The Canon i9900 photo printer provides a high-quality, versatile solution for photo enthusiasts and low-volume photo professionals. This low-profile, quiet machine offers wide format printing (up to 13 by 19 inches) as well as fast 4-by-6-inch borderless prints in as little as 38 seconds. For truly professional-looking results, the printer also supports resolutions up to 4,800 x 1,200 dpi.
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| Print directly from PictBridge and BubbleJet Direct cameras. No PC required. |
The i9900 utilizes an eight-color, separate ink tank color system to increase the range of color reproduction. This multi-tank technology features low-ink sensors so you won't run dry in the middle of a print and saves you money by letting you replace only the color that has run out. The i9900 offers a built-in sheet feeder that's able to handle up to 100 sheets of 17 lb. stock, 10 envelopes, 30 transparency sheets, or a full range of specialty papers. It even comes with a sample package of 4-by-6-inch Photo Paper Pro.
Offering direct connection to Bubble Jet Direct or PictBridge-compatible digital cameras or DV camcorders, the i9900 also features fast USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces (FireWire compatible with Mac OS only) for convenient peripheral connection. It comes with a comprehensive package of image editing software, including Easy-PhotoPrint Plus, Easy-WebPrint, ZoomBrowser EX, PhotoRecord, ImageBrowser, and PhotoStitch. (See tech specs for system requirements.) The unit is backed by a one year warranty on parts and labor.
What's in the Box
i9900 photo printer, i9900 print head, ink tanks (BCI-6C cyan, BCI-6M magenta, BCI-6Y yellow, BCI-6Bk black, BCI-6PC photo cyan, BCI-6PM photo magenta, BCI-6R red, and BCI-6G green), power cord, easy setup instructions, document kit (quick start guide, registration card, setup software and user's guide, software CD), Photo Paper Pro sample pack; printer cable not included
1 OUTSTANDING!!!!
When I bought this printer, I knew it was going to beat my out of date Photosmart 7660 from HP, but I didn't know it was going to give me an entire photolab in my office!!! This printer freakin ROCKS!!! The color it produces beats anything I've seen, even coming from a pro lab. I'm still trying to figure out how the photos come out looking like they're laminated or something, because they come out very glossy over the entire photo!! If your in the market for a professional quality printer, this beast is for you!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!!!
2 Started out amazing, but not anymore
When I first bought this printer, I was amazed with the quality of the prints. I am an amateur photographer on the side, and was using this printer for my little business. My customers were thrilled, and so was I!
Then, 3 months later, the quality of the prints started to deteriorate, and I could see horizontal bands in every picture. Canon had me drive an hour and a half to a repair shop, which I did. A full month later, still no word on what was going on. Turns out, they never figured out what was causing the problem. So Canon sent me a refurbished printer. Well, 3 months later again, same problem.
Doesn't matter how much I clean the heads, etc., the bands are still there!
Now, I'd just like to send the dang thing back and get a refund!!
I have lost so many jobs and customers because of this printer. I wish I'd never bought it.
3 more than I expected...
I recently bought the Canon I9900 after much research and I could not be happier...this printer is much more than I expected from any photo printer...I almost don't like to use it for simple posters and anything but the best photos it is to good for that and I am thinking of getting a cheaper printer for my business for the less complex things...if you just want something to print some family photos or use for garage sale flyers do not get this printer...while the software that comes with is does makes good photos look great a great photos better I am pretty sure that it comes with most canon photo printers...so unless you are looking for studio quality 13" x 19" prints I repeat do not spend the money on this printer it is too good for the average photo...you will see every flaw and if the resolution of the photo is low, every pixel... But, if you want the best quality wide format color photo printer in the less than $1000.00 price range, than this is the printer for you...it is well worth the money for the serious photographer and graphic designer...and like I said much more that I expected
4 professional quality printer...
I have had my i9900 for approximately six months now. I am still amazed at the quality of prints that come out of it. I shoot photos with a Canon EOS-1d Mk II. So it's a given that it helps to have a camera that can utilize the capability of the printer. People that I show the prints to cannot tell the difference between an actual photo lab and the i9900's prints. One word of advice, the best paper to use with this is Canon's Photo Paper Pro. I have tried other brands and Canon's Photo Paper Plus. None of them quite have the punch that the Pro Paper does. When you have a high magapixel camera, Pro paper, and the i9900, it is next to impossible to produce a bad photo. Oh, one more thing. I only use my i9900 for photos. I have a seperate printer for documents and such. By only printing borderless 8.5 x 11 photos on Pro Paper, I can average 50 photos per each pair of photo cyan ink tanks in the i9900. You don't use the other colors as much during photo printing. Those two ink tanks cost about $12 each. So you can get 50 beautiful full page photos for $24-$25. Not bad at all.
5 A Major Headache
If you check on the Internet, you'll find that this is the best printer in the world - for the first few months. Then the problems begin to show, the biggest of which is a banding problem - faint bands across any solid color area. You can do frequent "deep cleaning" to get rid of them for a short while but count on replacing a lot of ink cartridges just for that used in the cleaning procedures. Canon wants me to drive a half day to take it in to a service center. Yeah right. Their telephone assistance is worthless.
You'll love this printer initially and give it 5 stars, but just wait a few months. I've always had Epsons but thought I'd try this snazzy new model. I loved it - for a while. Now it's a nightmare.
