Inktest Hobbicolors UW-8/Inktec CLI-8/Original Canon CLI-8 inks

[pharmacist]

I'm using now a long time the marvellous Hobbicolors UW-8 ink and found the colours very beautiful and pronounced. Last time I bought Inktec CLI-8 ink as a substitute and when I used this ink I was a bit disappointed by the weak colours and this triggered me to do an inktest to see which ink matches the original Canon CLI-8 the most.
See the pictures below and see yourself:

Printed with Hobbicolors UW-8 ink on a MP780:



Printed with Inktec CLI-8 compatible ink on a MP780:



Printed with original Canon CLI-8 cartridges (freshly opened carts) on a MP780:



As you can see the Hobbicolors UW-8 has the most pronounced colours and strangely enough the original Canon CLI-8 cartridges (which are new and unsealed when beginning this test) have the lightest colours, which is a bit strange.

I can tell you, since my scanner is not calibrated, that the prints made with the Inktec and the original Canon CLI-8 cartridges are almost indistinguishable albeit the Inktec has a very slight more magenta cast. I can confirm that the Inktec ink is mimicking Canon's original Canon CLI-8 ink almost perfectly, however some people might appreciate the colours of the Hobbicolors UW-8 more. If you want the most original Colours go for Inktec.



Note: all refill cartridges (Hobbicolors and Inktec) are thoroughly rinsed before or previously saturated with until equilibrium with the main ink before testing is obtained, so traces of previous inks are almost totally flushed away and between the printjobs with different inks a deep cleaning cycle was performed to flush away the previous ink in the nozzles. The CLI-8 cartridges do fit perfectly in my BCI-6 based Canon MP780 multifunctional printer.

 

[on30trainman]

pharmacist,
I am also one who really likes the Hobbicolor UW-8 inks. But I do have some comments/questions about your tests and the results:
Were are of your prints done with the same ink/paper printer profile or do you have profiles for each ink? If you are using the same profile for each that could very well answer why the Hobbicolor inks are more intense. The first Hobbicolor inks I tried initially were what he called BCI6 inks I think. My first prints with them had weak colors and a definite greenish cast and I wasn't really happy with the results. I decided to try printer profiles and bought Profile Prism. Made a profile for those inks and Kirkland glossy paper and the greenish cast went away and the colors were somewhat stronger. I switched then to the UW-8 inks which were said to have a wider gamut and have been very pleased with them, but I did generate Profile Prism printer profiles for each of the paper types I use.
If you were using a different profile for each ink I would have expected the profile to mostly compensate for the differences in ink and for the image samples for each ink to be about identical.

Steve W.

 

[pharmacist]

Steve,

I used the same standard profile from Canon, same paper, same paper setting (Photo Paper Plus Glossy) just to see whether the inks need any profiling in comparison to the original Canon ink, which I consider as a standard.

Off course: profiling would eliminate the differences between the inks, but wouldn't it be nice if you can use the refill ink of your choice just right away without any supplementary profiling on standard OEM paper (in this case: Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy).

Most people don't know about profiling ink/paper combinations and if the refill ink is identical to the original Canon ink and if they would use a refill ink which give different colours and depth, they would just say: It is not the same.....

Hobbicolors UW-8 is really a superb quality refill ink and the gamut is excellent. However, when using this ink just straight away like most people do, will give colours which are deeper and more pronounced than the original Canon ink. Inktec CLI-8 compatible ink will give almost exactly the same colours/gamut as the original Canon ink do. I did profile the Hobbicolors UW-8 inks for my papers and then the colours look like exactly like the one from Inktec/Canon, but then I cannot compare the real colours when printed just straight away.

One note: in B/W printing Hobbicolors shows a magenta cast and Canon/Inktec gives a greenish cast. Canon/Inktec will give a better green in leaves/grass than Hobbicolors, which -due to the magenta cast- make leaves/grass a little bit brownish. The latter one can be experienced more natural to some people, but this is a matter of personal preferences.

 

[pipinof]

Hello, pharmacist,
the ink of precision colors, about the color, is closer to those of InkTec of Hobbicolors or?
thanks

 

[pharmacist]

Pipinof,

I don't know about Precision Colors, but I have the feeling it is closer to Hobbicolors UW-8. Maybe Mikling can confirm this.

 

[Servo]

Printed with Inktec CLI-8 compatible ink on a MP780:


I prefer this ink, even though I ain't used it, in picture 4, look at the mountain, the red roof, and the large tree, the details are alot clearer, and shows more detail.

In picture 3, the guy in the red and blue jacket, the colours look more natural.

But there again, my eye sight isn't as good as it was.

 

[pebe]

pharmacist,
It would have been better if you had shown each scene with the three inks, all together on the screen. It's difficult to make a comparison when you need to scroll the screen up and own.

 

[Servo]

lol, I looked again this morning. and the oem's look the best, more natural colours. If you look at the wall on the left of picture 3, the colours don't looked "swamped" and not as "Rich" as the other photo's. Again the guys shirt, looks more natural colour.

The mountains, tree's and red roof, looks more realistic. The tree on the top photo looks like it's lost detail because of the colour being richer and darker.

 

[crenedecotret]

on30trainman,
I'm also using Profile Prism and will be using Hobbicolors ink as soon as my OEM carts are empty.
I'm curious... have you profiled both inks? Is the gamut for the UW-8 really that much wider?

pharmacist, I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to purge the oem ink from the head when switching, other than a deep clean.
(don't feel like saturating the waste pad if I don't need to). Do you think printing a few pages of CMYK test patterns would work?

Thanks

 

[leo8088]

I am a big fan of vivid saturate colors. Although you can boost color saturation by making some easy adjustment in the printer setup I really don't like the idea that I have to force some changes to the histogram of the image to achieve more color saturation. Hobbicolors UW8 ink is the ink that does not seem need such adjustment to boost color saturation. Canon OEM ink is already very vibrant. Hobbicolors UW8 ink is the only ink I have used that has a similar vibrancy to match the OEM. I have been using Hobbicolors UW8 ink for quite some time. With the combination of Costco's made in USA professional glossy photopaper and Hobbicolors UW8 ink in an ip4300 the photos produced have been always awesome, ultra vibrant and beautiful. I know, it is a subjective matter when it comes to comparing colors of course.