Refilling Canon with OEM ink

[Ink stained Fingers]

How are the Fotonic Canon inks doing now in your fade test ? Are they any better than regular 3rd party refill inks ?

 

[martin0reg]

Well I should sort out my test samples, having made too many short tests of different inks and papers.. under the UV bulb I can put only four prints...
So here is a last update of the B&W series, printed with all four colors:
["UV1" = kept in dark / "UV2" = after 3 weeks under UV bulb]

Fuji DL is still looking good, almost as stable as canon OEM chromalife (sadly they are rather different from the start, you have to only take into account the fading of ONE pair)
While both fotonic XG and canon BCI is getting greener, the BCI more uneven.

No other 3rd parties in this competition, but just this week I got one more set of fotonic XG, a 6-color-set for an old S9000. The netherland seller smartink.nl , who told me the details about this special ink and what he knows from the manufacturer Nazdar, regarding the fact that it was originally developed for epson 6-color printers but then also offered for canon pro 9000. He gave me another set of his "house brand" to compare the fading. So I will run a test with the standard color sample...

BTW the UV test from PeterBJ with some very cheap compatible carts made me curious and I ordered a set from amazon which looks quite the same. Nobody knows which ink is in these no-name carts - but they seem to confirm the surprisingly good fading results of Peter's test
http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/photo-paper-at-aldi-dk.10719/page-3#post-93537
More on this after 1-2 weeks...

 

[martin0reg]

Now after two weeks here is my latest comparison of fotonic XG and two new competitors:
- some cheap compatibles from amazon, looking very similar to Peter's set (link see above), and which I hoped to be as good as them
- and "canon ultra chrome dye ink", the better of two housebrands from smartink.nl - the seller himself wants to see how it compares to the more expensive fotonic XG and gave me this extra set. So it is kind of sponsored... I truely have made no changes, just put the prints under my UV bulb

Only one scan to see all three side by side, left was kept in the dark.
From top to bottom: smartink "ultra chrome" - amazon compatibles - fotonic XG


Looking at the B&W image in the center, the no-name compatibles and the smartink are fading to the reddish side, while fotonic XG to the greenish side. I couldn't say for sure which fades the most because of the different color cast .. probably the no-names ..
But if you take a look at the babie's skin tones, XG seems to have fade stronger than the others!

Now the B&W test print (keira, using all colors) of these three is under UV, to see if the results of the other image are similar.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

can you run this test for some longer time to make the changes more obvious

 

[martin0reg]

Okay, next weekend, when the three B&W samples have got the same amount of 2 weeks UV, I can reduce the competition to smartink and fotonc XG.
Then I will put both the color and the B&W sample under the bulb (more than four doesn't fit under the lamp shade) and expose for two weeks more. Expect the result of four weeks UV exposure on christmas ... fading advent..

 

[martin0reg]

Addition to the fading comparison of:
- smartink ultrachrome - amazon compatible carts ("patronenland") - fotonic XG -

In post #53 you can see the color test image after two weeks, now here is my B&W test image after the same exposure. It was printed as usual using all 4 color channels, so it's virtually a color print, where even or uneven fading of the 4 colors is most visible...



Here the XG ink is the best of the three, I think that's clearly visible even after only two weeks. The print has a slight fading to the cold greenish side.
Smartink UC turns greenish with an uneven tint, while amazon turns more even to a faded sepia....

PS: I wonder why the 2 weeks result of the color image (post #53) isn't as positive for the XG ink... I may have to double proof my test samples...

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Here the XG ink is the best of the three

so the Fotonic XG ink would be a good alternative to Canon genuine inks in terms of fade resistance - how do these inks compare pricewise - e.g. relative to 100ml ?

 

[martin0reg]

There seem to be only a few suppliers selling the fotonic XG. And it's offered mostly for the old canon pro9000 (including LC, LM, G and R) ... or for the epson 1400, of the same age..?..

100ml bottles from smartink.nl are 16€, from marrutt 125ml bottles are 25 gbp.
Not cheap - but there are inks which do cost more...

But while it may be the most stable in this comparison, it is not as stable as our favorite dye ink for epson piezo printers. The XG does not come as close to canon OEM chromalife as DL ink comes to epson OEM (what it is actually...)
Fuji DL prize depends on the source, but I think it's roughly from 50usd for a 500ml cart up, at ebay resellers. New Epson surelab carts cost 45€ for 200ml

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I wouldn't think that the Fujifilm inks are identical to the Epson Claria inks, they have their own Ultrachrome D6 inks for the Surelab printers which are not identical to the Fujifilm inks either, slightly different gamut and another black level of the black ink. These very good performing inks have their prime market with the Drylab/Surelab printing business, not with refill, the Fotonic XG ink as a refill ink just is a pretty unkown niche product, barely known to anybody refilling his own printers - Canon or Epson. Years ago the Fotonic inks were available at farbenwerk.com in Germany but not anymore, most probably for lack of business. I would consider the pricing o.k. for somebody looking for the most UV-stable Canon refill ink, there is apparently not much competition at this performance level.

 

[martin0reg]

Last update Inksmart UC vs Fotonic XG after 3 weeks,
B&W sample using all colors, and the color sample.






I have no idea why the B&W seems to be more stable printed with XG
but not the color sample..?
Looking at the trees and babies, the weakest color of XG seems to be Y,
while in the UC set black is weak, looking at the dark image on the upper right.

Anyway I have to change my media, some other ink which is relatively unknown here (aomya) is on its way