6 i9900 outputs the best A3+ prints
Unless Canon introduces a new A3+ printer this year, the expensive search for a large format ink printer that can produce photographs just as fine and smooth as the best dye-sublimation/diffusion printer might be over. The pros and cons are based on a comparison between the i9900 and the i9100 printers that I own.
i9900 PROS
1. improved hinged 3-step paper rest and extension
2. smoother operating paper guide
3. improved 3-step paper output extension
4. better secured front cover
5. relocated and resized operation panel
6. direct print port connection with specific digital cameras
7. two USB (2.0 and 1.1) and one FireWire 400 rear ports
8. lower in height by 14 mm
9. wider colour gamut
10. quieter than the i9100 in the non-Quiet Mode
11. faster output of photos
12. less grainier looking images
13. more detailed blowups
14. 768 nozzles per colour (1200 dpi) versus 512 for the i9100
15. except for photo cyan, Canon's specifications indicate, and it's true, that all of the ink tanks will last longer than the same inks used in the i9100
16. easy out-of-the-box set-up
17. like the i9100, black coloured text is very good for resumes and AutoCAD prints (you may have to trick your AutoCAD loaded PC into believing that it is printing to a Hewlett-Packard plotter to maintain your line settings)
i9900 CONS
1. added expense in replenishing 2 extra ink tanks with Canon inks (Canon's specifications indicate, and it's true, that the red and green inks will last more than twice as long as cyan)
2. 1.5 kg heavier (a non-issue if the printer stays put in one spot during it's lifetime and your desk isn't already near collapse)
3. wider by 4 mm (no big deal unless your desktop is already tight on surface area)
4. i9100's Quick Start Guide better clarifies with illustrations on how to determine the best printout pattern per column when performing the Simple Head Alignment (minor complaint)
5. BJ Solution Disk replaced PhotoStitch (which was available with the i9100) with Stitch Photo which is only compatible with Canon digital cameras with Stitch Assist
6. dark grey coloured paper guide scale is difficult to read than the lighter coloured scale on the i9100
7. 2-handled plastic bag containing the printer can rip when lifting the printer out of the carton for the first time
The i9900 is stingier on ink, faster to output smoother vibrant prints, and is overall an improved design over the i9100.
i9100 + Vivid Photo mode is approximately one notch less vivid than the i9900 without Vivid Photo mode. Avoid overusing the Vivid Photo mode on the i9900 on skin tones. With the exception of head to chest portraits, other photos will exhibit skin tones unnaturally reddish looking. Vivid Photo mode works well with sceneries bringing out the blues, greens, reds and yellows.
Up close comparisons of 8" x 10" identical sample images at a photo retailer produced with Canon's iP5000 and the i9900 showed that there is little difference if any (to my naked eye) in detail and grain in images produced by the iP5000's 9600 x 2400 1-picolitre head and the i9900's 4800 x 2400 2-picolitre head. The 5-colour ink tanks of the iP5000's images lacked the contrast (punch) of the i9900's 8-colour ink tanks.
Even in comparison with Canon's strongest competitor, Epson, their large format pigment-inked identical sample images were not as smooth, better detailed nor richer in colour than the i9900. Epson's printer head uses a different technology and does produce excellent natural looking results.
The i9900 can only print up to an advertised 13" x 19" print. Meaning, no banner size (13" x 44") printing like the more versatile Epson. You can call Canon and get their reasoning on this. Maybe Canon does not want the i9900 to compete with their W6200 24" wide format 1200 x 1200 dpi 6-colour ink bubble jet printer?
A Noritsu QSS-3011 it is not. But, based on dye and pigmented ink images outputted in February 2005 from the best of Hewlett-Packard, Epson, Lexmark and even Canon's iP5000, the i9900 (in my opinion) outputs the smoothest and richest images.
7 One major problem
I didn't really have a problem with this printer until I started printing pictures with a lot of black in them. There seems to be a lot of faded stripes across each picture that can't be eliminated with a nozzle clean. Since I've started to print more dark pictures with black in them, this printer is basically worthless to me. I'm currently looking for a different printer.
8 I Can Sum This Up With One Word -- WOW!!!
The Canon i9900 made me love to print again. I had been a pretty loyal Epson user -- my latest printer was the Epson 1270. But after wasting a lot of expensive paper and ink on a regular basis futzing around with clogged print heads and other Epson issues, I started looking around to see what else was now out there. I researched and researched and researched. I finally settled on the i9900 and it was just like everyone said -- very easy to set up; everything worked right out of the box; and the pictures are stunning.
The Canon i9900 made me love to print again. I've dropped more than a hundred dollars on Canon paper and it's some of the best money I've ever spent. Once you see the finished product everything becomes worth it -- the money you spend on your camera gear, the time you invest waiting for the perfect shot, the countless hours you pour over your PC cropping and editing -- it's worth it. The Canon i9900 made me love to print again.
9 The only printer you'll need for several years to come.
I had the i9900 for several months and I was looking for a large format printer capable of 11X17 sheets so I can print my portfolio. I have been using an Epson Stylus 600 for several years and have come to appreciate the printer's quality even though it was in need of frequent head cleaning and no viable way to unclog a few nozzles. I was looking at this printer and the Epson 2200 but chose the Canon because of it's replaceable print head and bubble jet technology. Bubble jet differs form other inkjet printers because the ink is heated so that it forms bubbles of ink on top of the page, therefore the speed and accuracy of the printer can be achieved. I have tested other photo ink jet printers and the photos from these printers are very similar, but due to Canon using bubble jet technology prints from the printer come out dry, while some of the others needed time to dry. There were a few times when printing on vellum where the ink was not dry. Another plus is normal quality and best quality on this printer has no noticeable difference and the only gripe is that there are no archival inks. So far I have nearly gone through an entire set of inks, since I mainly print black, that cartridge was the first to go, then photo magenta and photo cyan. I figure I would have to replace the black, photo cyan, and photo magenta three times before all the other cartridges are replaced twice or even once for green and red. People whom have compared a photo from the i9900 and the exact same photo from a photo lab cannot perceive the difference only when they say the back of the photo did they see the difference.
10 This printer is ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE!
I printed my first pictures off of this printer over the weekend and all I can say is "WOW"! The quality of the pictures are better than ANYTHING I've seen from a professional lab or expected from a photo printer. I've only used Canon's Photo Paper Pro so far so I can't say how well Canon's other types of photo paper measure up. All the reviews and descriptions I read prior to purchasing this printer are true. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who is looking to print better-than-professional quality photos from a home computer. THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS!
11 Installation
As I am writing this I am listening to how much Canon cares (recorded of course).....After spending 1 1/2 hours trying to install the software I called, and actually got a human - helpful but not knowledgeable. After his spending 2 hours his conclusion was that it must be the way my Vaio PCG-GRT100P setup must prevent installation. Canon's is the only installation software that refuses to run on my Sony machine. I am now waitiing on the Scanner folks....yep got sucked into a 9950F. The 2 stars are for a pretty paperweight.....Still listening to how much they care...uh huh
12 So far..Sooooo Good!
I purchased the i9900 about two weeks ago. I wanted to "use up" my Epson, Ilford and Kodak glossy photo papers before I purchased Cannon Photo glossy paper.... So, I printed a bunch of photo's.
