MX (5 inks) vs MG (6 inks) in photo quality (9.600 dpi machines)

[Celso]

Hi All,

Could someone explain in detail the difference in quality between the printers that have 5 and 6 inks (e.g., MX 922 vs MG 7720)? Both printers with 9.600 dpi.

Is it only about B/W prints because of the gray cartridge? If so, how much difference is expected between the photos printed by the MX and MG series?

I currently have a MX721 with OEM ink but would like to know whether the move to a printer with 6 inks is worth.

Could someone, if possible, upload prints made by the two machines for comparison purposes?

I am not considering buying a Canon Pro printer. I would appreciate comments involving only the MX and MG series.

Thank you very much!

 

[The Hat]

@Celso, The difference between a 5/6 cart printer is minimal on a standard photo, but if you have spent time editing the photo to make it look better then the extra cart does make a difference.

When you print a photo the printer uses only the C, M and Y for all of the colours, but then adds in highlights and shading using the black ink, but if it has an extra grey it can do the same job far better, the more extra light colours a printer has the better the over all Picture looks..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

First you need to eliminate the pigment black from your count - that ink is only used on normal paper but not for photo print. So only the potential benefit of a gray ink is left for discussion.

Gray is a color like all other colors, and printed as such as a mix of the three base colors, CMY in the case of the typical inkjet printers like the Canons. But there is a side effect with this approach, the appearance of a color - their hue depends on the lighting conditions, and on some effects in your brain how colors are perceived with a very good and automatic white balance adjustment in the eyes/vision system. A gray tone mixed from colors tend to display a different hue, or cast depending on the viewing, lighting conditions, and the eye is particularly sensitive to this with gray tones. So printer companies came up with the idea to add a gray or 2 gray inks to the printer to reduce this effect - to print a gray tone mostly with a pretty neutral looking gray ink. Yes, that works to a degree, but if you are really interested in high quality B/W printing you should look for special pure black/gray inks , just google for 'B/W printing' and similar, there are several companies offering dedicated refill ink sets for this purpose like Quadtone or piezography to google for as well.
So you may not see any difference with printed and scanned prints to show this effect that simple .
And there is something else what is done with gray inks - undercolor removal - it does not have a visible effect but saves some ink. Every color can be described numerically different ways, one uses a lightness variable and two color axis instead of the better known RGB description. You can print a color tone with gray ink to create the base lightness, added with some colors to create the correct hue. The substitution of a neutral gray with the RGB equivalent 3 inks - the driver uses just one gray ink instead of those three RGB inks. But Canon would not tell you how much of that approach they are actually using.
So it is not easy to judge whether the investment for a new printer with a gray ink is worth it.
It depends very much on what you expect from that and what type of images you are printing.

 

[palombian]

I have both types and make my own profiles.
On cheap paper I still can obtain prints with deep colors on the MG8250 while the IX6550 is too dull, on high quality paper I see no difference.
Both can print B/W without color cast.
When you can live with the fading, these dye printers produce prints at least as good as a pigment Pro printer (never had a dye Pro).

 

[Celso]

Thank you.

What precisely do you call high quality paper?

Is it related to the manufacturer or quality of the paper itself? For instance, Canon produces glossy papers named as Platinum, Plus Glossy II, Glossy, Business High Resolution, etc. Do you mean that good prints can only be obtained with the Platinum series or it is possible to obtain good prints with any paper produced by Canon, as all have good quality.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

there is no good and common measure for the 'quality' of a paper by which you can rate such papers, papers differ in the surface - glossy, semiglossy, silk , matte etc, papers differ in the uniformity of the gloss, papers differ in their white point, some look more neutral than others, papers differ in their black level you can acheive with a particular black ink, papers differ in the gamut you can acheive with a particular inkset and they differ in their price, and there are some more of such parameters like the feel of a paper between your fingers besides the weight. That's the same issue with papers of other companies like Epson or Hahnemuehle or Tecco or....that all makes it quite difficult to give a rating to a paper somebody else would use and accept. Some of those parameters may be less or more relevant to you than to others.
You can try to deciper the marketing wording and assume that a Platinum named paper is considered better than a glossy paper, a Plus Glossy than a regular glossy paper, and if there is a Glossy II then there was most likely an original Glossy (I) paper, but Canon does not tell you whether the Platinum has a better black level and/or a neutral white point etc, so if you are unsure and want the best one you think you need to buy the most expensive one, and Canon likes that. .. It is recommended to test that out yourself, if you wouldn't see a difference between papers the choice is clear, and if you see a difference you need to consider whether that's worth the price difference for you.

 

[The Hat]

This is a very good description of some of the many varieties and types of paper that can be used for inkjet printing, excellent post..
...

 

[palombian]

As @Ink stained Fingers pointed to, with quality I meant gamut (in the 3 dimensions).
Matte papers are always less, but also in satin and glossy there are gradations.

Although there is a relation between price and quality, you can find very affordable papers with a high gamut (as the ones sold by Aldi an Lidl, about 0,12 for a 300g A4, IMO a very good price, but only glossy 10x15 and A4).
Except for the surface smoothness, a print on Aldi looks the same as one on Platinum PRO.

Canon does not make their own papers, they all come from a few mills.
There are labels for professional use (as in Europe Innova, Olmec, ...) who sell papers in all sizes, surfaces and densities, with profiles for semi-pro and pro printers (count about 3-4x the Aldi price).
Matte is cheaper, as are weights under 200g (too thin IMO).

After all my experiments I have a stock of paper, most very decent, some less (but still usable on printers with more inks ).

Lucky enough, paper does not age as fast as ink, I have 10 years old Ilford Smooth Pearl.

 

[Celso]

I learned a lot in this thread.

Thanks you all. Special thanks to the scientific comments from Ink Stained Fingers and the practical ones from Palombian.

I am happy that the difference in printing quality between Canon 5 and 6 inks in relation to standard photos of the above mentioned machines is minimal, if good paper is used.

I live in Brazil and, thus, access to Aldi and Lidl is not easy.

I have Kodak Ultra Premiun Paper (280 g/m2), Fujifilm Kassai photofinishing gloss premium (265 g/m2, purchased in Japan) and HP Everyday Paper(200 g/m2). I used the Druckerchannel sample (i.e., the one with the parrot) and printed several photos using different Canon printing modes (platinum, etc.). Differences are subtle but the Fujifilm to my taste is the best. The HP Everyday Paper in platinum mode to my surprise came nice as well, with the part of the photo B/W with a good gray.

Next purchases of paper will be more focused on better paper!

If you are aware of paper that can be easily purchased in the US that tends to produce warmer colors, please let me know.