Canon Pro9000/i9900 recommend ink mfg.

[davewe]

So I am just about to pull the trigger on either a slightly used Pro9000 or i9900 but the cost of the OEM cartridges scares me. which brought me to this forum.

Yes, I see all kinds of Internet ads for cheaper cartridges or refillable systems. I also called my local Cartridge World who has Pro9000 cartridges for about 1/2 the price of new OEMs.

While I am not a pro photog, I still want good quality prints. Can anyone recommend good ink vendors whose inks are really comparable to Canon's?

Thanks for any info.

dave

 

[pharmacist]

Yes, choose Hobbicolors UW-8 or Image Specialists ink. I myself had used Hobbicolors UW-8 ink in my Canon i9950 (EU-version i9900 with CD/DVD-printing capability) and the colours are just marvelous and vibrant and fade resistance is very acceptable (not as good, but still very impressive compared to el-cheapo cartridges, which fade horribly within a month).

 

[ghwellsjr]

You'll have a much easier time with the older i9900 because its cartridges do not have chips in them which means you will have much more availability of compatible cartridges (cheaper, too) if you don't want to refill your own.

 

[marceltho]

I use the original cartridges, refill them with the German method and bought a chip resetter. Next to that I have a spare set of OEM cartridges. I use Hobbicolors, and like it, have no problems, but whatever third party ink you chose, refilling OEM carts with a resetter works like a charm.
I printed 100 brochures borderless, 2 sides 8 1/2 x 11" and used only 4 oz of ink in total. The end result for the colors will depend of the combination ink/paper, this forum is full about that.

About the printer....Pixma Pro 9000 mark ll, I LOVE it, fast, silent, excellent, you won't regret.

 

[davewe]

An update. I ended up getting a used i9900. The deal was too good and I like the fact that it uses firewire (I have a Mac). Experimenting with prints and so far so good. Will be trying out Hobbicolors very soon.

Thanks all!

 

[ghwellsjr]

If you go with Hobbicolors, you may have to get involved with profiling since they no longer sell inks specific to the older chipless BCI-6 cartridges. See this link. Precision Colors does sell inks specific to your printer and shouldn't require profiling. Whatever you decide, let us know how it works for you.

 

[leo8088]

I9900 and Pro9000 are basically same printer with different ink cartridges. The print heads for the two printers are under a same part number. Pro9000 is really old wine in new bottles. There is no reason i9900 won't do as well as Pro9000 will. But according to ghwellsjr's thread and Grandad in his post the CLI-8 cyan ink is a more vibrant ink than the old BCI-6 cyan ink. I would opt for an ink that is newer and more vibrant.

This brings up a question. If we use the profiles provided for Pro9000 and use them on i9900 will the i9900, with inks formulated for Pro9000, print just like a Pro9000 does? It should. Profiles for i9900 are for the older ink. Profiles for Pro9000 are for the newer ink. If an i9900 uses newer ink that is formulated for Pro9000 and profiles from Pro9000 it should print just like a Pro9000.

I don't have the answer. I do not own a i9900. This should be interesting to experiment.

 

[davewe]

I thought of this however you can't just download Canon's profiles individually; other paper manufactureres, yes; but Canon no. I even tried to download the Pro9000 driver hoping I could extract the Pro9000 profiles, not because of the change in ink but because the Pro9000 supports more papers than the i9900. But I couldn't do it because the profiles are not individual files, they appear to be built into the driver.

And does it really matter because you can't just buy CLI-8 ink and the cartridges are not the same as on the i9900. So, you either get OEM BCI-6 cartidges or you experiment with non-OEM inks. That's what I have chosen to do.

I'm really not that anal about all this and am just hoping for prints close to what's on the screen.

I9900 and Pro9000 are basically same printer with different ink cartridges. The print heads for the two printers are under a same part number. Pro9000 is really old wine in new bottles. There is no reason i9900 won't do as well as Pro9000 will. But according to ghwellsjr's thread and Grandad in his post the CLI-8 cyan ink is a more vibrant ink than the old BCI-6 cyan ink. I would opt for an ink that is newer and more vibrant.

This brings up a question. If we use the profiles provided for Pro9000 and use them on i9900 will the i9900, with inks formulated for Pro9000, print just like a Pro9000 does? It should. Profiles for i9900 are for the older ink. Profiles for Pro9000 are for the newer ink. If an i9900 uses newer ink that is formulated for Pro9000 and profiles from Pro9000 it should print just like a Pro9000.

I don't have the answer. I do not own a i9900. This should be interesting to experiment.

 

[on30trainman]

I thought of this however you can't just download Canon's profiles individually; other paper manufactureres, yes; but Canon no. I even tried to download the Pro9000 driver hoping I could extract the Pro9000 profiles, not because of the change in ink but because the Pro9000 supports more papers than the i9900. But I couldn't do it because the profiles are not individual files, they appear to be built into the driver.

If you download and install the printer driver you will find the individual printer profiles for that printer in the Profile Folder (for XP: Windows/system32/spool/drivers/color) and you can make use of them for any installed printer. You don't need to have the printer to install the driver - I installed the driver for the Pro9000 Mk II a few days before I got the printer.

Steve W.

 

[leo8088]

You can download Pro9000 driver and install it on your computer. The Pro9000 profiles will be installed in the windows driver directory. The profiles have the file extension of .icm (or .icc). Don't jump on the band wagon too fast. I never feel the need of profiling in using Hobbicolors ink. I don't print black and white or greyscale. I believe your first impression will be more vibrant colors than OEM ink. Just slightly. To me that's great. I can reduce vibrancy easily if I need to. But I can't increase it without creating artifacts. Why bother to profile it to reduce its vibrancy? It's not a bad thing to buy a car with 200 horses while 180 is really what you need. This is of course just my opinion.