Sunday, November 14, 2004
Canon PIXMA iP5000 Printer
Few things in this old world seem to be getting better, but printers are. This will be my 5th or 6th printer, and excepting one model, I was pretty happy with all of them. After seeing some 8.5x11" BORDERLESS photos, however, I was hooked. I started reading the reviews. What I found was confusing, so I'll pass on here what I learned.
The reigning champion of big photo printers for the last 5 of 6 years has been the Epson series. With photo pigment inks offering longevity, and 7 color printing, these big workhorses were used by many professional photographers.
In the last year this has changed as Canon emerged with its competitor version. Every reviewer I've encountered likes the new Canon line better than the Epson. Key differences have been: 1) the Canon is much faster/quieter 2) Canon has a fixed print-head, but this IS removable, and replaceable, whereas Epson's requires the whole printer to be returned to the factory 3) Epson has a history of clogged heads, whereas Canon seems to have engineered a rarely-clogged system, 4) the cost of inks for Canon is greatly reduced---in fact, some of the least costly color printing out there, if reviewers are to be believed.
Okay, presuming Canon (for the moment) is the way to go... So, which model? Unquestionably, if big prints are the order of the day, then the i9900 gets the nod. This baby will print up to 13x19" BORDERLESS prints, and are they ever amazing. It's incredibly fast. (On color printing). The reviewers LOVE this printer. It's also big. And heavy. The 9900 uses 7 individual color cartridges, but prints black with a rather small "photo black" cartridge. This means that regular text printing is acceptable, but neither fast nor particularly economical.
The smaller format iP8000 is like a small brother to this, shaped differently, and with the ability to duplex print (meaning it can print on both sides of a paper without having to re-insert that paper---a pretty amazing engineering feat!). It has different color cartridges, but still prints black with the photoblack cartridge.
The iP3000 gets exciting reviews, and it's relatively CHEAP. It uses the more typical 3-color cartridge and a separate black cartridge. It is what most of us would use most commonly on our desk, if 8.5 x 11" is the maximal output we need.
The iP4000 steps up the pace a bit, and the cost. It is very similar to the iP5000 but the latter supposedly prints with half-sized print droplets. Unlike the iP8000 and the i9900, however, the colors in the iP5000 are: cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black and a special printing black cartridge, the benefit of which is blazingly fast print output, and cheaper text printing as well. Canon makes no quibble about it, if you call their hotline to talk about multi-purpose printing. I told 'em I wanted to be able to print about 50% text and about 50% high quality photos. No debate: the iP5000 is their recommendation.
Which leaves one other printer out there: the i960. This is the true smaller brother to the i9900: it has different color cartridges (individual cyan, photocyan, magenta, photo magenta, yellow, and photo black; no independed text black cartridge). It's fast and puts out amazing photos, but then so does the iP5000. Their cost is about $20 different. It does not offer duplex printing.
Okay, so I chose the iP5000. I wanted the i9900---but you can't have everything you want, not when you live in an RV. (The big one costs more than twice as much, too, and then you have to consider, why have a BIG printer without having supplies of the BIG paper around to print on? And 7 colors of ink tanks in reserve.... Well, it's great but expensive).
The iP5000 is a strange design, which you can see by clicking on the title above. All shiny and square-cubed off. I'm not particular googaw about it. The nice thing is that it contains a "cassette" or paper carrier in the bottom, which can hold anything you want it to: envelopes, photo paper, etc. It also has a relatively straight-path paper feed from the back/top. Straight means it can take a heavier weight paper, presumably. You can use software to tell it which bin to feed from, or a switch on the front of the printer. What I particularly like is something more subtle, which is that when adding paper from the top feeder, it's relatively EASY to do it. Just sit the paper in place. No tight fit, no removing all the paper to put in a new sheet. You can even sit one envelope in front of all that paper and it feeds just fine.
In practice, this means I can have photo paper in the bottom cassette, regular paper at the top, and don't have to dig one or the other out when I need it. It's already there. When I need to print an envelope, I just sit one on top of the paper stack up top. Couldn't be easier. Great design.
Okay, how does it print? This printer is supposedly capable of printing the tiniest ink droplets of any on the market---some exorbitant claim of 9600 dpi x 4800 dpi in photo mood. I've read a review---actually several---which says that more than 4800 x 2400 is invisible improvement. In fact, while the Canon shoots out color prints in a great hurry, it's not, so far, visibly better than my old HP 930C (which claimed something like 2400 x 1200, poor baby). But, what it can do is print BORDERLESS 8.5 x 11. That is not a trivial difference. Look at a full-page print from the old HP, which has a big white border at the bottom, plus sizeable borders all around the page, and print out the same thing on the Canon and WHAM! there IS no comparison. It's like you were printing on a bigger size paper.
I've printed out a bunch, so far can't see the ink level dropping any. More about that in real-world use. Like all Canons, ink comes in "tanks" (no print head), and costs about $12 per tank, if you pay full retail. Various knock-offs make tanks for about $5---no experience with 'em to date, more when I do. No idea whether I can reload these cartridges like I did with the old HP---which fairly drastically lowers your ink costs. Having individual ink tanks of course is important if you replace tanks, not so important if you refill your own (in which case you simply pull off the durned thing and fill all of the compartments up again, then re-insert it.)
