canon i990 or pixma 5000

[tulsidas]

Just saw that hardwarezone lists a promotion for canon i990 ($299 only). Would like to know how this compares with the pixma 5000 5 colour system which is around $100 more. Is the i990 likely to be EOL soon ?

Cheers !

[Neo]

Difficult to say... the i990 has been replaced by the new PIXMA iP8500. It's still a darn good photo printer, with 7-colours, 2-pico litre ink droplets and 4800 dpi resolution. But the iP5000 comes with 1 picolitre (!) and 9600dpi (!!) resolution, which will supposedly give very good results. I've seen the i990 results, but not the iP5000.

Given that the SITEX show is just around the corner, why not wait till then? Bring your digital image there and make them print out the same image on both printers... then you've got yourself a apple to apple comparison. Somemore.... maybe got good discount?

[Hommie]

Hi tulsidas,

these are pretty different printers. i990 is more or less a Photo Printer with its 7 ink tanks. While Pixma 5000 1 picolitre and 9600 gives a higher resolution. If you want to printout colour photos, the i990 is the ideal printer. For all else, iP5000 is the faster powerful all rounder.

[jsbn]

Originally Posted by tulsidas Just saw that hardwarezone lists a promotion for canon i990 ($299 only). Would like to know how this compares with the pixma 5000 5 colour system which is around $100 more. Is the i990 likely to be EOL soon ? Cheers !

As printers become more compact, more powerful, especially with Sitex just like 2wks around the corner, I seriously advise u to wait for the Canon promos to be out before buying it.

Compare not only the technical specs, but also the printouts. Its useless to see manufacturers claim high heaven, and the printout is not up to ur satisfaction.

Bring ur digital image, get a printout on the same paper type with the same resolution on both printers. Den do a side by side comparison.

If u wanna nitpick, get a magnifying glass along.

If I got the moola, I'll get the Pixma. But I reckon my i560 can still do a reasonably good job with 4Rs until 5 or 7 colour printers fall to a decent price like sub-$200 range. So, I'll hang on till then.

[Julian]

The exact replacement model for i990 is the Pixma 8500.

[MotoNik]

I'm new to digital photography, am thinking of getting a photo printer. Which Epson printer is comparable to the Canon Pixma 8500? I have a budget of about $800. Thanks

[yaoxing]

Get the Epson R800. You won't go wrong with it.

[imaginary_number]

Not too familiar with Epson printers... is it true that the printhead clogs easily?

[tulsidas]

Originally Posted by jsbn As printers become more compact, more powerful, especially with Sitex just like 2wks around the corner, I seriously advise u to wait for the Canon promos to be out before buying it. Compare not only the technical specs, but also the printouts. Its useless to see manufacturers claim high heaven, and the printout is not up to ur satisfaction. Bring ur digital image, get a printout on the same paper type with the same resolution on both printers. Den do a side by side comparison. If u wanna nitpick, get a magnifying glass along. If I got the moola, I'll get the Pixma. But I reckon my i560 can still do a reasonably good job with 4Rs until 5 or 7 colour printers fall to a decent price like sub-$200 range. So, I'll hang on till then.

At sitex got sample A4 prints on ip5000 and ip8500, this was with the default settings and no profiles. As far as sharpness is concerned cant really tell the difference between the two. Surprisingly the colors on the ip5000 came out much warmer and richer than the ip8500 (guess the default settings on ip8500 need to be adjusted)


However the i990 seems to be good buy at the promo price. Still unsure if this is being discontinued and therefore the reduced price.

[yaoxing]

So which printer have you bought?

[tulsidas]

haven't bought anything new yet ......decisions decisions !!! :-)
Still trudging along with my 4year old epson 870

[yaoxing]

Stylus Photo 870 is 6-ink or 4-ink? If it's 4-ink, then I would say getting a i990 at $299 should not be missed. I just bought a 2nd hand Stylus Photo 1290 (A3+ size) and it's producing great prints for me at the moment. Not sure whether I should also get the i990 as well to take advantage of its features. Anyway, i990 does NOT support CD-R printing right?

[tim]

Stylus Photo 870 is a 6-ink'er. Canon i990 do support CD-R printing. Stylus Photo 1290 is a great printer (thinking of buying a used one too) but slow compare to i9910.

Cheers

[yaoxing]

To me speed isn't a really important factor. What's important to me are the print quality and the cost of consumables. The only think I don't like about 1290 so far is the colour cartridge is a combined 5-in-1 one. Other than that it's perfect.

[tim]

I agreed ..... speed is important for people in printing photos as business. IMO, the Epson 1290 is comparable to the i9910 if you get e.g. colour profile, media... etc right and it may beat the i9910.

About a couple of weeks back.... I did what some ClubSnap'ers recommendation.... bring your own image to Canon at Funan n requested a print-out with the i9950 on their best paper. I also brought along the same print-out did by the 2100 on the semi-gloss paper to compare. There were so many "why" n "what program you printed with" I told them... photoshop n so they did another print-out with photoshop n again "what"?? "why". You can checked with the staffs at canon funan... about that guy who brought a image of Mercedes F1 to test print. I still have the three print-outs with canon and epson's.

All I can say is both printers are great which I will not hesitate to buy one over the other.... the same goes with BMW better or Mercedes better...... merc's parts cheaper.... etc.

[Neo]

If you're into photo printing, then get a printer with individual ink tanks. Those who've been using individual ink tanks printers would realise that the photo cyan, photo magenta and yellow inks will always tend to run out much faster than colours like cyan and magenta. You wouldn't realize how much ink you're wasting unless you're using an individual ink tank printer! Canon's printers come with transparent tanks. You can really see much inks there're left in other cartridges when you change the empty ones... that's how much ink you're throwing away if you've been using those 5-colour-in-1 ink cartridge. Consider the Canon i9950 and Epson 2100 if you wish... but not the 1290... quite a old model and no individual ink tanks...

[tim]

Agreed.... if you getting a new printer as most of the Canon and Epson latest photo printers are using individual inks. Therefore an used (if you got it for a song) 1290, it's still good. I would install a CIS to save on ink cost.

When I saw Epson (last month) having a Sales promotion for the R210, R310, some Durabrite printers and the 1290; I was surprised that they are selling it for S$600 plus. IMO for this kind of monies, I WILL NOT consider the 1290, even the (S$699) R800. I will buy the Canon i9950 for S$699 ... becos of the A3+ printing.