This one is going to be the next printer I buy

[Watcher]

This new printer from Epson is amazing! Although it can print "only" to A4, look at the specs:

• 1.5 pl drops
• Can last up to 80 years*
• 6 colors (besides CMY, and additional Red and Blue and black, two types of)
• 8 individual tanks with one specially for glossy paper
• Uses Ultra Chrome inks (pigment)

Read the discussion on DP Review about it! From the thread, the 1.5pl pigment inks will be better than even 1.5pl dye inks (use by Canon) if it ever comes out. At US$400 with CD printing, it seems quite reasonable cf Epson 9XX series.



* - read Epson's disclaimers

I don't dare to buy Epson printers any more. The noozles of their printers have a tendency to clog up if you don't print every day. Both my C80 (which also uses individual cartridged pigment inks) and Photo 830 suffer from this and require extensive cleaning before every printing. They also have a tendency to spit ink droplets all over the expensive glossy papers. I think I use up more ink in the cleaning cycles than I do in actual printing. Ultra Chrome inks are currently used in their top of the line printer, the Photo 2100 and are known to be ultra-expensive too.

I just bought the the latest Canon i905 printer and am very happy with the print quality which is as good if not better than the Epson photo printers. It is a 6-ink printer, prints direct from all the different memory cards or supported cameras, has built-in colour LCD display, prints on CD and super-fast. The software that's bundled with the printer are simply superb. They are well-integrated and makes printing so much easier and smoother than in the case of the Epson printers.

[Howard]

Originally Posted by tomcat I don't dare to buy Epson printers any more. The noozles of their printers have a tendency to clog up if you don't print every day. Both my C80 (which also uses individual cartridged pigment inks) and Photo 830 suffer from this and require extensive cleaning before every printing. They also have a tendency to spit ink droplets all over the expensive glossy papers. I think I use up more ink in the cleaning cycles than I do in actual printing. Ultra Chrome inks are currently used in their top of the line printer, the Photo 2100 and are known to be ultra-expensive too. I just bought the the latest Canon i905 printer and am very happy with the print quality which is as good if not better than the Epson photo printers. It is a 6-ink printer, prints direct from all the different memory cards or supported cameras, has built-in colour LCD display, prints on CD and super-fast. The software that's bundled with the printer are simply superb. They are well-integrated and makes printing so much easier and smoother than in the case of the Epson printers.

How much you bought your i905? Apparantly a lot of new printer with six ink tanks coming... that is good news for us who demand high quality output...

Originally Posted by Howard How much you bought your i905? Apparantly a lot of new printer with six ink tanks coming... that is good news for us who demand high quality output...

I bought mine from Paris Silk Store for $468 (with GST). PK Computers is selling for $479. It's selling at a lower price than the i950 which it replaces and has more features than the i950. I think it has just been soft-launched here as there are no advertisements yet and very few sets are available in the market. Even South Asia does not seem to have any when I was there yesterday.

[caseytan]

huh ?? $468 ?? the official canon price is only S$429

http://www.canon.com.sg/index.cfm?fu...ison#dedicated

Originally Posted by caseytan huh ?? $468 ?? the official canon price is only S$429 http://www.canon.com.sg/index.cfm?fu...ison#dedicated

I saw that too but since every shop is selling around $479, maybe it's a typo error.

[Neo]

Woah... You bought the Canon i905D?

I saw the specs of the machine... Canon seems to be making brilliant printers nowadays! So it has CD-R printing, Think Tanks, 4R paper tray, built-in LCD screen, and it prints direct from any memory card and any brand of PictBridge-compatible digital camera.

That's it... I'm writing a letter to Canon now to complain... I paid $700 for my Canon S9000, and I only get a printer (okie... the A3 prints are great). How come you get so much more??

Seriously, can you update us on the photo quality of the printer? I might want to get the Canon i905D to complement my S9000, for stuff like direct printing and CD-R printing. Like the others, I had bad experience with Epson printers so I'm staying away from the clog-prone Epsons (even with original inks). The i905D sounds like an ideal photo printing machine to me, with all the right features for a photographer.

Originally Posted by Neo Seriously, can you update us on the photo quality of the printer? I might want to get the Canon i905D to complement my S9000, for stuff like direct printing and CD-R printing. Like the others, I had bad experience with Epson printers so I'm staying away from the clog-prone Epsons (even with original inks). The i905D sounds like an ideal photo printing machine to me, with all the right features for a photographer.

