Grade my printer purchase... Pro9000 MkII

[BeepBeep2]

I bought myself a Canon Pixma Pro9000 MkII on B&H today for $200 after MIR.

[[XC] leviathan18]

good deal in my book its a very nice printer

[[XC] Lead Head]

Judging by reviews, you did well. Getting tired of all these cheap trash printers around.

[BeepBeep2]

I've been thinking about getting a Spyder4Pro too so I can calibrate my monitors...both are TN panels and one doesn't have functioning buttons (I got it for $65, so it was a steal) but I think it would beat an IPS panel without calibration(?)

[[XC] leviathan18]

btw thanks for the heads up I think I will get the printer also

edit: A calibrated TN won't be a match to a good IPS monitor, if I were in a budget I will try to find a 24" dell ultrasharp

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Dell-UltraSh...puter_Monitors

I paid 1200$ for that baby when it came out, for 375 I think you can't get anything better than it.

1920x1200 card reader usb ports IPS calibrated from factory

[BeepBeep2]

btw thanks for the heads up I think I will get the printer also

edit: A calibrated TN won't be a match to a good IPS monitor, if I were in a budget I will try to find a 24" dell ultrasharp

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Dell-UltraSh...puter_Monitors

I paid 1200$ for that baby when it came out, for 375 I think you can't get anything better than it.

1920x1200 card reader usb ports IPS calibrated from factory

They bumped the price up to $250 after MIR but I still think it's a good deal. I hear Canon has quick MIR turn-around (1 month or less). As far as Super B 13x19 color prints go I think it's great for the money. Prints are tack sharp, extremely deep blacks and near perfect color saturation on both my cheaper HP Premium 64lb Semi-Gloss and Kodak Ultra 74lb Glossy.

Seems to be the best printer you can get under $500.

As far as a monitor goes I'm not sure if I'll be able to get one anytime soon. Maybe in a few months. I spent some time visually calibrating my monitors to get "close enough", I'd call them about 70% accurate, as far as gamma and saturation, and they don't match each other. I'm starting to think they are impossible to calibrate correctly. At least I can accurately predict what my prints will look like now.

Thanks for the suggestion on the monitor though, I'd been looking at the Dell monitor or the HP ZR24W but it seems to have major color shift problems.

I had to take this image with my cell phone, (I was in class) but it's clear to see that the blacks in the butterfly wings are much darker than the posterboard it's mounted on.

[[XC] leviathan18]

amazing print

[Mescalamba]

Its a good printer, even pro's are using it.

[BeepBeep2]

Yeah, it's been great so far, and photo prints are very fast compared to my middle level consumer printer.

I noticed that prints seem to be a little desaturated. That seems to be a limitation of the ink system and available color gamut of this printer. Otherwise I'm happy.

[Mescalamba]

Saturation is matter of paper and how you tweak your original photo. Its kinda logical, that it wont be as saturated as on backlight LCD when its paper, right?

Priting right is alchemy and science itself. Its quite useful to dip a bit into it.

[BeepBeep2]

Saturation is matter of paper and how you tweak your original photo. Its kinda logical, that it wont be as saturated as on backlight LCD when its paper, right?

Priting right is alchemy and science itself. Its quite useful to dip a bit into it.

Of course it's logical to be less saturated, but you act like I didn't have a cheap ty printer before this one...saturation is noticeably less than the $100 HP Photosmart C4180 multifunction I had before.

[neonblingbling]

I am a complete noob when it comes to printing photos, but how would a printer like this compare to printing at say, CVS or Costco? In terms of both quality and price per print. I would like to think ink and paper costs would make it cheaper than $3 for a 12x18 (Costco price), but I have no clue.

[[XC] leviathan18]

from the prices I've gathered a 6x4 print here in Panama in costco costs .10 cents, using this printer costs using the cheapest paper around .27 cents

[BeepBeep2]

from the prices I've gathered a 6x4 print here in Panama in costco costs .10 cents, using this printer costs using the cheapest paper around .27 cents

Plus 50 cents in gasoline here per round trip assuming 2 mile trip and 30MPG. It's closer to 75c.
Snapfish for example is 9c a print for 4x6, $3 for 8x10. mpix.com is 19c a print plus the cost of shipping.

