Looking at 9900 printer

[Jerry Eisen]

Have owned the Epson 1280 for about 2-1/2 years and I think I want to switch to the Canon 9900. Will all the Epson paper I have on hand be ok with the Canon printer and how about pros & cons of the 9900

Thanks

Jerry

[FJC]

I have the i9100 printer, which I believe uses the same ink tanks as the i9900 (except the i9900 uses two additional colors). Epson paper seems to work very well in my printer.

[rcrobert]

Have owned the Epson 1280 for about 2-1/2 years and I think I want to switch to the Canon 9900. Will all the Epson paper I have on hand be ok with the Canon printer and how about pros & cons of the 9900


I've been debating switching from my Epson 1270 to this as well. Two points are keeping me from doing it so far. 1) The 9900 apparently can't print anything bigger than 13x19 -- no long panoramas like you can on the Epsons (up to 44" long I think). 2) Can't get any information on how much these inks fade compared to the Epsons.

If anyone could answer these concerns, I'd probably buy it today!

[Longwatcher]

I literally just got my i9900, I will let you know in mere moments.
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So far so good.
Busy printing out test prints
Results so far with installed drivers
Kodak Ultima Satin - touch more saturation then on screen
Kodak Ultima High Gloss - same looks real good though
Epson Photo High Glss - lost a touch of green from computer image, very subtle
Office Depot Glossy - Same as Epson
HP photo glossy - Also good (now that really surprises me)

My first impression is..
Even quieter then the S9000, a touch faster (even after slowing it down for the Kodak paper), and the only thing left to try is the 13x19 borderless.

In fairness I honestly can't see much (if any) difference between i9900 print and S9000 print although the greens and reds look a touch better

Picture I used is at

http://www.longwatcher.com/images/yard-red%20bird.jpg

To Answer questions
limit to paper length is 23.39 inches (according to the print custom size menu) It says width is 16.54, but since I can't get more then 13 inches wide into the printer that's not happening.

longevity question is (except for obviously red and green inks) on certain papers I can guarantee 19 months so far (using the same ink set (BCI-6) on Kodak Ultima paper in open air (but not in direct sunlight) and Canon Photo Pro paper if spray coated.
Otherwise the studies indicate 100 years (Kodak Study) and 25 years (Canon study) respectively. I would trust the Kodak study to 25 years in the open and the full 100 years if placed behind glass {this is based 1 part on my experience and 2 parts on comments I read on Willhelm Research page about Kodak studies (Wilhelm Research is a competitor to Kodak). The Canon study I would not trust except coated or behind glass as I have had several prints fade in the office on Canon paper without coating. Epson paper is running about the same so far, but I believe I am just starting to see a magenta shift on my Epson print which has been at my work location for 4 months so far (longer then Canon print made it) could be my imagination though.

Any thus my first impression of the i9900.

[rcrobert]

To Answer questions
limit to paper length is 23.39 inches (according to the print custom size menu) It says width is 16.54, but since I can't get more then 13 inches wide into the printer that's not happening.

longevity question is (except for obviously red and green inks) on certain papers I can guarantee 19 months so far (using the same ink set (BCI-6) on Kodak Ultima paper in open air (but not in direct sunlight) and Canon Photo Pro paper if spray coated. Otherwise the studies indicate 100 years (Kodak Study) and 25 years (Canon study) respectively. I would trust the Kodak study to 25 years in the open and the full 100 years if placed behind glass {this is based 1 part on my experience and 2 parts on comments I read on Willhelm Research page about Kodak studies (Wilhelm Research is a competitor to Kodak). The Canon study I would not trust except coated or behind glass as I have had several prints fade in the office on Canon paper without coating. Epson paper is running about the same so far, but I believe I am just starting to see a magenta shift on my Epson print which has been at my work location for 4 months so far (longer then Canon print made it) could be my imagination though.


Thank you very, very much! Those were just the answers I was looking for!! Now, I must just decide if 24" is long enough. I'm sort of partial to panoramas! Thanks again!

[ejwebb]

When you say "coated" what are you referring to? The spray fixer like my wife uses for her craft paints or is there something specific to use? I use photo paper pro and get very good results but have not tried much else since i tried the Epson Colorlife paper and got horrible results. Maybe I should try the Kodak - how is cost-wise compared to the Canon PPP?

[Longwatcher]

Spray fixer (such as lumijet) It is probably like what you wife uses for art prints, but it says "inkjet" on it (so probably costs more). I get it at a local photo store when needed, still have about half of the first can left, which after 1 year should tell you how often I use it (and mostly on 13x19 prints at that)

I usually get Kodak paper at CompUSA, Office Depot or Office Max when on sale, so consinderable less then Canon paper which I have never seen on sale, except at Compusa and their occasional buy any photo paper at 50% (which I am getting close to needing again). Other then on sale, Kodak Ultima is around the same cost per page as Canon photo paper Pro.

Please note specifically, I only recommend Kodak ULTIMA paper as I have had not as good results with their other papers and don't bother with the lesser papers. Also if using Kodak paper, be sure to set the Canon S9000 or (maybe) i9900 to high-quality - slow speed print mode (long dry time setting on i9900 print menu). I say maybe, because I set the new i9900 printer to slow mode and have not yet figured out how to get it out of this mode, but I have not RTFM yet, to busy making test prints.