The photo printing quality is excellent, on par if not better than my Epson Photo 830. The colours are very smooth; cannot see the grains at all. What's more, it's superfast and really quiet. The Epson 830 is a very slow and noisy printer.

[StreetShooter]

Looks like the printer wars have just started. Whooppeee!

After recouping development costs, now they're starting to flood the market with the lowest price. The consumer benefits.

[caseytan]

check out today's paper, Canon had a full page on i865, looks nice optional duplex printing

but i think i will wait for i990 to be launch here

[Watcher]

Please, not too much OT here. Epson printer becomes Canon i905/i865 discussion?

As for your clogging, I do agree to some extend. I am using the 830 and heard and have experience the same thing, but not as bad. No spiting, etc and I've printed over 100 4Rs and about 15 A4s. What was recommended is to do a print once a week; a 4R print or even the test pattern. It is far cheaper than to purge. Now, Epson (and Canon and all the other printer company) of course want you to buy more ink. But you have also to know how to beat them in their own game.

Also, have you seen this software? It allows you to check the levels of the tanks individually, purge all, one color tank or extra strong purging. The cleaning of only one color is worth it as unlike the standard purge all, only the affected one (for me was most often the black and may be light magenta) is cleaned. It even tricks the system in detecting the level of ink .

With these minor steps, I've only used the black that c/w with the printer so far, and into my 3rd color tank (which is almost empty). I've bought this printer for 7 months and liked the color very much except that the ICC is not that accurate, producing darker prints that what I see on my calibrated monitor.

I recently threw away but took it back from the rubbish bin the black tank as it was running low, when my black head so clogged (as I didn't print anything for 2 weeks), only a few black lines came out (90% white ). It thought that the ink was low, and I can't clean the head as my color tanks are low. I used the above program to clean the the black head. Now, the test pattern is clear. I hope to be able to print say, 10 more 4Rs before I have to throw it way.

The next thing is to trick the system using the above software into printing more pages

The Canon prints have outgassing and fading problems. Outgassing is that even after more than 24 hours of drying, the print was glass framed. A few months later, the color faded, smudge and coated the glass with some greasy stuff. Read it off the DPReview.

[Ansel]

If same spec but can print A3, it will be really really nice.

[Watcher]

Originally Posted by Ansel If same spec but can print A3, it will be really really nice.

The Epson 4000!

[Ansel]

Originally Posted by Watcher The Epson 4000!

Is there such a printer? Can't find it on epson site. How much it it?

[Shadus]

Is this a epson only printer discussion? hmm.. not obvious from the thread title.

[erwinx]

Canon printer prices are great - each time they change model, the old model price drops eg: S820, 6 colour A4 borderless for $299, S9000 6 colour A3 non-borderless for $599....

haven't had any fading problems with my unframed prints placed on office walls for 6 months plus printed using s800. plenty of canon printer users here; haven't heard any complaints as well.

However, lots of complaints heard about Epson's 'clogging' problem for its consumer inkjets. I was a former Epson printer using too (photo 750) and experienced the clogging problem as well which is why i switched. 750 also had the 'pizza wheel tracks' problem on high gloss prints.

Of course, for A3 printers, Epson 2100 has really no competition. But for a lot of people here, i9100 is good enough (/me waiting for it to be replaced by new model so its price will plunge), with the money saved, can put towards a printer profiler (eye-one photo...)

Prospective buyers of Epson printers may also wish to do some research by searching in the usual forums/newsgroups 'Epson' and 'bronzing'

[Watcher]

Originally Posted by Ansel Is there such a printer? Can't find it on epson site. How much it it?

It will be available in US in Jan 04. Check it out in the DPReview forum. It is more of a Epson 5000 replacement.

[Watcher]

Originally Posted by erwinx Canon printer prices are great - each time they change model, the old model price drops eg: S820, 6 colour A4 borderless for $299, S9000 6 colour A3 non-borderless for $599.... haven't had any fading problems with my unframed prints placed on office walls for 6 months plus printed using s800. plenty of canon printer users here; haven't heard any complaints as well.

