Pixma Pro 9000 II for non-pictures

I finally set up my Pixma Pro 9000 II, but I was curious if anyone has used it for anything other than photos. I have a color laser, but I was wondering if I would be able to print off a couple copies of a news letter for my sons school without burning through expensive ink needlessly.

Well, a couple ideas, although I don't have the printer.

One, is to go through the various modes -- see if there is a "regular"/plain paper/text mode.

Also, something I do with the photo printer I use for text/documents that may or may not be available on yours -- I instruct the printer to manage color and then there is an option to print using only the black ink.

Have you read the documentation fully? It'd be worth the trouble of reading it and as much as you can find online about the printer!

tonylong wrote in post #13571162
Well, a couple ideas, although I don't have the printer.

One, is to go through the various modes -- see if there is a "regular"/plain paper/text mode.

Also, something I do with the photo printer I use for text/documents that may or may not be available on yours -- I instruct the printer to manage color and then there is an option to print using only the black ink.

Have you read the documentation fully? It'd be worth the trouble of reading it and as much as you can find online about the printer!

It does have a text mode and business document. The manual was a quick start, doesn't even tell you what side the paper should be facing. I had to take a guess.

I suspect it will "work", just curious if it will burn through ink that is better used for photos, I suspect it will use the other 4 cartridges that are not commonly used for photos and you usually keep getting extras to when you buy the 8 pack.

Well, that consideration is why I "tell" my printer to print black only in those situations. In fact, this particular printer also doesn't have the dedicated photo black/gray that my other printer uses for B&W/grayscale printing so it uses colors on those prints and I ended up saying "Black only" for my 8x10 B&W prints as well -- the color mix shows.

I'd say try printing some things in "document mode", maybe find a B&W image and see how it prints. I know that at least for my printer the Black is hardly used for "normal" printing so I force it!

tonylong wrote in post #13571230
Well, that consideration is why I "tell" my printer to print black only in those situations. In fact, this particular printer also doesn't have the dedicated photo black/gray that my other printer uses for B&W/grayscale printing so it uses colors on those prints and I ended up saying "Black only" for my 8x10 B&W prints as well -- the color mix shows.

I'd say try printing some things in "document mode", maybe find a B&W image and see how it prints. I know that at least for my printer the Black is hardly used for "normal" printing so I force it!

The newsletter would be in color, not B&W, if I was doing B&W only, I'd just stick with my laser. I do color on my laser as well, but when there are photographs, it doesn't come out as good as I would like.

Set mode to business doc and speed to fast which will use the least ink. I can't say how efficient it is for general printing because i print very little. Unless you do large batches there is no way to really tell how much ink is being used.

Color Laser Toner is MUCH less expensive than inkjet ink.

melanopsin wrote in post #13572771
Color Laser Toner is MUCH less expensive than inkjet ink.

+1 on that, I will use mine for things other than photos but usually only as a last resort as I only buy OEM cartridges now and they aint cheap..

I occasionally use my Pixma Pro 9000's for things other than photos but the print speed is fairly slow compared to a regular inkjet. I can't comment on the laser printers. I use the fast mode also, and I only use OEM inks. If I had a quantity of printing, I would use another printer. Quality is great with the 9000's but speed and cost is a factor.