My girlfriend (keep in mind that I am a 16 year old) uses snapfish for all of her prints (Local Wallgreens, she is a freshman in college studying Photography) and the quality leaves a bit to be desired. On a good day, your prints are great, on a bad day there is noticeable banding in color prints. Blacks are more of a dark grey as well, but black and white prints seem to turn out okay.

On B&H Photo, full replacement ink for this printer is $87, I'm not sure how many pages it's rated. (On Amazon.com it lists 280 on 5% coverage, which is not very good at all, but Canon website does not publish any numbers)

I've printed seven 8x10s and 15 5x7's so far on highest quality and the driver still says my ink is full. I've also done 2 Black and White 8x10's and several documents.

Physically, my black ink looks completely full, and my CYM cartridges are at at least 95%. Green and Red look full and Photo Magenta and Photo Cyan are over 90%.

I've printed the equivalent of about 50 color 4x6's now and have over 90% of my ink in all tanks, with Photo inks going a bit faster than others. It looks to me like I'll get about 400 4x6's out of my $87 ink before I have to replace the Photo Magenta/Cyan for ~$20, get another 200 prints out of the other inks. 600 prints per $110 is about 18c.

18c + 12c per photo paper / 4x6 puts me at 30c a print for 4x5, and 90c a print for 8x10 on highest quality. I can't calculate what I'd pay per 4x5 on normal quality as it probably uses less ink.

That's not bad at all, considering the 8x10 (what I mount and print most often...) @ Snapfish is $3.

mpix.com is 19c a 4x6 if they don't proof them, 29c if they do. 8x10's there are $2 a print. 11x14's though are $7, and then shipping costs. 12x18 on mpix are $11... D:

I'm still pretty sure this printer will pay for itself after a while compared to mpix.com as long as I print enough 8x10/11x14/12x18.

[neonblingbling]

Thanks for the approximate price breakdown. I may start off printing in local stores first to get a sense of their quality, and since I can't afford to plop down $200 right now.

[[XC] leviathan18]

for you guys

http://www.redrivercatalog.com/cost-...0-pro9500.html

price per print on ink only, you have to add paper to that.

http://www.usa.canon.com/CUSA/assets...printyield.pdf

this is the info i've gathered

[BeepBeep2]

for you guys

http://www.redrivercatalog.com/cost-...0-pro9500.html

price per print on ink only, you have to add paper to that.

http://www.usa.canon.com/CUSA/assets...printyield.pdf

this is the info i've gathered

Well, I calculated 18.3c a print 4x6 (which I never make, of course) roughly by looking at my own ink after ~50 4x6. I added 12c /4x6 for paper, what it would cost if I bought 50 sheets of 8.5x11 HP Premium Plus 280g/sm High Gloss paper for $12.40 (Amazon.com), which I prefer over the remaining of my Kodak 290g/sm Glossy paper that costs $33 for the same amount.

The Green and Red cartridges last forever, like I said Photo Cyan and Magenta use a bit more than the other colors, and it looks like the Yellow run out somewhere in between all of them.

So, I arrive at about 30c a print per 4x5 which is the same as mpix and save 100-200% for 8x10's and up. I needed a document printer, at the very least anyway, and now I have on demand printing.

If I went to a local store and did my printing for 10-20c I'd still have to pay the 75c for gasoline, quality at the very best would equal my printer as well. (At standard quality my prints look better than my girlfriend's)

Per 8 prints:
Myself: $2.4 at highest quality
Local Wallgreens which is across town, 5 miles away: $1.40 for gasoline @ current $ per gallon (3.85): $2.2

Per 16 prints:
Myself: ~$5 at highest quality
Local Wallgreens: $3

...I'm not going to sweat it.

[pcunite]

Canon printers are good. I think they make most of HP's part. I just got a HP Color LaserJet CP2025n. It was really made by Canon. Does pretty good for a laser too.

[Cookiesowns]

Good choice in a printer, make sure you get yourself some good paper to go with it as well. I have the bigger brother, I got it for $99 after MIR with Camera purchase ( 5D II )