Canon Pixma Pro 9000

I need to replace my 10 year old Epson printer. Banding on prints is getting worse and I recently went through 4 months of bullshit trying to get ink for it. I know Epson is the standard, but I'm pretty pissed at them about the ink issue. I can understand that ink for an older printer is not thick on the ground, and if I'd been told - "that won't be available until ----" or even that regretfully it wasn't made anymore I'd have been reasonable about it. Instead I was told over and over that the ink WAS available, no one could understand why I didn't have it yet, I'd be recieving it right away. And then I'd recieve colour ink, when it was the black that I'd asked for and that seemed to have disappeared from the planet.
So I looked today at the Canon 9000. Anybody used this? Is it any good for digital negs? I'm sure the colour prints ought to be acceptable, but what about B&W? What about ink prices and availablitiy? Compatability with art paper?
Any other recommendations? I'm not prepared to spend thousands - $500-$800 kind of thing. Thanks, Sly

People seem to be quite content with the HP B9180, and Sandy King has reported about good results with it for diginegs.

From what I've read on the net the Canon 9000 it seems like a great printer, but quite slow. So far I've seen no reports on the UV blocking characteristics of the Canon dye inks. The 9000 has only one black ink, so it is likely that a colourized neg is the only route, I guess. From what I've understood, dye inks generally block more UV, but the latest dye ink printer from Epson, the 1400, does not have high UV blocking capabilities and is therefore less useful as a neg printer. Maybe it's the same with the Canon.

I queried Canon about this printer, and they told me it was probably not what I was looking for. They recommend the 9500, which doesn't seem to be on the market yet, and I amagine is pricier.
I've read some of the info on the HP B9180, seems like it would fit the bill. I don't usually order big expensive stuff like this on line. Anyone have some advice on the best way (safest and with good return/support policies) to order something like this in Canada? Not available in Nanaimo, of course. Sly

sly said:

I queried Canon about this printer, and they told me it was probably not what I was looking for. They recommend the 9500, which doesn't seem to be on the market yet, and I amagine is pricier.
I've read some of the info on the HP B9180, seems like it would fit the bill. I don't usually order big expensive stuff like this on line. Anyone have some advice on the best way (safest and with good return/support policies) to order something like this in Canada? Not available in Nanaimo, of course. Sly

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have you considered the Canon IPF5000-5500? I love mine, fast, 12pigment inks,4black/grey,very smooth dignegs, beautiful B&W prints, outstanding color prints, no banding, very versatile paper/film feeds, fugal use of ink....


Miles

I have a 9000 and it is great for color output on glossy paper. For my work, I prefer Ilford papers to the Canon, FWIW. I am very happy with it. The output for BW is not so hot and difficult to profile since it has only one black ink, but it suffuces for my work in the present. I use the Colorvision PrintFix suite. It handles the Canon grade art papers very well, but I really prefer the Ilford Galarie Classic and smooth pearls best. It is a very swift printing printer and I had friends comment about the speed at which it prints. I have had mine for 1.5 years w/o any problems and great output quality, usually on 8x to 13x's. Ink usage has been exemplary. I choose it because it uses the same cartidges as my Pixma MP960 office printer/scanner and thus is very economical for me.
A 9500 is much more appropriate for BW output, especially on matte and fine art papers. From what I have investigated, the inks don't react as well to glossy papers as the 9000 printer. It is also slower in printing speed by about 50% to that of the 9000, but I think it is about on par to the Epson and HP counterparts. It is more expensive as well, but much less so than the other options.
I am in the process of picking up one myself. I would love to get an IPF5000/5100, but the shipping is a killer for where I live. The fact that I can print via ethernet and use a RIP for future options are notewrthy things to think about. The price difference is steep btw the 9500 and the 5100, but if you can justify it, it is a much better printer, and more accommodating to different papers and uses.

sly said:

I queried Canon about this printer, and they told me it was probably not what I was looking for. They recommend the 9500, which doesn't seem to be on the market yet, and I amagine is pricier.
I've read some of the info on the HP B9180, seems like it would fit the bill. I don't usually order big expensive stuff like this on line. Anyone have some advice on the best way (safest and with good return/support policies) to order something like this in Canada? Not available in Nanaimo, of course. Sly

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Sly,
What did you end up with? I'm looking at the Canons and the HP also.
I'd only be using it for Negs and would love to not have to spend too much...
Thanks,
Tom

HP B9180

Well I did buy the B9180 over a year ago. Then there were 2 serious illnesses and a death in the family, plus life and other photo projects and I never got around to trying to print digital negs until today. It won't print them. It sucks the film in, prints nothing, spits it a couple of inches out, and then says "paper jam". I've tried the specialty media tray, Pictorico OHP, advanced glossy paper, and plain paper settings. I've opened it up and cleaned it. It prints fine on paper. I've tried drawing a thick black border around the film with a sharpie hoping to help the printer "see" the film. the same over and over.

I emailed HP to ask for advice and have recieved a reply that says the B9180 doesn't support OHP. I'm pretty furious. That a huge whack of money I've wasted.

Aren't there people on this site who have sucsessfully used the B9180 to make diginegs? Have you got advice for me? Am I just plain screwed? It's out of warranty by now, I'm sure, so I may have thrown away all that money - plus the money and tons of time I've spent getting ready to try 3 colour gum. I've got the chemicals, the paper is sized, and I was going to have my first try this weekend. Now, I'm SOL.

Yes, there are people on this site that have successfully made digi negatives with that printer. Hopefully someone will chime in and give you some help.
I bought the Canon Pixma Pro 9500 and have been using it for negs on the Canon Transparent Clear Film with a lot of success.
Good luck with the HP.
Regards,
Tom