OCP Ink

[binkie]

I am seriously considering purchasing OCP ink in pint bottles. The price is great- $0.89 per ounce for dye ink versus Hobbicolors $1.25 per ounce for dye colors and $1.06 per ounce for pigmented black versus $1.62 per ounce from Hobbicolors. That's quite a significant difference. The question is "How do the OCP inks perform?" There's no sense buying cheaper inks if they don't perform well.

On the OCP site they list dye ink and optimized dye ink. Does anyone know the difference? Which one should be ordered for CLI cartridges?

Also, has anyone used OCP inks and, if so, are you pleased with them?

I am appreciative of any advise that may be out there.

Binkie

 

[RMM]

Although I have not used OCP inks, I have not heard any "bad" reviews about the them. They would probably be a good choice for a user that goes through lots of ink.

The downside for most users is that in the U.S. at least the distributor (Rjettek) only sells in large volumes. Usually 16oz is the smallest size you can buy per color, for most people that is more ink than they will use in two years, which is usually the "shelf life" of these inks.

Buying in bulk usually does save you money.

 

[on30trainman]

binkie,
I switched to OCP ink about two months ago - for no real reason than to give them a try. Heard good comments about OCP, especially on the dpreview Printing forum. I have used both Hobbicolors and IS inks and have gotten good results. But I wanted to try OCP. Since I have a Canon Pro9000 Mk II I needed 8 different colors. 16 oz of RED and GREEN for that printer will last more than my lifetime even if it didn't get old. But I luckily found another fellow who had just purchased a complete set for his Pro9000 and was willing to trade 4 oz each of R & G for some empty purged cartridges. My experience with OCP inks have been favorable so far. I have made profiles for that ink and the papers I use. One downside - it has a very strong odor as ink. But after the print dries for a few minutes almost all trace of odor is gone. I have not tried the OCP pigment ink yet - been using IS pigment and am happy with it.
Order the OCP ink that is specific for your particular cartridge.

Steve W.

 

[tony22]

Steve, I would love to hear your impressions of these three inks with respect to how well they match the OEM colors, which appears to have a larger gamut, truer colors, better shadow and highlight resproduction and any other obseravtions you may have made. Thanks.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I am seriously considering purchasing OCP ink in pint bottles. The price is great- $0.89 per ounce for dye ink versus Hobbicolors $1.25 per ounce for dye colors and $1.06 per ounce for pigmented black versus $1.62 per ounce from Hobbicolors. That's quite a significant difference. The question is "How do the OCP inks perform?" There's no sense buying cheaper inks if they don't perform well.

On the OCP site they list dye ink and optimized dye ink. Does anyone know the difference? Which one should be ordered for CLI cartridges?

Also, has anyone used OCP inks and, if so, are you pleased with them?

I am appreciative of any advise that may be out there.

Binkie

I don't think they have both regular and optimized inks for Canon CLI-8 cartridges. Are you going to this page? After you select Canon in the OEM control and CLI-8x in the "Find a cartridge" control, it gives you only one type of ink. But I have a suggestion for you, please take it: call up R-JetTek and tell them you are considering buying refill ink for your printer. Tell them the model of your printer and ask what they advise.

I have been testing several pigment black inks from different manufacturers to see which ones have the same waste pad and purge pump clogging issues that the original Inktec ink has and I have found that OCP is as good as Canon OEM and that Hobbicolors is as bad as the old Inktec ink. You can read about it here. I did notice that the OCP pigment black ink is not as dark as most others.

 

[irvweiner]

I have been using OCP dye inks in my 99xx for the past 5+ yrs. It's performance has been outstanding for my needs. I do not print pro wise, just for my self and club exhibits. With the i9900 and with my new Pro 9000 MKII, I setup a baseline with OEM inks using various mfgrs print profiles and my own--when I transitioned from the OEM ink to the OCP ink I did the same. Print quality was excellent for all, small differences were noted, but the relative color performance is very good.

I dont see the fuss with the 16oz bottles from rjetttek, you are paying the same price for 1/4 to 1/2 as much from the other mfgrs. Fill up 8 4oz bottles, freeze the rest and microwave it in 2 yrs and you'r good to go--for dye inks!!