What I do like about the Canon ink system is: 1) the printhead IS replaceable if you have to, 2) in ordinary use, you DON'T have to replace the printheads= cheaper ink 3) the ink tanks are transparent: you can look in the top compartment and see VISUALLY just how much ink is left, 4) the ink sensor system is a "real" one, not the kind that most other manufacturer's use. In order words, a small prism at the bottom of the tank gives a REAL signal when the ink is out. My HP signaled for new ink when the real level was almost full.
More about this in a follow-up later.
Oh, the best price I could find was about $175: depending upon where you get it, shipping and handling might be free (Amazon.com for example).
N.B. I just saw this printer in Staples, "on sale" for $169. The iP4000 was $20 less. Once again I read through the propaganda to determine just how these two printers are different, and the difference is slight (well, so is the cost...) The only one I can determine is that the iP5000 can print droplets as small as 1 picoliter, the iP4000 2 picoliters. One reviewer said he made a direct comparison of prints and couldn't discern any difference. If this is the case, then you can save $20 (or more) by buying the iP4000.
Few things in this old world seem to be getting better, but printers are. This will be my 5th or 6th printer, and excepting one model, I was pretty happy with all of them. After seeing some 8.5x11" BORDERLESS photos, however, I was hooked. I started reading the reviews. What I found was confusing, so I'll pass on here what I learned.
The reigning champion of big photo printers for the last 5 of 6 years has been the Epson series. With photo pigment inks offering longevity, and 7 color printing, these big workhorses were used by many professional photographers.
In the last year this has changed as Canon emerged with its competitor version. Every reviewer I've encountered likes the new Canon line better than the Epson. Key differences have been: 1) the Canon is much faster/quieter 2) Canon has a fixed print-head, but this IS removable, and replaceable, whereas Epson's requires the whole printer to be returned to the factory 3) Epson has a history of clogged heads, whereas Canon seems to have engineered a rarely-clogged system, 4) the cost of inks for Canon is greatly reduced---in fact, some of the least costly color printing out there, if reviewers are to be believed.
Okay, presuming Canon (for the moment) is the way to go... So, which model? Unquestionably, if big prints are the order of the day, then the i9900 gets the nod. This baby will print up to 13x19" BORDERLESS prints, and are they ever amazing. It's incredibly fast. (On color printing). The reviewers LOVE this printer. It's also big. And heavy. The 9900 uses 7 individual color cartridges, but prints black with a rather small "photo black" cartridge. This means that regular text printing is acceptable, but neither fast nor particularly economical.
The smaller format iP8000 is like a small brother to this, shaped differently, and with the ability to duplex print (meaning it can print on both sides of a paper without having to re-insert that paper---a pretty amazing engineering feat!). It has different color cartridges, but still prints black with the photoblack cartridge.
The iP3000 gets exciting reviews, and it's relatively CHEAP. It uses the more typical 3-color cartridge and a separate black cartridge. It is what most of us would use most commonly on our desk, if 8.5 x 11" is the maximal output we need.
The iP4000 steps up the pace a bit, and the cost. It is very similar to the iP5000 but the latter supposedly prints with half-sized print droplets. Unlike the iP8000 and the i9900, however, the colors in the iP5000 are: cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black and a special printing black cartridge, the benefit of which is blazingly fast print output, and cheaper text printing as well. Canon makes no quibble about it, if you call their hotline to talk about multi-purpose printing. I told 'em I wanted to be able to print about 50% text and about 50% high quality photos. No debate: the iP5000 is their recommendation.
Which leaves one other printer out there: the i960. This is the true smaller brother to the i9900: it has different color cartridges (individual cyan, photocyan, magenta, photo magenta, yellow, and photo black; no independed text black cartridge). It's fast and puts out amazing photos, but then so does the iP5000. Their cost is about $20 different. It does not offer duplex printing.
Okay, so I chose the iP5000. I wanted the i9900---but you can't have everything you want, not when you live in an RV. (The big one costs more than twice as much, too, and then you have to consider, why have a BIG printer without having supplies of the BIG paper around to print on? And 7 colors of ink tanks in reserve.... Well, it's great but expensive).
The iP5000 is a strange design, which you can see by clicking on the title above. All shiny and square-cubed off. I'm not particular googaw about it. The nice thing is that it contains a "cassette" or paper carrier in the bottom, which can hold anything you want it to: envelopes, photo paper, etc. It also has a relatively straight-path paper feed from the back/top. Straight means it can take a heavier weight paper, presumably. You can use software to tell it which bin to feed from, or a switch on the front of the printer. What I particularly like is something more subtle, which is that when adding paper from the top feeder, it's relatively EASY to do it. Just sit the paper in place. No tight fit, no removing all the paper to put in a new sheet. You can even sit one envelope in front of all that paper and it feeds just fine.
