Canon Pro 9000 (dye) or Canon Pro 9500 (pigment) ?

Hello,

I am hesitating between buying the Canon Pro 9000 (dye ink) and the Canon Pro 9500 (pigment ink).

I use it to print colour leaflets that I laminate and show in my windows, and some will even be exposed behind a window in direct sunlight.

I will exhibit them from a few months and sometimes up until three years.

I know that in these conditions (sun), whichever printer I choose the colours will tend to fade quickly.

Is it then worth buying the 9500, because the price, the paper and the ink are more expensive. The 9500 is known to have more resistant colors because of it's pigmented inks (200 years in a photo album) but with my "extreme" conditions in the sun and the short conservation time that I need, won't the result be about the same, whatever printer I choose ? I can even keep the leaflet for one year a print again if I need longer.

I would prefer to take the 9000 and it is also the advice that I received.

What do you think ?

Thanks for your advice !

the 9000 uses chromalife dye ink, which has a 100year achival rating. i would think that for color leaflets you wouldnt see any big advantages in the pro9500. its main advantage is for black and white photo printing since it has multiple black ink cartridges. as you mentioned, if one of them fades after a year or so, since you own the printer it will be dirt cheap to just print another one. i say go with the 9000. the 9500 isnt even avaliable yet. the 9000 is a great printer, i wouldnt hesitate to get it.

Thanks Billginthekeys for your answer, it helps me a lot, it confirms the choice that I want to do of the Pro 9000.

I will also print a lot of A4 leaflets that won't be exposed so I don't want to have twice the cost in ink and paper for those ones...

I had 3 others answers on a french forum that advices me to take also the 9000, but on another forum they speak only about "pigments". I posted an answer saying the 9000 is better for me, let's see what they will answer...

Dinkyo

Hello Billginthekeys, I got a very interesting answer on another forum from Ray, I give it to you here :

"The differences between dye and pigment inks has narrowed considerably in the last few years. It's not just ink technology that has improved, but also paper technology.

Pigment inks have inherently been more long lived, but have had their problems with colour gamut, which has been addressed through a greater number of inks.

Dye inks have inherently had a greater colour gamut, but have had issues with longevity, which has been addressed through better paper technology in swellable papers, as well as improved dyes.

Comparing my IPF5000 (pigment) and i9950 (dye) printers, there's not all that much difference in colour quality; however, B&W is much better with the IPF5000 because of the extra greys. That aside, and taking into account the latest Canon dye printers, I think that the differences have narrowed considerably.

The one big difference nowadays between pigment and dye prints is that pigment prints are pretty much waterproof; whereas, dye prints are definitely not. How either stand up to harsh sunlight conditions, I can't say at the moment, but for ordinary household conditions, I think both would be excellent.

The only other difference between pigment and dye based printers is that you have a greater range of papers to choose from for pigment printing. In a practical sense, this may not be an issue, as with my i9950, all I ever used was Ilford Galerie Classic Pearl. Most likely I'll never use more than two types of paper with the IPF5000."

Dinkyo

that all sounds about right. i have the i9900 myself (the US version of the 9950). the IPF5000 is a $2000 professional printer with $200 ink cartridges, so i would hope he gets better results from it, but as he said, the differences have narrowed so much these days (especially with the new chromalife dye), i see no reason to spend twice as much on a printer if its primary purpose will be fairly disposable prints. It will also do a fantastic job on fine photographic prints aswell. All the prints i sell are made on my i9900 and people are amazed that they werent done at a lab from negatives, so im sure the pro9000 can only be better.

I have a pro9000 printer and love it. I have had some of my pictures that are framed and hanging in the sunlight for about 6 months now and have not noticed any fading. I think Canon has done a great job with the new dye inks.. The color and picture quality is top notch. I sell many of my pictures and have never had a complaint. As stated before I think the only real advantage to the 9500 is in black and whites. But I have printed many black and whites from my 9000 and they look pretty darn good.. just my 2 cents... Good luck..