Canon PIXMA Pro9500 and Canon PIXMA Pro9000

 The Canon PIXMA Pro9500 gives 10 ink-lines, of “Lucia” ink. HP has named their HP ink “Vivera.” It takes a while to understand all these ink recipes. The battle is for a multi-million dollar market of desktop inkjet printers for photography, digital fine art, and giclee. Epson had the lead in the beginning. HP has responded with their HP Photosmart Pro B9180.

The ten colors with 3-picoliter droplet size are

• Photo black
• Matte black
• Gray
• Cyan
• Photo cyan
• Photo magenta
• Magenta
• Yellow
• Red
• Green

The terms are confusing but with the advancing digital technology the jargon does get complex. And on the subject of complex, the Canon printhead is 7,680 nozzles, but if I remember my math, that covers more than one color. Whereas most HP, Epson, Roland and other printers have one printhead per color, or two printheads per color. Canon has 6 colors per printhead (in their imagePROGRAF W8200 and W6200 models).

We do not have the Canon imagePROGRAF W8400 and W6400 so our comments are based on the printers we do have: the venerable HP Designjet 5500, HP 30, HP 130, and a variety of Epson printers.

Canon PIXMA Pro 9000 offers 8 ink lines

 Canon offers a 2-picoliter drop in this model, with 8 ink lines.

We will compare these with the Epson Stylus Pro 4800, Epson 7800, and Epson 9800 later this season. There are so many impressive new inkjet printers appearing that it is hard to keep up, especially now that the HP DesignJet Z2100 and Z3100 are out. The two HP printers came out just when interest in the Canon iPF5000, iPF6000, iPF8000,and iPF9000 was rising. Now there is severe competition.

These compliment the HP Photosmart 8750 and HP Photosmart Pro B9180 printers.

Price comparisons, ratings and evaluations of the Canon PIXMA Pro9500 and Canon PIXMA Pro9000 will be forthcoming as these become better known.

Dye inks?

The dye inks in Canon 7250 fade quickly. That’s because a printer made for proofing are not intended to have inks that need to last more than a few weeks. HP 500, HP 800, HP 1055 have fading dye inks too; their dye inks last only a month or so in tropical Guatemala . In normal climates these prints last perhaps 6 months before noticeable fading.

With Canon you get only “improved resistance to heat and humidity” which we would have to test in Guatemala . This is why FLAAR makes an idea testing institute: first, we are picky and our readers know this. We don’t accept lousy printers and fading inks.

But Encad dye inks (the pre-Kodak long-life ones), ColorSpan dye inks (based on Ilford Archiva), and the newer HP Vivera dye inks: these last long. The Vivera inks are so new they have not been out long enough, but our Encad prints and ColorSpan prints have lasted for year after year, in high heat, high tropical humidity in Central America .

Canon’s inks offer 100 years in an album, 30 years inside, and 10 years fading from mixed gasses. This is the most honest appraisal I have ever seen. Most other manufacturers don’t dare even mention their gas fastness ratings. But gas fading is scary.

Most recently updated March 1, 2006.

First posted February 26, 2006.

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Medium Format Digital Camera Initiative For over 30 years Nicholas Hellmuth has used Rolleiflex and Hasselblad cameras to record the flora, fauna, and Maya archaeology of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. Now, for the last six years, he is extending his medium format experience to digital photography. Since FLAAR works both in a studio as well as out on location, we are an ideal focus for judging portability. We have experience with large format digital scan backs (the excellent BetterLight) and we also use Nikon (D300) and Canon (EOS 5D) digital cameras. A full-service digital pro should have at least one medium format digital system and should consider large format digital options as well. FLAAR also has an 80-megapixel large format camera (yes, they do exist, we have a Cruse). Although we started with a Leaf Valeo 22 coupled with a Mamiya 645 AFD body and lenses, we are open to showcasing all bodies as well as other digital backs. Indeed we tested an Imacon 4-shot back on a Hasselblad H1 body. For a month (February 2006) it was possible to evaluate a MegaVision black-and-white dedicated back for fine art photography. We are also considering the Rolleiflex 6008 AF, one of the outstanding medium format cameras that still offers European precision. However in the last 40 years we have not received any Rollei (or Franke & Heidecke) equipment for evaluation, so we can comment only on the Hasselblad and Mamiya (loaned briefly two years ago by Mamiya America). Camera resellers or manufacturers who wish to have their cameras, lenses, and backs included in the digital photography evaluation initiative are welcome to send their equipment for evaluation. Curently all the medium format backs are coming from Global Imaging Inc, Greg Lamb, CEO (contact 800 787-9802, press 4, fax 212 722-0988). This is one of the few camera stores in the entire US or Canada that offers ALL major brands of medium format (so they have no incentive to push one brand over the other). However we are also open to receiving medium format backs directly from the manufacturer. Over 381,154 visitors came to this www.digital-photography.org web site to learn which cameras, lighting, tripods, and accessories have proven themselves during evaluation by FLAAR. Since we deliberately do not review low-end cameras, our reviews attract a sophisticated audience. The total "visit" count is 791.562 during 2007, but we prefer to use the visitor count, 381.154 as being more realistic. FLAAR is the de facto source of information on medium format digital cameras because we are university based, independent, blunt, and we are one of the few review sources that dares to review advertising specs, advertising claims, and advertising hype. We can afford to reveal all the pros and cons because FLAAR is a research institute. Photographers feel they can trust a university research professor who has devoted years to understanding the pros and cons of each aspect of a digital camera system and workflow. You can download our colorful FLAAR Reports on our medium format digital camera initiative.