Canon I-9900 Photo Printer

I got the i9900 a few years ago on Amazon and liked it so much I bought another one used on Ebay. I refill my own tanks with ink from [...] and have never had to even run a cleaning cycle. I especially like the fact that the tanks have no chip and are very inexpensive. I have purcased only Canon tanks and installed nylon screws in the filling holes to allow for easy filling. I keep a spare set of tanks at all times and never let them get to low or run dry. I had one printer repaired (surge tank) and was told by the tech person that this printer is easy to repair and the parts are very reasonably priced. Since I fill my own, I purchased a spare printhead as a precaution but I have never had to use it. As I own a Canon 5D, I do a lot of 13 by 19 printing and have never had any problems. Prints are sharp even up close. Just remember to use the printer at least once a week. I rotate the two printers every few months to keep them in shape.

I9900 IS JUNK JUST LKIE EVERYONE ELSE I HAVE SPENT MORE TIME TRYING TO GET IT TO WORK PROPERLY AND NOW IT WILL NOT TURN ON. DON'T BY THIS.

I'm a graphic design student and I have been using this printer for printing comps for the last 3 years. the print quality is very good, although I must confess that my older HP photo printer gave me much better image quality, but the inks were too expensive and the paper feed mechanism was always breaking down. My Canon i-9900 has never clogged or had a paper jam in 3 years, and the inks are way more economic and last longer. I love that it prints up to 13" wide. My only complaint is that the printer is a little bit messy with the ink and the print quality with non-Canon paper may not be awesome. However, you may expect great results if printing on Canon paper. I can use BCI-6 cartriges and even the new CLI-8 inks, although pricer, you can use them in case you can't your regular cartridges.

I have used this printer for three years or more without any problems. I have printed photos and use it regularly to work from home. No issues whatsover- it just keeps on performing. The overall print quality is excellent.

Two or three years ago, I got my first digital camera - a Canon 5D. Then, my next purchase was this printer. I looked at all the printers they had at Best Buy and some were very impressive and much cheaper than this unit. But, I was looking for a high quality photo printer and not a swiss army knife and this was the top of the line Canon unit that enjoyed excellent reviews.

Still, as my first foray into digital printing, I had to rely on the reviews which stated that the 8 ink system along with the ability to print fine detail resulted in prints of high quality. Finally, with some trepidation, I took the plunge and selected the i9900 and half expected to discover compromised results.

Well, this is what I found: Coupled with Adobe CS3, Canon print paper and some experimentation, I have been able to garner about 8 first place ribbons in photo contests in the time since I first began working with it.

It was easy to install the software on my laptop and the printer faithfully reproduces both color and B/W images. I am particularly pleased with the b/w, because I just didn't expect to see the subtle tones, clarity and life I had discovered in "wet" printing.

Of course, I am stunned by the brilliant and accurate colors that of which the printer is capable, including jaw-dropping reds that recreate the original scene without the Kodachrome contrast. Since I often like to introduce a little abstractness to the images with Photoshop filters, I am pleased that the more interpretive images are rendered accurately as well.

As you can tell, this is not a technical review, but there are technical considerations to be made. One is the software that comes with the printer. Generally, the Canon software seems to be designed for someone who is likely to want to produce a lot of candids. That is, there are good cataloging and print setup utilites and so forth.

Image acquisition (at least from Canon cameras) is straightforward and easy. You can print borderless or bordered prints on any sized paper up to 13" x 19" and so forth. My only difficulty has been matching the color space to the Photoshop. I still have problems getting the printer to reproduce the brightness I see in the monitor image without adding a stop or so more brightness to the image before printing it.

That can result in some wasted paper and makes precise duplication of previously printed files difficult. Frankly, I think that's a shortcoming of mine and not the printer. Also, this is not a fast printer when you are working with the larger print sizes, but that may be of much greater importance to those wishing to do a lot of candids rather than a few so-called "art" prints. Personally, I spend a lot more time preparing the image than printing it.

Actually, I have only one beef with the printer and that's simply that I wish it would print full 16" x 20" prints. Well, for that matter, I'd like to be able to buy 11" x 14" paper, also. Then, I would have what used to be standard sized prints. I think that would reduce some matting and framing difficulties.

I have seen some salon prints that I'm not sure I could duplicate with this printer, but I assume that they have been produced on a much more expensive color lab device. For now, I am still exploring the possibilities of this very good unit, but eagerly waiting to see what Canon comes up with next.