I used to be a Canon user. True, their inks are cheap. Mine picture faded after 1.5 years without framing in the shade. May be the ink has improved.

Originally Posted by erwinx Prospective buyers of Epson printers may also wish to do some research by searching in the usual forums/newsgroups 'Epson' and 'bronzing'

Ah the bronzing issue. It only appears with the premium glossy paper. Matt or semi-gloss (like pearl or luster or satin/silk) has no such issue. Third party paper must be checked if the pigment inks for these higher end printers are suitable. This issue is supposedly rectified (no one has confirm; Epson said nothing) in the 4000 printer using the same 70+ year UltraChrome inks. This R800 will have a special Gloss enhancer tank will eliminate it. The 2100/2200, 5000 and R800 all can take roll paper, which is cheaper than cut paper. If there is need for high volumn of printing, use the Niagara or other third party ink system that is approved by Epson.

Originally Posted by Watcher As for your clogging, I do agree to some extend. I am using the 830 and heard and have experience the same thing, but not as bad. No spiting, etc and I've printed over 100 4Rs and about 15 A4s. What was recommended is to do a print once a week; a 4R print or even the test pattern. It is far cheaper than to purge. Now, Epson (and Canon and all the other printer company) of course want you to buy more ink. But you have also to know how to beat them in their own game. The Canon prints have outgassing and fading problems. Outgassing is that even after more than 24 hours of drying, the print was glass framed. A few months later, the color faded, smudge and coated the glass with some greasy stuff. Read it off the DPReview.

After 2 out of 2 of my Epson printers gave me nozzle clogging and ink spitting problems, it would be really foolish of me to go for 3 out of 3, don't you think? Also, I do not want to be forced into a workflow in which I have to print unnecessarily once a week to keep my Epson printer happy or to have to do a nozzle check before each printing to make sure that I don't have nozzle clog.

The SSC Service Utility software for Epson printers sounds good especially since it is free. But does it trick the printer into letting you continue printing when the Itellidge chip on the cartridge says that it is empty. By the way, Epson USA is presently being sued by consumer groups in class action suits for forcing consumers to change ink cartridges when actually the cartridges are still 38% full when the Intellidge chip shuts down the printer claiming that the cartridge is empty !

I have not seen any actual user comments in the printer forum on dpreview that Canon prints using original ink and paper suffers from outgassing or fading. Most of the such comments appeared to be hearsays rather than actual experiences. If anything, the user comments have been very favourable. US users like to experiment with OEM inks and/or papers and this could give rises to such 'urban legends'. I have personally experienced such problems when I used some brands of OEM papers with both my HP and Epson printers whereby the ink either fades very fast or just sit on the surface and refused to sink in even after weeks.

[Watcher]

There seems to be some trouble with the reply feature, telling me that I have too many images (none) or smilies (about 6). Let me reply point by point.

- Bad experience with Epson printers. Frankly, I would feel the same way if I had the same experience (wow! 100% ). I'm not here to excuse them, but just to say that they have a new seemingly great printer that will do away with bronzing even though bronzing is an issue with the ink/paper combo rather than the printer.

- The SSC utility does allow you to save the current settings on the tanks and "write" back to the system to trick it into thinking that the tanks are full

- The class-action lawsuit. Although I hate the idea of them making me throw away precious and very expensive inks (rated as more expensive than Dom Perignon by volumn ), Epson won't lose. Why? Because they never promised that the tanks are empty, only the pages at a coverage level. This is the same with all. With the individual tanks, there will be less waste though I do like the Canon transparent ink tank.

-Canon print fading. Do a search in the printing forum of DPReview using "Canon" and "fade". I've returned quite a few in the past 2 weeks like:
this, this, this and this
The quote from the last article:

Quote: If you use Ilford Gallery Classic or Epson Colorlife with the S9000, even if you dry them for a week before framing, you still get 'outgassing', with a greasy film forming inside the glass of the frame over time, especially in heat (at an art show, I had to take down most of my prints because of slimy film forming on the glass in the hot sun). I eventually unmatted and wasted 100 prints from the S9000, as I felt it was unethical to sell them. If you want something that looks nice, is fairly inexpensive, but can't be expected to last, get the Canon, if you want the prints to be in good shape in 25 to 50 years as a family treasure, or if you sell, you need pigment inks.