red original carts may be in the printer for a while).
 

Grandad35

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What program are you using to print? Unless you understand color management, you should avoid aRGB and stick with sRGB. Most printing programs assume sRGB and very few handle aRGB correctly.

When you get profiles from the paper supplier, they were almost always developed for an OEM inkset. They are not valid for other inksets.

Mixing inks from different suppliers is a sure way to drive yourself crazy chasing colors. If you get acceptable colors, great. But don't be surprised if the colors are off.
 

ni9eofse7en

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Yes missed that one, thats why I am not a journalist.

Software is Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 in the main, and I have also tried Canons own Easy Photo print Ex, both came with the printer. I am working on coming to terms with colour management, and whilst I have improved my understanding in that area, I welcome feedback from the more experienced.

All initial test were done using OEM carts, using the manufacturers own ICC profiles and instructions. However I threw in the last paragraph stating that things may change, so I do appreciate what you say in your last line.

As a new line, I showed the results to my uncle this evening who until recently was a semi professional photographer, having had his work for over 50 years published in golf magazines and books as well as industrial journals. He agreed about the Lyson and Innova prints, yet preferred the B&W prints on the cheap Lidl paper. Beauty as it is said is in the eye of the beholder.

Like I stated its just my thoughts and findings in my own words, and I welcome others findings and feedback using this printer. It is what you perceive to be the best for your setup, and whilst others will have a different opinion, I personally find other peoples findings of as much if not more use than just relying on the manufacturers own words. So basically what is the thing like in the real world, and my post reflects my own personal findings and opinions, as well as what I would would spend my brass on.

Grandad35, what printer, ink and paper do you use, as this may be of interest to your fellow U.S users and forum readers?
 

Grandad35

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I shoot RAW and use Photoshop CS4 to process and edit the images, but use Qimage to print. Both programs have full color management capabilities, but Qimage is (IMHO) far easier to use and more versatile for printing. I don't use Elements, but it apparently can print with full color management.

I have used Canon's Easy Photo Print in the past, but my version would only use Canon's embedded profiles for their ink and papers. It didn't matter what values I selected in the printer driver, this program just ignored them. I don't know if it handles non-sRGB color spaces.

I use a Canon i9900 (with 2 working spares and 4 print heads in reserve). I refill and am still working off a "lifetime buy" of Formulabs inks purchased before Alotofthings went out of business. My snapshots are printed on Costco glossy 8.5 x 11 paper, and my framed images are printed on Ilford Classic Pearl (matte finish swellable). I have an Eye-One Photo Spectrophotometer and generate my own profiles for my printer, ink and paper combinations. You can buy custom profiles for about $35 in the US (http://www.cathysprofiles.com/order.html), so you don't need a spectrophotometer to get custom profiles.

Read the section on printing using Photoshop's color management in this post.
 

mikling

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On my Pro9000, I was able to get the best output it has ever produced using a HP Premium Plus Glossy paper which is also a swellable paper like the Ilford Classic line.
 

ni9eofse7en

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Thanks for the info, I have viewed the pages before and used info therein. I will also look further in to the Qimage software mentioned.

I have just tweakd the settings slightly today to produce what I believe is a more natural image, by selecting photo glossy II paper as recommended by Ilford and increasing brightness by 15% within PE 6. The brightness is subjective and would be down to the individuals taste.

Also received today a box of Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl, and the recommended settings are identical to the gloss bar using the correct ICC profile. I am happy with both papers, and would be happy to use their A3+ paper.

Mikling I have read that the HP paper you use may be manufactured by Ilford, which if thats the case would explain the similarity.
 

ni9eofse7en

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You are never to old to learn something new. Downloaded the trial version of Qimage and printed a low res image that looked pixelated on the monitor, used the ICC profile, but did not change the image quality other than to scale it up to A4, then printed same from Photoshop Elements 6. Even at first glance the Qimage print looked clearer, more defined, then after 20 mins I looked at sections of the prints through an 8X magnifier, and boy do you notice a difference. Wonder how it will handle A3+ and can it do panoramics that the std Canon driver will not allow, I read whilst reviewing the software that it can on an Epson - Grandad35 can you answer this one?
 

Grandad35

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The pano limitation is in the Canon driver or the printer - Qimage can't get around that limitation (nor can any program that I know of).

Qimage automatically uprezzes to Canon's native 600 x 600 ppi with advanced interpolation techniques, while other programs just send large pixels. It's just one of the reasons why I use it; including A3 prints. There are other programs that are also good for uprezzing - e.g. Genuine Fractals.
 

ni9eofse7en

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Big difference in price from Qimage to Genuine Fractals, is the latter 3x better or is it because it's aimed at the professional market rather than than the general photographer.

I did figure out late last night that the panoramic limitations were down to Canons own driver limitations, and it appears that there is no way of improving on that. Do not quite understand that when Canons own cameras can do large panoramics, but hey ho!
 

pharmacist

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I use the UDPS utility to make panorama's up to 6.5 metres. Unfortunately it is limited to Epson Printers (Epson 1400, R1800, R1900, R2400, Epson Pro 3800).
 

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