I am just amazed at the quality of the prints! I can't even imagine how fantastic the print quality will become once I purchase "Canon" glossy Photo papers!
This is the best printer I have ever owned.
I am also amazed that the "print" color .... almost perfectly matches the color on my monitor.... (and I havent even set the preferences yet).
I have never owned a printer that matches the monitor color so effortlessly.
Stop researching....just go out and buy this printer. You won't be dissapointed.
13 This is the right printer for large blow-ups
I recently got this printer just after New Years. I had it ready to go out of the box in 45 mins approx. Everything went flawlessly, there were no surprises or error messages.
I printed out some landscapes (13x19) and portraits (8 1/2x11) borderless, and the speed is truly amazing. A 13x19 in 3.5 mins from the point you hit the print button.
The quality of the prints on Canon Photo Paper Pro is truly amazing. Infact, the prints looked better than enlargements I had of the same prints done in a lab! Canon's algorithms for vivid photo and noise removal are pretty good, they don't interfere with the quality of the original image much, other than doing what they are supposed to.
The high-point was when my wife shut up after complaining of the high cost, when she exclaimed that the pictures looked better than a calender. And that I should do a calendar, which I am not.
I still like the portaits I get on the Epson 785EPX using Epson Colorlife Paper, the same portrait on Canon was a little too saturated for my choice. So I will probably do portraits on the Epson.
Regarding ink usage, I was amazed to see that the ink level had hardly moved after three 13x19 and one 8 1/2 x 11 prints.
I think this printer is really worth it, especially for landscapes, or on prints where the size of the print really matters. I am glad I picked this one for size over the Canon Pixma 8500 that uses the same printhead.
14 Canon Stands Behind Its Products
The Canon i9900 printer was everything that I expected and more. The photographs printed are equal to, if not sharper, than commercially developed 35mm film. My main reason for this review is to praise Canon's technical support and commitment to customer satisfaction. I had a problem loading 13x19 photo mat paper. After contacting Canon via e-mail, I was promptly provided instructions to correct the problem. After these procedures were tried with no success, I again contacted Canon. I was advised that I had an option to taking my printer to a repair facility or utilizing the instant exchange program. I chose the later and a new printer arrived at my home within two days. The new printer has no problem with the 13x19 inch paper. I highly recommend this product and company for your photo printing needs
15 Canon hits the mark again !!!
After years of using Epson and HP printers, I bought a Canon i900D about a year ago. I was simply amazed at the results and swore there couldn't be a printer that topped the quality and color of the prints. Well, I was wrong. The i900D is a great printer, but the i9900 is actually a step above with richer colors and faster printing.
The setup is very easy. When you get everything out of the box, simply snap the printhead into the holder and load the 8 ink cartridges. After the software and drivers are loaded, you'll need to do a print head alignment. Basically, that's it! I printed my first photo in less than 15 minutes from first setting it up. The pictures come out truly amazing! The addition of the green and red ink tanks really do help making the colors look richer.
One thing I have always liked about Canon printers is the ease of use both in setup, the ink systems, and the printed colors likeness to what is on the screen. The Epson and HP printer drivers needed a lot of work to get the colors just right. With the Canon i9900, there's no tweaking of the printer drivers necessary. The colors come out almost identical to what you're looking at on the screen. Very easy "user friendly" printer driver for this machine.
I can't emphasize this enough ... there's simply NO WAY a photo lab can produce better pictures than what this printer prints. You will absolutely not be dissapointed with this printer!
16 Canon vs Epson....
And the winner is... CANON! By Far!! Read on....
I shoot for Federal Law Enforcement and the Air National Guard; I have managed a large format service bureau. I have printed on many, many different output devices to include Durst Lambda, Encad IJ, Roland HiFi Jet, Laser printers, Fuji Pictrography, Dye-sublimation devices, plus many more. I say all of this to validate my comments that follow...
The bottom line is the i9900 blows all of them away! This includes an Epson 9600, 7600 and 4000 all of which I use for the Feds and military. The only downfall is the lack of "Archival" inks. I lamented between the Epson 2200, and the i9900. I DO NOT regret one minute the i9900 decision! It is absolutely gorgeous! Now Canon needs to get on the archival ink bandwagon, and they will not be beat. I shoot a Canon 10D for my personal work, that coupled with the i9900 makes unreal images/prints, these prints blow the minds of all of my peers! They cannot believe the quality. It works with Epson, Konica/Minolta, and Red River papers perfectly. The Konica QP Glossy Paper is very nice, with no "bronzing", like the Epson pigmented inks.
I cannot tell that the printer is actually working until I see the paper moving, it is that quiet!
Downfalls would be the paper path not being a straight feed path, and the inks not being archival. The paper path has not presented a problem as of yet, but I will try some art paper and I am sure it will choke. I hope to be proved wrong on that thought. Although with the archival aspect I think that in 8-10 years when these prints are expected to fade, I will have been through several printers and the technology will be untouchable and I will just reprint them as needed. As far as selling the prints, well it will give me an opportunity to resell prints in the future...maybe. I will see down the road if they actually fade.
I hope that this has helped you make the right decision...the i9900!
Contact me if you have any further questions.
BaysidePhotoImaging@yahoo.com
Dennis
17 Unbelievable
ALL I CAN SAY IS BUY IT!!! ITS WORTH EVERY PENNY. If you print alot of large photos it will pay for itself. Ink seems to hold up well.
18 Nothing Short Of Superb
Doing photography for a living means producing high-quality prints at the end. Now I know what you're thinking...why would a professional protographer use a $500 printer? Well, first of all, I do have a much larger, MUCH more expensive printer in the studio, but for many applications, this printer does an exceptional job. I've printed out portrait packages, wedding packages, publication work, pictures on exibit, and have produced high-quality results every time.
