3rd party Inks & Cartridges

[hentaitic]

Bought a complete set of Calidad (6 cartridges @ S$6.80 per cart) from Funan.

Haven't used it yet... but soon as my original Photo Cyan is almost out! Gonna replace the whole 6 original ones.

Wonder if I cap the original carts, will the ink dry out???

Anyone have any experience with these carts?
http://www.calidad.com.au/FindProdSt...p?PROD=S%20820

[hentaitic]

Of course there is also the omnipresent SEPOM inks.

http://www.sepoms.com.sg/SEPOMs/our.htm

Congrats, good luck with ya experiment and keep us posted.. hehe

Quote: Originally posted by hentaitic Bought a complete set of Calidad (6 cartridges @ S$6.80 per cart) from Funan. Haven't used it yet... but soon as my original Photo Cyan is almost out! Gonna replace the whole 6 original ones. Wonder if I cap the original carts, will the ink dry out??? Anyone have any experience with these carts? http://www.calidad.com.au/FindProdSt...p?PROD=S%20820

I used a set of Calidad, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow in my S520 a while back.

For normal printing, it looks great like the orinigal Canon cartridges.

However, I did an expensive test.

I printed the same image on a Kodak photo paper (4R) using Calidad ink, and was unsatisfied with the color.

Thinking it may be the Kodak paper's problem.

I reprinted the same image on Canon's Photo Paper Pro (4R) using Calidad ink, slight improvement.

I reprinted the same image on Canon's Photo Paper Pro (4R) using orinigal Canon ink.

And I compared the results of the last 2 printouts.
The black dress on image appeared blueish on the Calidad ink prints compared to the Canon ink.

The skin tones appear washed out and it looks less "vivid" on the Calidad ink prints compared to Canon's ink prints.

All the 3 prints are using the same image which is w/o any enhancement on Photoshop and w/o Enabling the "Effects" on the Printer's Settings/Properties page. (i.e No "Vivid Photo" or Photo Optimizer Pro..etc)

I showed the 3 prints to my friends and asked for comments w/o revealing which ones are using 3rd party inks and Canon inks.

All of them picked the Canon ink with Canon Photo Paper Pro, as the photo which is the closest to the actual image.

(including the 2 persons in the photo, themselves. They felt the other photos's did not accurately reproduce the colors of the clothes they are wearing)

From then, I decided stick with Canon inks, even though I know the prices has gone up again.

If you are not printing photos, and are printing web pages, presentations, reports. You should not see much difference.

The above are just my comments based on a comparison I made.

[hentaitic]

Quote: Originally posted by newuser I used a set of Calidad, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow in my S520 a while back.

I got the entire set of Calidads inks now, but after reading dpreview I am afraid to try.

Recommendation for Calidads inks are mostly for printers with printheads on the cartridge. Felt that I should have read the forum first before I bought the entire set of 6 carts.

After u r done with your experiment, any adverse effect on yr S520? Or is it back to normal once yr switch back to the original Canon inks?

Just FYI, I tried to order refill kit at US$75 frm inkjetgoodies.com but the shipping cost via UPS is US$45. So I am not proceeding with the order.

Guess it's original Canon cartridges for now...

[erwinx]

Quote: Originally posted by hentaitic I got the entire set of Calidads inks now, but after reading dpreview I am afraid to try.

no need to read dpreview (its on dpreview! It must be true!)

clubsnap also got comments: http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthrea...threadid=24622

Quote: Originally posted by hentaitic I got the entire set of Calidads inks now, but after reading dpreview I am afraid to try. Recommendation for Calidads inks are mostly for printers with printheads on the cartridge. Felt that I should have read the forum first before I bought the entire set of 6 carts. After u r done with your experiment, any adverse effect on yr S520? Or is it back to normal once yr switch back to the original Canon inks? Just FYI, I tried to order refill kit at US$75 frm inkjetgoodies.com but the shipping cost via UPS is US$45. So I am not proceeding with the order. Guess it's original Canon cartridges for now...

No, there was no adverse effect on my printer.
While I don't mind trying 3rd ink cartridges, I will never try ink-refills.

I tried it once on my 7 year old Epson once, maybe I did not follow instructions properly (though I was sure I did)
When I poke the old cartridges and injected the new ink in and then taped up the hole with the provided sticker.

I tried printing and there is nothing coming out on the paper. I opened up to check and was horrified to see the ink leaking!!!!!

Luckily it was only a little and I quickly removed the offending cartridge. cleaned up with a tissue and discarded the entire re-fill package away. Thankfully the printer survived.

But I would never attempt something like that ever again.

[hentaitic]

Quote: Originally posted by newuser No, there was no adverse effect on my printer. While I don't mind trying 3rd ink cartridges, I will never try ink-refills. I tried it once on my 7 year old Epson once, maybe I did not follow instructions properly (though I was sure I did) When I poke the old cartridges and injected the new ink in and then taped up the hole with the provided sticker. I tried printing and there is nothing coming out on the paper. I opened up to check and was horrified to see the ink leaking!!!!! Luckily it was only a little and I quickly removed the offending cartridge. cleaned up with a tissue and discarded the entire re-fill package away. Thankfully the printer survived. But I would never attempt something like that ever again.

Sorry to hear of yr bad experience with refills. I am actually very interested in refilling than with replacing cartridges everytime it runs out.

Now gonna check out Inktec inks or cartridges. Found they have a local distributor here in Singapore from www.inktec.com

Someone mentioned that the best inks come from the US, Japan and Korea. So with Inktec made in Korea, I've gotta give it a try.