Why do my Canon PIXMA's photo prints suck?

[Tin Ho]

Kodak premium photo paper had the problem like yours. It was widely discussed on some forums about two years ago. But then looking at Kodak's instruction for the paper to be printed by Canon i960 it said to use plain paper setup and set Quality to high and halftoning to diffucsion. It did solve the problem for the Kodak paper. Your problems looks just like that. But I said it maybe a setup problem (like what's needed for Kodak paper). Give it a try it may surprise you (or not at all).

 

[KnightCrawler]

1. What software are you using ?

2. What Camera did you take the picture with and what resolution ?

3. What settings are you using when printing ?


PS: The 3000 works great for photos, your model is either setup wrong or defective.

 

[Tin Ho]

I think it was called ink pooling on photo paper. Change printer setup will eliminate it. Some photo paper never have this problem. Kodak was (is?) one that had it.

 

[digitalartist71]

i agree with tin ho.... lots of paper manufacturers and distributors to mix it all up.... you shouldn't have this problem with genuine canon paper...but not saying u have to use it....there a re cheaper solutions that are very smiliar to the real stuff without losing print quality.

i know high end printer color profiling systems have a test that is run called INK LIMITING....it prints a patch of RICH BLACK (high percentages of CMYK mixed to create a RICH black) at different levels similar to a grayscale ramp.....when to muh ink is laid down , it POOLS up...... you then tll the profile software which last darkest patch was not pooling and acceptbe..and that is it's INK LIMIT. papers such as some Kodak papers are more resistant to the inks.a.nd pool more quickly causing this mottled muddy look. in order to use papers such as those, profile software/hardware would need to be used to setup the profiles accordingly....or if u can can just purchase or aquire a ready built profile by somebody else. Profiling is basically "the profile" of the paper, ink and printer rez settings combo. if none of this likes your problem...then something else is totally wrong...could be the printer driver or the printer itself. I did get good photos with my ip3000 (head broke now).... it's not a BAD printer...more geared for more than JUST photos (i.e. printers that don't have BLACK pigment ink...have lighter black text, or have to mix all colors to make it resulting in slower print speeds).

 

[zhenochs]

Thanks, Tin Ho, looks like the settings were actually to blame. I have been using Kodak Premium Photo paper lately, and after grabbing the right settings from here
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-locale=en_US&pq-path=1963
it works like a charm.

 

[fotofreek]

I tried Kodak photo paper on an Epson stylus color 900 with lousy results. Ink took forever to dry and I had bronzing in the dark areas. No setting that Kodak gave me helped and their suggestion that I use their free downloadable software wasn't an alternative as it is a "dumbed-down" program. I haven't tried it on my i960 or ip5000 as I gave all of it away a few years ago. Needless to say, it seems to require special handling on Epson and Canon printers. I wouldn't bother, given that Epson, Canon, and Kirkland papers work so well. I am using some Kodak matte paper presently and like it for certain applications. It just became available at Costco at a very good price.

 

[Tin Ho]

The bronzing reflection is caused by pigmented ink printed on most glossy photo paper. It is probably from your black ink that contains pigment in it. Are you refilling your Epson Stylus 900? You probably got pigmented ink for your black. This type of black ink contains a mixture of black dyes and pigments. If you own an Epson photo printer but do print text a lot this is a good ink for refilling your black ink cartridge. It has the proper viscosity so that it will not clog your print head. But when you print photos there will be the bronzing reflection. This type of ink was originally developed for the Chinese domestic market where there are a lot of Epson printers. They print more text than photos there. It too has found its way into the US market. For an Epson photo printer like the Stylus 900 it is not a bad ink to use for text printing.

I believe a similar formulation for Canon's BCI-3ebk and for many older or smaller Canon printers is available. This ink can produce same quality of text prints but will save your print head from clogging by using pure pigmented ink. Being a mixture of dye and pigment the ink mantains a correct viscosity to keep the ink flowing smoothly in the ink cartridge which is critical to keep the print head from clogging.

 

[fotofreek]

Tin Ho - The Epson color stylus inks are all dye-based. I was using only OEM Epson ink in that printer. I believe that the bronzing was the result of two problems - 1) too much ink and 2)Kodak paper technology that, unlike Canon or Epson paper, didn't permit the ink to immediately get laid down beneath the surface. The ink sits on the surface, has the potential to smear, and when dry leaves the "bronze" look in dark area. I did try refilling with this printer (with Epson's MIS inks) and had problems with color balance. To lower photo printing costs and move on to better photo prints I dumped this printer, bought a Canon i960, and purchased bulk ink from MIS to refill the bci-6 carts. Excellent color balance and saved the cost of the new printer many times over.