I was a die-hard Epson user until the Stylus Photo 2200 turned into such a disappointment. So this time around I decided to give Canon a try and so far it's been a great move. OK, so it takes up a lot of space on the desk...it's a 13 X 19 printer, of course it'll take up a lot of space. Cost per print from my calculations isn't as bad as some because of the separate ink tanks. I know full well that with the Epson five color cartridges that when you run out of magenta (which is usually the first to run out along with cyan) that the other chambers have sufficient ink in them for several more prints, but you're throwing that out because of the other two colors. As far as paper goes, there arent a lot of surface choices from Canon, but I ran tests on several different papers and I've managed excellent results on all of them. The Epson paper seems to do the best as far as other manufacturer's paper goes, but I've had great results with Ilford paper. Ilford has settings on their website for the i9900 for each of their papers. Even the cheapo Epson paper from Costco (125 sheets for $20) does a good job for doing the snapshots where expensive paper isn't needed.
You won't go wrong with this printer. Well worth the cost.
19 Does not disappoint
This printer is phenomenal! Print speed is incredible--printed 4x6 prints in 33seconds, and I didn't appreciate significant noise during the process. Colors are vibrant and resolution is crisp. Set up was effortless, at least in my opinion. Also nice to see that Canon included some 4x6 pro paper inside.
Upon arrival from UPS, the box did sustain significant damage during delivery. I was a bit worried, but no printer damage was visible. Kudo's to Canon for doing a great job on packing.
Cost is high, but I've already invested a significant amount of $$$ into my digital equipment. After all is done, its the print that ultimately matters.
The size of the printer is rather large. My HP Laserjet ended up going on the floor to accomodate the Canon printer.
Overall, I have been very happy with the printer and can't say that I have any complaints or concerns at this time.
20 Knock, knock. Who's there? The printer of your dreams!
Absolutely phenomenal print quality! That's what it all comes down to and this printer, by far, produces the best quality prints I've ever seen. The colors just jump right off the paper.
Usually the old axiom, "garbage in, garbage out" holds true the majority of the time, but I've printed out some relatively crappy pictures (not mine of course
) that have looked decidedly non-crappy once 'transmogrified' by this printer. Of course, this won't work miracles, but it will allow you to get the best possible results from whatever your photographic labors have been. So if you spend a great deal of time and effort in composing and exposing your photos, then play with them for hours in Photoshop to eek out just the right tonal balances and colors, it really is a shame to print it on some run of the mill bargain printer. I was so impressed by this printer that I've gone back and reprinted all of the photos that I had in my house. Photos that I had previously thought 'perfect'. After reprinting them on the Canon, they really are even 'more' perfect. :-)
I've been doing photography now for over thirty years. I've seen some relatively revolutionary changes in photography over that time, but until now I've lamented the fact that you couldn't get a proper color print outside of the darkroom. This printer changes that. Which is an entirely good thing because color printing in the darkroom is a major PITA (+/- 1 degree tolerance in your chemicals, CYMK filtering, etc..).
I've gone through quite a few inkjets over the past six or seven years and was, until recently, very pleased with the output from my HP 5550. I knew it wasn't top of the line, but for $99 a year ago, it was quite good. Then I got to thinking about all the time, effort and money I was spending on producing photographs, only to print them out on a so-so printer. I did extensive research and narrowed down my choices to the Canon i9900 and the 8450. Both use the _identical_ printhead and inks, but the 8450 only handles letter size paper and smaller. For an extra $150 I decided on the i9900 so that I could handle 13x19 and smaller. Well worth the extra money. The first huge 13x19 print you make of your favorite photo will convince you as well.
Okay, enough blathering, here are my impressions:
PROS:
- unreal color quality
- 8 ink cartridges. 8 separate colors are responsible for the outstanding color, but also allow you to replace only the color cart that runs out (not only environmentally sound, but also saves you some coin in the long run).
- FAST print speed
- Relatively straight paper path (can handle heavier weight papers and doesn't mangle the paper)
- Exceptionally quiet
- I've only used Kodak, Ilford and Canon papers, but the print quality was extremely similar on all of them. I've not had it long enough to comment on the fade-resistance, but Canon claims 25+ years.
CONS:
- BIG footprint. Once you have the input paper support and output tray folded out, it's like a satellite with its solar panels unfurled. Front to back is 34 inches. That's right, just two inches short of a yard. 23 inches wide sounds small in comparison. 14 inches deep with the solar panels folded up isn't bad, but you do need to unfold them when you print. This thing gives new meaning to desktop printing - you need an entire desk for it.
- Pricey. Perhaps I've just been spoiled by sub $200 printers, but it is a big leap to lay out $500 for an inkjet. Quality-wise, it seems exceptional. And of course, the end result of amazing prints is well worth it if you can afford it. And when you consider that I've spent over $2K on digital cameras and lenses, $4K on my Mac G5 and accessories, etc.., it seems silly to cheap out where the "rubber meets the road".
- I don't quite understand the need for a duplexing system on this type of printer. I would rather have that as an option and pay less for the main printer.
- Black and white prints just don't seem as good as darkroom results for the same picture. I believe this could be improved if Canon were to rewrite the drivers for this printer, but for now, I'm continuing my search for a good b&w inkjet.
So in conclusion, I really love this printer. Canon has really taken the lead in the photo-printing market and I can't see anyone else catching up anytime soon.
[...]
21 Great Printer
I have had my i9900 for about three months and love it. Super quality photos, especially like the 4x6 prints. Prints super 8x10's as well...Buy extra Photo magenta and photo cyan ink if you print alot of pictures, and I do mean alot of pics. Ink lasts a long time. I am very very happy with my purchase. Best photo printer for the money.
22 Canon Photo printer i9900, WOW WOW.
It tells you that is Lab quality, I been taken pictures for years, this machine its better than some Labs that I got pictures from, way above my expectations!!!!!!!!, don't hesitate to buy it.
23 Photo lab quality in all sizes!
Now that I've been using this printer for several months I can say that it has far surpassed my expectations. Photos as large as 13" x 19" print in photo lab quality. The "Easy Photo Print" application is simple to use and by checking the "Vivid Photo" and "Photo Noise Reduction" boxes improves color and sharpness immensely. I can't imagine why I'd ever get a photo processed by a photo lab ever again.
