new Canon Pro9500 Mark II's at $200 after instant & mail-in rebates at B&H

[Chuck S.]

I'm new to ink jet photo printers, and was all set to order a new Epson 3000, or even a 3880, before the October rebates expire. Still just a bit unsure of just how much I want to get into making my own prints, though.

Then I stumbled on this: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/609352-REG/Canon_3298B002_PIXMA_Pro9500_Mark_II.html, which shows what was, until recently, Canon's top 'enthusiast' pigment ink 13" printer. Cost after instant & mail-in rebates is only $200 - and you get a 50 sheet box of 13x19 paper gratis.

Wondering if this might be the smart move to 'get my feet wet'. On the other hand, I'm pretty fussy about print quality. Used to do all my own BW & type C, had a 10x10 Durst and big JOBO. I want really good prints. The 3000's and 3080's reputations are pretty solid, as are 99% of their customer reviews. Will I be happy with the 9500 - at least for a year or so - or would buying one be a false economy and end up a waste of time & effort? Your thoughts?

[Peter De Smidt]

It's not a "dye sub" printer. Canon printers have been getting some very good reviews. If I needed that size printer, I'd pick one up.

[Chuck S.]

Knew it was pigment ink, not dye sub. My keyboard was temporarily bewitched. Thanks for noticing; edited correction.

[koh303]

My two cents:
The 9000\9500 are pretty much as good as the work i had done on 10880 and z32 large format printers, they are easy to control and have great response to RIPs and in any case they have pretty good control under calibration.

The only real problem with these printers is the extreme cost of ink makes it somewhat impossible to use in the long run. Though canon has come a long way in making the inks more efficient, they are still VERY expensive, and need to be replaced all the time, as he cartridges are fairly small.
Those "plotter" style epson printers use much larger ink cartridges, which are by no means cheap, but are by far more efficient due to their size.

Otherwise - print quality is phenomenal by any standard.

[pherold]

We have made many custom profiles for these Pro9500MkII's and the color gamut you can get using quality papers is quite large. The printing quality is very good, and it's capable of producing some very saturated colors.