What do you use your Pro9000MkII for?

I've read, tons of times, how pigment ink prints have better longevity than dye ink prints. And I've read quite a few times that if you sell prints you really should be using pigment inks. (The implication being that dye ink prints start to fade almost before they're even out of the printer.) But it's pretty apparent that Canon sells a lot of Pro9000MkII's and I just can't imagine that they're all being used to print snapshots and refrigerator prints.
So... If you have a Pro9000II (or any other dye printer) what do you use it for, and do you sell your work?

Silly statement from me, but I thought the only way to produce a professional long lasting quality image on print is from a lab? I owned inkjet printers over the years and swore never to purchase another should I ever want to print photos. The image faded after a while or it turned a yucky green. It has been easier, cleaner and cheaper to get the lab to run my prints off. Every photo I have in my hands has come from a lab. I considered getting the canon printer but thought again, do these prints actually last or do they fade out?

I too would like to know what applications users have these printers used in?

Den

A lot of R&D work has been done over the years to develop inkjet inks for photo printing, focusing on durability/non-fading. In recent years, prints from quality photo printers are quite reliable.

Ummm... anybody?

There is no doubt that pigment inks last longer, but dye inks have gotten a lot better. E.g., Red River hires an independent lab to test various combinations of inks and its papers. They rate Epson Durabrite Ultra (pigment) at 51+ years and Canon Chromalife 100 (dye) at 9-12 years. Of course, there are lots of variables--how much light the print is exposed to, whether you use UV-protective glass, etc.

I use a Canon Pro 9000II (dye) and used to use a cheaper Canon dye-based printer. With two exceptions, I have not noticed fading so far. However, I am not using it for archival printing. If I were going to sell stuff, I would either use pigment inks or a lab.

One advantage of dye-based inks is that they rarely clog. If you are going to be printing all the time, this may not be an issue, but for me, it was. I may print a lot for a few weeks and then not at all for months, and I have never had a problem starting up one of my printers after months of inactivity. Canon heads are user replaceable, but I have never had to clean or replace one. For me, the nice part of printing at home is the freedom to play around with different papers, the almost instant gratification, and the degree of control. E.g., I just printed a card on matte card stock. Printers have a reduced gamut, and matte papers have a smaller gamut than coated papers. Sure enough, I used soft proofing in Lightroom, and the image looked awful. With 5 minutes of tweaking, I got it back more or less to what it would look like on screen or on a glossy surface.

I appreciate the input, guys, but what I'm looking for is an answer to the question:
If you have a Pro9000II (or any other dye printer) what do you use it for, and do you sell your work?
Canon has sold about a bazillion of these things; somebody's using them for something!

1. printing photos
2. printing cards.
3. no

Still have 2 in my garage and don't know what to do with them!?

ncjohn wrote in post #14573871
I've read, tons of times, how pigment ink prints have better longevity than dye ink prints. And I've read quite a few times that if you sell prints you really should be using pigment inks. (The implication being that dye ink prints start to fade almost before they're even out of the printer.) But it's pretty apparent that Canon sells a lot of Pro9000MkII's and I just can't imagine that they're all being used to print snapshots and refrigerator prints.
So... If you have a Pro9000II (or any other dye printer) what do you use it for, and do you sell your work?

I have the Pro9500mkII and had some trouble deciding between the 9500 and the 9000. In the end, I picked up the Pro9500 and thought of picking up the Pro9000 for glossy prints. The reason Canon sells a lot of Pro9000 is that it's cheaper and dye prints give you more saturated colors. I've never done a comparison but from what I've read, it seems that for color prints, especially glossy prints, many prefer the Pro9000 prints over the Pro9500 prints strictly from looking at it and without considerations for longevity. Additionally, there are a lot more 3rd party ink options for the Pro9000 and many people use 3rd party inks to keep costs down.

In terms of selling prints, I'm not a professional, but I would think that it's something you have to decide. How much faith do you have in dye prints? If you don't have faith in your dye prints and you sell your dye prints, it's your reputation at stake. Personally, the reason i went with the Pro9500 was because i was worried about longevity of my prints.

I use it to print photos.