The printer was simple to install and those that complain in other reviews about the paper loading problems and discolored images must be doing something wrong. It all works flawlessly.
Thank you Canon for giving me what I've been hoping from digital photography for years.
24 WOW!!! The print quality, speed and clarity are outstanding!
I have owned this printer for about 2 months now and it is AMAZING! The quality of the prints from my nikon d70 and this printer is simply unbelievable. The 13x19 prints are great. This printer is quiet and fast too, when I first used it i thought it was broken because I could not hear it and then a minute later there was a borderless 8.5x11 print. For anyone who has images that are high enough resolution to deserve this excellent printer, buy it! You will not regret it!
25 WOW!!!!!!!!
WOW...no more going to one of those photo stations to do your photos. This printer is beyond awsome. I can't believe the awsome picture quality. I love...yes love this printer...I will no longer need to get my family photos done at a portrait studio. I am taking them my self at home with my awsome Cannon 20D SLR Camera and printing them out on my Cannon i9900 printer. I LOVE IT!!!
26 After Three Months I'm Still Impressed
I've had my i9900 since it first came out and I love it! Before this I had two Epson photo printers and was happy with them at the time but everything about this printer is better... The print speed is incredible, I haven't had a clogged head yet (Epson owners will appreciate this), the individual ink cartridges are economical, and the print quality is phenomenal. Although I print more 4x6's than anything, I've made several 13 x 19 prints and they look great. Genuine Canon ink cartridges can be bought for about $10.00 each if you shop around a bit. They last a reasonably long time and are a snap to change.
I only have two quibbles with this printer and neither is serious enough to affect its five-star rating... It doesn't print on CD's and you can't make a borderless 8 x 10" print (you can make a borderless 8? x 11" but my Epson handled both sizes).
I can't speak to print longevity yet but I don't expect it to be a problem. I never used Epson's archival inks & papers and have not noticed any fading of those prints, even after 3-4 years hanging on my wall. I expect that prints made with the i9900 will be equivalent, which is fine with me. I don't sell my prints so if in ten years a print has faded, I'll simply make a new one.
One last thing... Although I usually don't recommend using paper from anyone but the manufacturer of the printer, I've found that Epson's Premium Glossy Photo Paper works fine with this model. You get a very slight shift toward yellow when compared with Canon's best paper but can be easily adjusted out if desired. I mention this because I print a lot of 4x6's and Epson's 100 pack of their best glossy paper (S041727) is quite a bit cheaper than even Canon's mid-line paper. Also, although the glossy surface on the Epson and Canon papers are near identical, the back of the Epson paper is smoother than the Canon's, making the prints slide easier (and feel better) in your hand. This is a small thing but you may want to give it a try.
If you're looking for a wide-carriage photo printer, there's a lot to like with this one.
27 Wow just doesn't say enough...
My last printer was a Canon 7000 which has worked wonderfully for many years now but it takes forever in comparison to print out a full page 300dpi image (almost 10 minutes!). Since I wanted something faster and had great luck with Canon I thought I would stick with them. I looked at each of their consumer printers and like what I saw with the i9900. When I got it I printed several pictures and was just awestruck by the quality of the images printed. After that I wanted to see exactly how detalied a picture it could print out. So I put the digital camera on the tripod and zoomed out as far as I could (optically). I took a series of overlapping photos and then put them together in Photoshop to make one huge photo. I printed it out at 600dpi and was even more amazed!! It was like looking at the same scene in reality. I have never seen such incredible clarity from a printer before. This was even printed out on the "Kirkland Signature? Glossy Photo Paper 125 Sheets" from Costco (about $19).
28 Wow!
Great results and easy set up. As nice as any standard processor will give you. Very, very pleased! I love it, and compared to the Epson price in the same quality range, it was a good buy.
29 Great printer.
I've had this printer since it was first stocked at compusa. so far, its's been an amazing inkjet printer. I previously owned epsons (3000, 2200) which required lots of maintainance such as frequent head cleaning, tweaking with color profiles to get color matching, and having a designated computer as RIP print server. Canon is easy--direct connection to my computer via FireWire (or USB1/2). Straight out of the box, photo prints had relatively good color matching to what I see on my Apple Cinema display. Colors were a bit warmer and more saturated than what I would prefer. But they were still very good. It prints quietly and very fast (especially compared to Epson 2200 & 3000) . I wanted to get precise color matching to what I see on my screen. It took me about an hour to calibrate my monitor, set up color profiles, and adjusting only the color intensity on the Canon printer and printing with my custom color profile to get the colors nearly perfect.
I saw that some complained about the ink cost. Canon uses 8 inks and will run you about a hundred dollars to get all 8. BUT...it rarely uses Red and Green. Photo colors (PCyan, PMagenta) seems to run out pretty fast. If you have photoshop you can always adjust the color distribution in CMYK so that the printer uses more ink from black but and not from the four process colors. I looked at the prints under a loop and found that 2-picoliter droplets stay on the surface of the page. It seems like a lot of ink does not go on the page but they are tightly held together to produce excellent color and definition. Anyway, the cost of printing on this Canon is no more than Epson 2200.Text printing is so-so if you are printing direclty to the printer. It isn't as tight and defined like printing through RIP. BUT. you can emulate this effect and get near perfect text printing by saving your doc as a PDF and then printing the PDF file. The result is amazing! Anyway, it's an excellent printer. Get to know it well and it will treat you well.
30 A long time to wait for yellow pictures!!!!
Originally the order for this printer was placed on the first of September. The order wasn't shipped until the 7th of the month. Recieved the printer on the 15th of September (2-3 day shipping!!!!). I said to myself Bad Karma.
Hurried back from work to set-up the printer and install the associated software. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to install the software (only partial installation)I called tech support. This was the best experience of the night since the gentleman on the other end of the phone was an american who spoke english that I could understand!
After two and one half hours on the phone with him we were only able to install "most" of the usable applications for the printer. I said to myself Bad Karma!
Next night my wife asked me to print some pictures from our vacation which I told I would only print when I got the "good" printer. Much to my suprise when the first picture came out of the printer, the faces of the people looked as though they had jaundice. I tried to manually adjust the color but to no avail.