We should all have such quantity vs cost problems.

OCP compatibilty check list: http://www.ocp-inks.com/content.php?seite=seiten/support_compatibilitylists_en.php

Check out B.Petruska's posts on dpreview.com concerning his tests and usage of OCP.

good luck irv weiner

 

[stratman]

I dont see the fuss with the 16oz bottles from rjetttek, you are paying the same price for 1/4 to 1/2 as much from the other mfgrs. Fill up 8 4oz bottles, freeze the rest and microwave it in 2 yrs and you'r good to go--for dye inks!!

Freezing then microwaving???

Would freezing affect the structure of the ink molecules? Nothing in a household freezer remains the same after a period of time (different time periods for different items).

Microwaving sounds harsh to me too. Aren't you cooking some of the ink, changing its structure/bonds and therefore its performance characteristics?

I am intrigued by your suggestion and think it deserves further exploration.

 

[The Hat]

stratman

I was thinking on the same lines as you, that all inks would have a maximum and minimum operating temperature for storage and printing, exceeding those parameters would render the ink useless I reckon.. :|

 

[stratman]

stratman

I was thinking on the same lines as you, that all inks would have a maximum and minimum operating temperature for storage and printing, exceeding those parameters would render the ink useless I reckon.. :|

The User Manual for my MP830 printer states a recommended temperature range of 41-95 F (5-35 C) and humidity of 10% to 90% (condensation free).

I will assume the ink has similar recommended environmental conditions as well. There is nothing in the Canon Ink Cartridge MSDS about temp or humidity.

 

[nche11]

I have been testing several pigment black inks from different manufacturers to see which ones have the same clogging issues that the original Inktec ink has and I have found that OCP is as good as Canon OEM and that Hobbicolors is as bad as the old Inktec ink. You can read about it here. I did notice that the OCP pigment black ink is not as dark as most others.

Ghwellsjr, I have followed your thread of testing the black pigment inks. I have a different observation if you can bear with me.

I don't know if you read Leo's last post, which was deleted by the moderator, at the end of your thread. If you did have you had a 2nd thought of the clogging issue that you experienced? If not I think you should. Leo pointed out that you actually had misinterpreted the problem and blamed the ink. He pointed out that, and it was evidenced in the pictures you posted in the thread, that the issue you were having was actually a cartridge leaking issue. I looked at the picture after reading his post. And I tend yo agree with him that your picture showed a massive leaking wich resulted in massive amount of ink on the print head surface.

I have used both Inktec and Hobbicolors black pigment inks in fairly large quantity over many years. In my opinion they are very high quality inks. I never had any clogging issues with them at all. You know, the danger of internet forums is that people are allowed to freely give their own opinions based on their own limited experiences. There is nothing wrong about this by the way. I tend to believe you are wrong about the conclusion you made about the inks. Wasn't there another member who had used the inks in large volumes said the same following your thread?

Most people probably think Canon OEM black pigment ink is the best. Let me tell you my experience about it as I have used a few dozens of OEM BCI-3eBK and PGI-5BK. There is no doubt it's good ink. But I think they are more likely to clog the print heads. You definitely will want to give one more cleaning cycle whenever you install a new one and before jump on printing your documents. My old mp780 was clogged because I assumed the printer would do it automatically and I needed not to worry about it. I had to go through a deep cleaning to unclog it. I noticed that Canon OEM pigment ink dries faster. I am not sure if that's the problem. I actually prefer to refill my PGI-5 now with Hobbicolors' PMT-BK. I have used it a lot so far. I actually prefer it than OEM ink for the above reason and of course for the price reason too. BTW, trust me. THe latest Hobbicolors black pigment ink is blacker than Canon OEM. That may be a surprise to many. But that's what I have found.

You really should have a 2nd thought. The Inktec and Hobbicolor black pigment inks are good stuff for me and for some others too. Unfortunately the moderator deleted Leo's last post which had a very good explanation why he thinks your conclusion was wrong and I tend to believe that too based on my actual experience of using the inks.