In practice, this means I can have photo paper in the bottom cassette, regular paper at the top, and don't have to dig one or the other out when I need it. It's already there. When I need to print an envelope, I just sit one on top of the paper stack up top. Couldn't be easier. Great design.
Okay, how does it print? This printer is supposedly capable of printing the tiniest ink droplets of any on the market---some exorbitant claim of 9600 dpi x 4800 dpi in photo mood. I've read a review---actually several---which says that more than 4800 x 2400 is invisible improvement. In fact, while the Canon shoots out color prints in a great hurry, it's not, so far, visibly better than my old HP 930C (which claimed something like 2400 x 1200, poor baby). But, what it can do is print BORDERLESS 8.5 x 11. That is not a trivial difference. Look at a full-page print from the old HP, which has a big white border at the bottom, plus sizeable borders all around the page, and print out the same thing on the Canon and WHAM! there IS no comparison. It's like you were printing on a bigger size paper.
I've printed out a bunch, so far can't see the ink level dropping any. More about that in real-world use. Like all Canons, ink comes in "tanks" (no print head), and costs about $12 per tank, if you pay full retail. Various knock-offs make tanks for about $5---no experience with 'em to date, more when I do. No idea whether I can reload these cartridges like I did with the old HP---which fairly drastically lowers your ink costs. Having individual ink tanks of course is important if you replace tanks, not so important if you refill your own (in which case you simply pull off the durned thing and fill all of the compartments up again, then re-insert it.)
What I do like about the Canon ink system is: 1) the printhead IS replaceable if you have to, 2) in ordinary use, you DON'T have to replace the printheads= cheaper ink 3) the ink tanks are transparent: you can look in the top compartment and see VISUALLY just how much ink is left, 4) the ink sensor system is a "real" one, not the kind that most other manufacturer's use. In order words, a small prism at the bottom of the tank gives a REAL signal when the ink is out. My HP signaled for new ink when the real level was almost full.
More about this in a follow-up later.
Oh, the best price I could find was about $175: depending upon where you get it, shipping and handling might be free (Amazon.com for example).
N.B. I just saw this printer in Staples, "on sale" for $169. The iP4000 was $20 less. Once again I read through the propaganda to determine just how these two printers are different, and the difference is slight (well, so is the cost...) The only one I can determine is that the iP5000 can print droplets as small as 1 picoliter, the iP4000 2 picoliters. One reviewer said he made a direct comparison of prints and couldn't discern any difference. If this is the case, then you can save $20 (or more) by buying the iP4000.
Monday, November 08, 2004
Blog Spots Come Alive!
Those bloggers are unique, fun, informative, and awfully easy to use. But up until this day, if I wanted to put pictures in my blogspots, I had to create an extra webpage using other software, then "link" to this page via a hotlink. (if you want an example, go to my other blogspot using the link on this page and see "Arizona Update," read to the bottom of that paragraph, and click on the link.
But there is a program out there, provided by www.picasa.com, free of charge, which links painlessly to a blogspot and allows you to have "inline" pictures on your blogspot. Finally, blogspots work like you always wanted them to! (The inline image of my cat, Mr P, is an example)
"Hello" is the name of this program, it's a quick download, and it does the following:
1) sits on your desktop and instantly comes to life
2) prompts you to click and sign in to your blogspot
3) asks you if you want to include an "inline" picture
4) allows you to go find that picture using your browswer
5) immediately lets you view that picture to be sure
6) uploads that picture to your blogspot, after resizing it automatically! (This is the nearly magic part of it----no more fiddling around resizing the picture in other software!)
7) shows you the finished product
8) if another person goes to your blog website, they can view the image "inline"---or can click on it to get a higher resolution image of it.
Really, really cool, and since it's free.... Well, why not try it? Click on the title above to go to the picasa software site to read more and to download the free program
Those bloggers are unique, fun, informative, and awfully easy to use. But up until this day, if I wanted to put pictures in my blogspots, I had to create an extra webpage using other software, then "link" to this page via a hotlink. (if you want an example, go to my other blogspot using the link on this page and see "Arizona Update," read to the bottom of that paragraph, and click on the link.
But there is a program out there, provided by www.picasa.com, free of charge, which links painlessly to a blogspot and allows you to have "inline" pictures on your blogspot. Finally, blogspots work like you always wanted them to! (The inline image of my cat, Mr P, is an example)
"Hello" is the name of this program, it's a quick download, and it does the following:
1) sits on your desktop and instantly comes to life
2) prompts you to click and sign in to your blogspot
3) asks you if you want to include an "inline" picture
4) allows you to go find that picture using your browswer
5) immediately lets you view that picture to be sure
6) uploads that picture to your blogspot, after resizing it automatically! (This is the nearly magic part of it----no more fiddling around resizing the picture in other software!)
7) shows you the finished product
8) if another person goes to your blog website, they can view the image "inline"---or can click on it to get a higher resolution image of it.
Really, really cool, and since it's free.... Well, why not try it? Click on the title above to go to the picasa software site to read more and to download the free program