Once again I called the friendly people at tech support and asked for their advice. After a couple of tests and adjustments nothing changed. His advice was for Canon to send out a new printer head. Once again Bad Karma and a waste of time.
This was my first large purchase from Amazon.com and to date has been way less than a positive experience.
Now I can't say that Amazon.com was responsible for the printers malfunction, however if I had purchased this unit closer to home and the identical events occured I could have rectified the problem two weeks ago.
It would have cost me more money (approximately $100.00 more) but when you factor in the lost time and hours spent e-mailing Amazon I would have gladly bought close to home.
So the saga hasn't ended yet. I'll continue my review when the new printer head is delivered 7 days from now! Bad Karma!!!
31 Over priced ink and faulty feeds ruin another Cannon
What needs to be pointed out is that yet again Cannon has set up an ink system that cost me more money than any other printer out there except the Lexmark's of the world. The number of photo prints you get for your money is ridicliously low. I felt jipped out of my money. Then the gravity style feed started feeding pages wrong by leaving these little white lines up either side of the page, so not only am i paying too much for my prints, but im printing non-useable prints then also. Does any one else smell a conspiracy?
32 Just Great
This i9900 is fun it makes you want to keep printing photos they are great looking Dont wait Just buy one, you will have some happy days, Before I got mine Iwent to canon cite and downloaded the software, its great I had every thing ready wen the printer arrived . Iguess thats it , gonna print some more pohtos
33 SKIP, an OLD PRO.PHOTOGAPHER from fremont,ca.
I did a lot of research before buying the CANON i9900.But it was
worth all the time i spent.This is the best PHOTO PRINTER i have
ever seen.For the money,it's simply the best.I ran a test for color quality as soon as i had it hooked up,(witch by the way was a snap) it is fantastic, the color is as good as or better then most photolab's.I also tested different brands of paper.the
best print was the one useing CANON PHOTO PAPER PLUS GLOSSY.But the prints with other paper were not bad ,but with CANONS paper
the color jump's off the print at you.If you are into photography you will love this printer,boy i sure do.
34 What a printer!
I will make this short. I was skeptical about the price but even my wife says it is sooo worth the money. Print quality is absolutely superb! 8 cartridges about 11 bucks apiece but you won't believe how long they last (buy an extra photo magenta and photo cyan; they were the first to go). Printed some pix from the Canadian Rockies and was just blown away. Even printed 11x17 photos from my old Nikon 3megapixel camera. Unbelievable.The software that came with it was great too. Very easy to merge 3 pix into a nice panorama. If your thinking about buying it, STOP. Just do it. You won't be sorry.
35 Nice printer...BUT no USB or Firewire cables included
My initial impression is that this is a very good printer that produces unusually high-quality photo prints for a printer in its price range. However, I have given the product only a 2-star rating, because I am frustrated and angry that Canon failed to include the cables that are needed to hook up the printer to a computer. To explain this problem, potential buyers should know that this printer connects via either a USB cable or Firewire, but unlike every other printer manufacturer I'm familiar with, Canon includes neither. To make matters worse, the USB cables I own do not fit the USB port on this printer, and Canon has provided no documentation about the precise type of USB cable that's needed. In an effort to solve this problem, I spent upwards of an hour looking around on Canon's technical support website, but it contained no helpful information. Exasperated, I finally called a tech representative, who immediately recognized the problem. Apparently it is among the top reasons why customers call tech support when they're installing their printer. So stop for a moment and think about this and its implications about Canon. Canon is either so cheap and/or so stupid that they would rather pay a tech rep $20 bucks to field calls about this problem than to spend $5 to put the right cables in the box in the first place. And even though this is apparently one of the leading reasons why customers call for support, Canon still won't bother even to document it on their website. That says a lot about Canon. But wait, there's more ugliness to come! So the tech rep tells me that I need a USB cable that has a "Type 1" connection on one end and a "Type 2" connection on the other. Great! Except that it seems that no one in the universe of USB manufacturers has ever heard of a Type 1 or 2 USB connector. Once again, Canon is operating in its own little universe, where it is completely detached from the real world and from its customers. I finally solved the problem myself, and for what it's worth, potential buyers should know that the USB cable that worked for me is described as having an "A Plug" on one end and a "B Plug" on the other. This terminology (A & B Plugs) is apparently standard among USB manufacturers (but shhh!...don't tell Canon!) Oh! You should also know that this printer supports both high-speed USB 2.0 and the slower USB 1.x standard. So if your computer supports USB 2.0 and you intend to use it, then be sure you buy a USB cable that clearly states that it is a "USB 2.0 Device Cable". Good luck! As I said, this looks like a very nice printer, but it is utterly appalling that Canon totally botches the setup process by fumbling these cable issues. Reminds me of the old story that for want of a nail, the shoe was lost and for want of a shoe... (you can find the rest on the web, if you want it).
36 Semi professional photographer loving the 9900
I was so reluctant to spend anything over $200 for a printer with all of the online printing services out there. I started getting more work and realized that my clients demanded the proofs and prints quicker which pushed me into this market. Like everything else, due diligence was done and it came down to Canon vs Epson. I must say, I may be biased as all my camera gear is Canon but I have no regrets. This baby rocks and she is sexy too! The first thing my wife said, after she saw its size, was wow it is sleek and neat isnt it. Then she heard it print, or more importantly, didnt hear it print. Its silence is of course an added bonus. The setup is very simple and the prints are fabulous. No regrets from this user. Of course, as a Mac user, I love the firewire interface. Dont think about buying this baby, just go for it.
