Digital BW, The Print

I've had the Canon S9000 (wider version of the S900) for about 5 months.  I 
got it for photo work, after playing with an Epson 860 for a few months and 
finding its print speed unacceptable (you'll see why in a minute.)  The 
Canon produces what I consider beautiful color prints when I feed it the 
properly adjusted files.  But I really got it to do B&W work, largely on 
the expectation that I could get a spare printhead to keep loaded with B&W 
inks, whatever I finally settled on.  Unfortunately, Canon has been 
unwilling to sell me a spare printhead (saying they're available for 
warranty repairs only,) but I continue to have hopes.  Now that the S900 is 
down to $249 I'm even being tempted to get one of those as well, to have 
color inks in one and whatever I figure out for B&W in the other.

Anyway, I used the regular Canon color inks to make about 400 8x10 B&W 
prints to give away as Christmas presents.  At about 2 minutes a print it 
took quite a while, but I'd still be sitting here if I had tried to use the 
Epson 860.  As they came out of the printer, I thought the prints were 
wonderful, at least as good as what I have made in the darkroom for the 
past 35 years or so, although with a different "look" and certainly a 
different tone than my chemical prints (of which I made about 300 - I 
switched to digital mid-year.)   All of these prints are bound up into 8 
different books for various family members - I've been doing this for about 
20 years, beginning shortly after my oldest child was born.  The inkjet 
prints were on Ilford Smooth Gloss paper, which is a close surface match 
for (but on a heavier stock than) the Ilford Multigrade paper I use in my 
darkroom.

Printing was done over about 3 weeks.  Prints were stacked as they were 
produced, then when all were done they were sorted into separate stacks for 
each recipient before being bound between mat board covers.  As I began to 
look at some of these prints during the sorting process, I saw that some of 
them were showing signs of localized color shifting (or something - parts 
of the image began to have a magenta cast.)  These prints were all made 
from a worksheet prepared before any printing began, and I kept track of 
when I changed each of the ink cartridges to try to get a feel for how many 
prints I got out of a set (about 50 for the Photo Magenta and Photo Cyan, 
about 150-160 for the Magenta and Cyan, 185 for Black and 215 for 
Yellow.)  I could not relate the color shift I saw in some of the prints to 
ink cartridges running low, although when printing I did ignore the printer 
warning that ink was running low and waited for the printer to stop when a 
cartridge was empty before putting in a new cartridge.  I did nozzle checks 
the first few times I put in a new cartridge but they always came out 
perfect, so after a while I just put in new ink and kept printing.  I 
suppose it is possible that the overall color balance of the ink mix on 
paper changes when ink starts to run low in a particular cartridge, in a 
way that only shows up days or weeks later, but I think it's peculiar that 
the only color that shows itself as out of balance on the print is magenta.

All images were processed the same way in Photoshop 7 before being printed 
using QImage software - it gives full control over image placement on the 
page, gave sharper images than FotoSlate (an ACDSee related program,) and 
remembered printer selection and settings between prints, which made it the 
convenience as well as the quality choice.  I am at a loss to explain why 
some images began turning while others didn't, but it has strengthened my 
resolve to find a different (read: cheaper) ink that I can get adjusted to 
produce relatively neutral B&W images.  I've tried the Inkjet Goodies inks 
in refillable cartridges, and like it better than the Canon ink for color 
prints, but so far have not been able to get rid of a persistent magenta 
cast in B&W prints - which is why I used the Canon inks for this project: I 
just ran out of time to keep fiddling with the refillable cartridges.  I 
understand that Lyson has now got one of their B&W ink sets available in 
Canon cartridges, and I've given some thought to trying that although I 
expect that it will not be cheap (maybe it will be available in bulk, as I 
don't mind refilling carts.)

It is my understanding that the nozzles in these Canon printers cannot 
handle pigmented inks, so that limits the choices to dyes.  Canon, Lyson 
and third parties make color sets, and only Lyson (that I am aware of) 
offers a quad (or hex) ink set for these printers.  (I learned today that 
my local photo store has 6-ink Lyson Quad Black ink sets ON HAND, but upon 
inspection it appears that they're for a different - older - line of Canon 
printers.)  There has been a note on the Lyson web site for most of 2002 
that their Small Gamut inks are coming for the Canon 9000 "Fall 2002" but 
so far I've not seen any sign of them.  Small Gamut is a quad black set 
with the ability to change the tone of the print from warm to cool - and 
from reddish to greenish if you're not careful with your settings - but is 
still basically a monochrome ink.  I used it a bit on the Epson printer and 
liked it - I would certainly try it when and if it becomes available for 
the Canon printers.

Well that's my initial experience with one of these printers, FWIW.  If I 
didn't want to produce glossy prints I might be tempted to give it up, get 
an Epson and switch to pigments, although it's clear from all the 
discussion on this list that pigments aren't perfect yet either.  But I do 
want glossy, I like the Canon speed, and I still have hopes of figuring out 
a way to manage the final tone of the print.  Perhaps dialing in some sepia 
or blue tone will work.  I don't expect to be doing chemical darkroom 
prints again, at least not for my Christmas books, so I don't have to be as 
concerned about remaining close to the tone of chemical prints as I did 
this year.

If anyone has other experience with these printers and/or other inks, I'd 
love to hear it.

Cheers,
Kip Babington

At 12/31/2002 05:37 PM +0000, you wrote:
>I am in the market for a low cost (under $250) printer to be used for
>color photos and also for all-purpose color graphics applications
>like greeting cards, tranfers, etc.  In addition, I would like to
>choose the best printer in that price range to hopefully print decent
>b&w photos (just hobby photos, of the kids, etc., but still hoping
>they could turn out decent).  I have been researching it a bit lately
>and it seems unless I would want to buy and dedicate a printer to b&w
>using costly Piezography BW systems that I may not be able to get
>decent b&w prints?  Rather then trying to go that route I may be able
>to make due w/ a printer where one can tweek photos in photoshop or
>whatnot like some of the posts discuss, using regular color inks,
>etc, so I hope to find recommendations about which low cost printers
>can best do this.  Has anyone used the Canon 900 to print b&w?  Also,
>just in case I would want to someday go that route, does anyone know
>if the Canon S900 can successfully use these quadtone inks to print
>really nice black and whites like the Epsons do?  I really am leaning
>more toward the Canon than the Epsons, but want to get a handle on
>this b&w issue first because I know I would really enjoy being able
>to make decent hobby b&w prints.  Thanks for any assistance on these
>questions about the canon and/or any other printer recommendations
>that would work.