37 A great printer
What a great printer. I pulled it out and read the instructions first. I had no problems installing the drivers. After running though the setup process and performing an alignment test I was ready to print. I used the high speed USB and that went without a problem. I was ready to print my first picture. I decided to use my drum scanned picture for a test. It was a 100 Megabyte TIFF file. Open the file in Photoshop and printed it to an 8x10 sheet of Canon Pro paper. The print quality was impeccable. I was amazed of the quality of print. I compared it to a LightJet print I had made from that same file. The LightJet print had a greater Dmax (deeper blacks, and from 1" away had greater visual resolution). However the LightJet 8x10 print cost me $25.00. I estimated the cost of the i9900 8.5x11 print cost me about 2 bucks and is very close in quality. Behind a glass frame and the difference is even harder to recognize. I think I'll save my money from now on and print from the i9900 printer. The quality is truly photographic. I even made prints from 1 MB Jpeg's that were scanned at Wal-Mart. I turned on image optimizer and was even more amazing how well it can print from such a small file. I was expecting pixilation, but that wasn't existent. It must have interpolated the picture and with great results. Again those looked like photographs too. I used Kodak paper and Canon paper. The Kodak glossy paper was OK. It didn't produce the same results are Canon. Canon paper was far better. I would stick to Canon paper for quality, which is why you're looking at this printer right? If you want your own digital photo lab at home, the i9900 is for you. You will not be disappointed. One interesting note, why did someone post there e-mail address below on the web and claim to be a computer professional? I guess in 10 years they never heard of spam.
38 Faulty Paper Handing - Faulty Installation disks
I have been a computer professional for 10+ years and understand how to install equipment and software. After unpacking the printer I read through the documentation and followed the step by step instructions. During driver installation twice the cdrom failed with cab errors on two different drives. I could not complete the registration due to errors. It was impossible to kill the installer in W2K. It just wants you to register no matter what. I had to reboot my system.After installing the driver (ignoring errors) I put approximately 15 sheets of office max ultra bright 24lb inkjet paper into the feeder, and adjusted the guide. It ate the paper several times, twisting and tearing the edges and feeding it crooked.
I re-adjusted the paper - this time using only two pages in the feeder. When trying to run the maintenance utility it started to complain about an unauthorized ink tank... sigh... I re-seated the ink tanks and the head.
Eventually I was able to run the head alignment utility but the feed was still crooked. I must have a defective unit. I read through their recommended papers and saw the printer will not handle anything over 24lbs unless it is Canon paper. Eh... I'm returning it for another Epson. I have a feeling that this particular model will be finicky about paper handling. I was very disappointed that I experienced so many problems out of the box. I read on other sites similar problems with defective paper handling. I do not think this device deserves a five star rating.
39 Amazing print quality!
I just printed some 13 x 19 prints on Canon Pro paper -- they look like they came from a lab. I'm amazed with the quality, ease of use (their stand alone printing utility is great - my wife loves it!), quietness and speed of the unit. I had no idea it was so fast --- I was after best quality I could get, and this is a step ahead of the Epson 2200 or R800, the Canon i960 etc. I was replacing an Epson Photo 1200 and until I came across this printer I had trouble finding a printer that met all of my requirements: high quality, bordless, large format, no CF slot or LCD display (printing from my file server).Really, I cannot find any fault with this printer, setup was simple, but the proof of the pudding is in the output, and the prints are stunning, even on the mid-level "Plus" paper.
Glenn
40 Fast & Excelent Photo Printer for the money
I replaced my aging, broken Epson 1270 printer with the Canon i9900. I was fairly happy with the Epson, but the i9900 is close to perfect. The quality of graphics and photos on any paper is very good, even at the standard quality setting. Full page letter sized photos print in just over a minute. The drivers work flawlessly on both my PC and Mac, with Photoshop and Illustrator. The only time the printer seems slow is when printing web pages and text with the draft settings, it is only a little faster that the standard setting, but not as fast as a few year old HP DeskJet 970 in draft mode. The ink seems to go a long way too, the Photo Cyan & Magenta ink tanks seem to be the only ones that need to be replaced. All the other colors of ink seem to last twice as long.
41 Exceeds Canon's brag
I've come across very few products that perform up to what its manufacturer claims for them. This printer far exceeds in the quality of its output what even a blessed publicist could write about it. "Uncanny!" is the word. What the unit gives me would challenge even the best a processing lab could do. I had one problem, which turned out to be of my own making and a result of my not sufficiently trusting the i9900. To get a letter-sized print took me 30 minutes. I kicked my computer, punched it, cursed at it, and was even thinking of unplugging it as punishment. I had duitfully scanned my film negatives (and slides), sized and massaged them through Photoshop; then saved them as JPEG, and turned the file over to i9900 to print.
Canon's estimate of 50 seconds for letter-sized--hey, it took me 30 minutes. Yet, you know--the output was worth the wait. Last night I woke up with the answer. The i9900 wants to do all the work--enlarging and massaging. To ask it to go to Photoshop is downright insulting, except to get the JPEG save. So I gave the Canon a JPEG and said, "Okay, it's yours!" In 50 seconds I got a photo even my wife gasped at.
So, please, don't buy the unit! I want my genius to be proclaimed.
42 Some Canon printer tips
Anyone with a Canon printer can easily refill the tanks if you go to cfriends.com and get the right refill kit. These inks work very well and printing costs will drop dramatically. I have used them for years with no problems.
To get a good match between monitor and print, make sure all your profiles are in the right places and Color Settings, if you have them available in your Photo App, are set correctly.
I use a MAC G5, Photoshop CS and a Canon S900 with great success thanks to Canon's superior support of OSX.
43 Good job Canon!
What a wonderful product! Can you say excellent printing! My photo retouch project came out better than the original! This printer is definitely worth the money! Can't say enough good things about it!On the negative side, the printer shipped had a defect in the autopaper foot feed. Every sheet no matter whether 20lb, glossy, matte photo, didn't matter - it chewed up. Contacted Canon and had perfect customer service experience with the exchange!
I highly recommend this printer and Canon's customer service that came with this product!
44 Incredible printer
I bought it the day I could get a hold of one, and it paid off in spades. It's fast as blazes, prints gorgeous photos and high-speed text... absolutely amazing and worth every penny.
45 Well done!
First i9900 delivered to me had serious problems with paper feeding: jam on each second large format print, noticeable distortions and other defects of output on others at the beginning of printing while paper gets into properly. Canon replaced the printer within a week, thanks to them. Replacement works fine. I printed about 15 images in 13x19 size and a few smaller ones. Images were taken by Sony F717 camera and were of 5 and 3 MP size. No enhancements or editing were used, only best images, perfectly looking on screen were selected. 1. I had problems with printer driver installation (eMachines PC, Windows XP Home edition). Gauge of driver installation program shows 60% when it fails to continue. Fortunately, printing is possible - the necessary parts of driver were installed.
2. Color rendering may be better. It tends to add a little bit of extra violet tone. Colors are less bright than expected. Difference of how prints look on monitor and on paper are noticeable and it is impossible to predict them. However, no doubts, printed images are very good.
3. I compared prints on Canon "Glossy Photo Paper" and on "Photo Paper Pro". "Pro" - paper is much thicker, multilayered promising better prints. I am not sure about that because "Pro" paper is not so white as simple thin and twice cheaper "Glossy" so output on "Pro" is not so juicy. To ensure this, simply compare these two kinds of paper.
4. I estimate ink expense for 10 13x19 images as 3 ink tanks, so each print comes to $5-$7, rather well. However, expenses in future in not often occasional usage should be bigger because ink dries in all ink jet printers, requiring cleaning of nozzles.
5. Five MP images look very detailed, I would say that they are significantly better than may be expected from traditional 24*36 mm films. Even prints 3 MP images are very good showing no visible granularity.
6. Printer is noiseless, relatively small, very fast and easy to use - though these features are not very important, this should be mentioned.
Overall conclusion: this is a remarkable printer and it appears that it has no competitors, except, maybe, more expensive but less good by specifications Epson 2200. It is interesting to compare them. My suggestion to all serious photo amateurs with high demands looking for large format printer is "buy". It is very interesting to revise a review after, say, half a year. First tests on fresh printer and ink can say nothing about ink discoloration, print head life, etc.
46 Incredible printer!
I just purchased the Canon i9900 inkjet, and I just can't restrain my enthusiasm- it's absolutely amazing! Literally within 15 minutes of getting it all set up I had several beautiful prints, including a gorgeous 13x19 incher. I had owned a very competent, but older, Epson photo printer (870), but I really wanted something that would show off the abilities of my digital SLR (Nikon D70-love it, by the way), and this printer certainly seems to do that. Unbelievable detail, perfect color, the ability to go big, and no flaws in image quality that I can see. I am certainly not a professional photographer (amateur hobbyist), but the only excuse I have now for poor pictures will be my own lack of ability.The only concern I had about the Canon over the Epsons was its ability to print black and whites, but it seems to be doing a beautiful job with those as well. Admittedly, I have not tried it with all the papers, but I can vouch wholeheartedly for the Photo Paper Pro and the Plus Glossy papers. I haven't had it long enough to comment on lightfastness or longevity. And yes, it is amazingly fast- a thing you may not even appreciate until you live with it a while. It makes the printing process so much easier and enjoyable that I anticipate printing a lot more (I'm sure to Canon's delight!). If you own a higher-megapixel camera you just haven't lived until you've seen your pictures really sharp and really huge.
Pros:
-Image quality
-Speed
-Price (esp. compared to the Epson 2200)
-Image size
-It's a handsome devil
Cons:
-Clunky paper feeding (but actual printing is very quiet)
-Price (compared to regular-sized printers)
-Not really sure where I'll find a 13x19 frame (?)
Can't comment yet:
-Ink costs
-Satisfaction with other papers
-Longevity and lightfastness (but the way I figure it, if it fades in a couple of years, I'll print out another one!)
-Software (so far, so good)
47 Excellent, fast, quite
This printer makes stunning prints very quickly. P 13" x 19" high quality print takes under 3.5 minutes on my computer. The printer is not only fast but it is also very quiet.I was worried that it did not come with a 4x6 card feeder like the i960, but I loaded a set of 10 4x6 pages and printed 8 4x6's without any paper feeding issues.
The borderless printing is excellent and the ink management seems to be pretty good. So far with 3 13 x 19 high quality prints on glossy paper and around 20 4 x 6 and 5 8.5 x 11 prints, 7 out of 8 ink cartridges seem to be more than 85% full. Photo cyan looks to be around 70% full (as I would expect) so consider buying 2 of those.
I highly recommend this printer.
48 Awesome, truly awesome
I purchased this printer as soon as it was released as I had high hopes from reading reviews beforehand. Boy, am I impressed. The first thing I noticed when I yanked this puppy from the box was that it is simply elegant. This is not a printer to shove in the corner on the floor; display it well and keep in mind that it is fairly large--13 x 19" capability will do that to a printer. Anywhoooo, I yanked my tired looking epson 890 from the shelf and livened up the area with the 9900. Setup was quick and easy, unless you're tremendously naive when it comes to computers...but even then, the instructions seem pretty dummy proof. I immediately printed out a borderless 4 x 6 print. Holy mother of g-d, this printer is fast! Compared to my old epson, it's a mile down the raceway while the epson is just starting the ignition. Vroom vroom. I think the print took less than 40 seconds. Ya can't beat that...anywhere; likewise, a borderless 13 x 19 took something like 2 1/2 minutes. Once again, it smokes the competition. The prints looked excellent and I wasn't even using Canon paper, it was epson. I would recommend, as canon says, to use their goods with their goods.
Well, let's see...what else...ah yes, ink. 8 ink cartriges reside within the printer, an addition of 2 from last years model. The more the better is what I say. Of course, more cartdridges=more money, but from the looks of it, canon inks and paper remain relatively affordable compared to other brands.
Look at the price of the printer for pete's sake! Retails for $500 bucks? The epson 2200 which has similar capabilities is $700...nuff said.
If you're looking for a fast, affordable and georgeous piece of technology, you can't go wrong.
Happy Printing.
49 Canon will put photo labs out of business...
This is the most awesome printer! If you have a good high megapixel camera your photos will look just like they came from the photo lab, or maybe even better. The photos come out extrememly vibrant in color. It is incredibly fast, this is just an amazing printer. I printed out at least five 8x10's and a few 4x6 photos right away, and the ink tanks still look full. I was skeptical about spending this much money on a printer and it not meeting my expectations, it exceeded my expectations. I would highly recommend getting this printer if you are into photography. I was also very impressed with the Easy PhotoPrint software this came with. The Easy PhotoPrint software works very well. I can't say enough good about this printer. I'm very impressed.
