Home · Register · Search · Software · Hosting · Software · Join Upload & Sell

	Moderated by: Fred Miranda
	Username   Password FM Actions & Plugins support Workflow Guidelines FM Forums | Post-processing & Printing | Join Upload & Sell    end    Archive 2012 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900?

ModifiedPhoto Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #1 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? I'm in the market for a 24" wide format ink jet and have been tossing around those two printers. I've already ruled out the HP Z3200 for a variety of reasons. (It's a wonderful printer, but not for me.) In any event, I've read a number of different peoples reviews on each, including a head to head test on LL where the Epson and Canon both finish favorably. As I understand it, the Canon seems to be slightly more "ink friendly", though it does have a smaller ink capacity, though this shouldn't be an issue for me since I will not be using it in a large production capacity anyway. I'm already very familiar with the Epson drivers as I've owned a 44" Epson before, though it was an older model and I got rid of it after having some pretty nasty print head issues, not to mention it wasn't worth repairing at that point. My most important criteria are: Print head stability when not used for days, possibly even a week or more at a time. Overall ink/consumables usage. Print media support (will be used for various photographic and fine art media, but may want to run various canvas, metallic or backlit media as well). Color gamut, specifically towards the richer colors, shadow color and overall shadow details. Lack of bronzing, gloss differential and minimal color metamerism on most medias. I will be handling calibration and profile creation myself so this will not be an issue. Takes in favor or against each? May 12, 2012 at 08:43 PM

Hammy Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #2 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? I was in a similar boat a few months ago. I'd been using an Epson 7600 for a few years, but even after several repair attempts, I could not get the yellow nozzle unclogged. That was a few years ago. Since then, I've been getting posters done at Sam's Club for $8. A couple of months ago, I needed more prints done, and I wanted more choices in media selection and sizes. I started looking at my 7600 on the shelf and called a 'official' repair facility which would have ended up in about $1500 in repair costs (print head + time to rebuild it, after I drove it 2+ hours to the facility) Instead, I picked up an iPF710 from B&H. It's a 36" printer, that came with a stand for only $2100. However, it's not a 'graphic' printer - it's defined as a CAD/CAM printer with only 4 colors (5 actually: CMYK+(2)MK (2x Matte Black carts)). I was concerned about doing photographic prints - not being 6-8-12 colors and all. But I remembered that all dye-sub printers, standard ink jet printers, and nearly all national poster companies use the 4 color process. I saw some samples online of the quality and went ahead and ordered it. No regrets! I cannot tell the difference in my 4 color prints vs Sam's (Epson 7800) 8 color prints. 24x36 posters come out in less than 3 minutes and I can work with plenty of paper choices. 18x24 prints average less about 2.0ml of ink. I haven't had any issues with starting prints 2-3 weeks after the last. One nice thing is that if I ever do run into a persitant clog, I can very simply replace the print head from the top cover - unlike the Epson 7600 which was half a day of taking the printer apart (I had done that several times!) Of course, I cannot vouch for a 12-color variant's color gamut or bronzing, but I'm pretty sure they'll be real good on the Canon high end that you're looking at. May 12, 2012 at 09:11 PM

Kittyk Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #3 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? newer epsons have no big problems with head clogging and they reliability cannot be even remotely compared to same canons. though canons are as good for low volume printing, it just is not that well thought through and driver issues, as well as manageability is much worse. I think canon and epson high end printers would both do you great job. Just make sure you check them out in person before buying. And of course you cannot ever compare 4 color printing with full 8 or 10 ink printer, especially on any fine art media. if you are ok with poster quality, then you can take almost anything though. May 12, 2012 at 09:23 PM

Peter Le Offline • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #4 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? Kittyk wrote: newer epsons have no big problems with head clogging and they reliability cannot be even remotely compared to same canons. though canons are as good for low volume printing, it just is not that well thought through and driver issues, as well as manageability is much worse. I think canon and epson high end printers would both do you great job. Just make sure you check them out in person before buying. And of course you cannot ever compare 4 color printing with full 8 or 10 ink printer, especially on any fine art media. if you are ok with poster quality, then you can take almost anything though. Sorry Kittyk I can't agree with that as I am now struggling with a 6 month old 7890 that continually losses a whole color channel or 2 and sometimes all. Epson has been very good about things but you have to deal with inept techs that come to your door and make thing worse then before they came. What am I going to do when the warranty is up......make it a giant paper weight ? I think you should go over to LULA to the printer section and read some of those threads by very knowledgeable people.....before you buy another Epson.... On a better note......when it is printing it puts out just unbelievable prints.... May 13, 2012 at 01:41 AM

Jeff Donald Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #5 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? Every person I know with an Epson has head clog issues within the first year of ownership. I too owned Epson printers from 1999 through 2009. Six printers in ten years and all died of a head clog. I switched to Canon three years ago and have not had a single issue. A low mileage (less than 200 prints) Epson 3800 was given to me early last year and within 6 months the heads were clogging. I'm a photographer, not a printer technician. Canon printers are more reliable and lower maintenance in my opinion. May 13, 2012 at 03:00 AM

ModifiedPhoto Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #6 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? Jeff Donald wrote: Every person I know with an Epson has head clog issues within the first year of ownership. I too owned Epson printers from 1999 through 2009. Six printers in ten years and all died of a head clog. I switched to Canon three years ago and have not had a single issue. A low mileage (less than 200 prints) Epson 3800 was given to me early last year and within 6 months the heads were clogging. I'm a photographer, not a printer technician. Canon printers are more reliable and lower maintenance in my opinion. See, now that's definitely a solid impression. Thanks Jeff, I've been leaning towards the Canon more lately as I keep hearing more reviews like this. May 13, 2012 at 03:59 AM

Kittyk Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #7 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? i must be lucky then, same as majority of photographers using it (epson have, at least here in germany, strong dominance in fine art printing). i have to agree that pigment epsons are known for clogging issues, but that is side effect of their construction. It is not malfunction. Open the cartridges and look at the inks. They are as thick as syrup. We have 4 printers now in use, one is even 9600 serie and they all run fine with just regular maintenance. Two of them are used not much, sometimes stand a month without use, then need 1-3 Auto Cleans to make them perfect. Often i just let the 2-3 nozzles clogged be, and they fix them self after first sheet of print (it is not visible on highest quality print setting). We have air humidifier to keep around 70%, office plants and we cover when not used to protect from dust. It stays in very hot place (23°C at least) which is not good, but no big deal. I shake all inks in the printers once a month. Newest i have is 7900, that i have about 4 months, printed not much (about 12m of canvas and fine art paper) and all i did was 5 or 6 times cleaning various color pairs. Color cleaning is not that bad, you can actually run 230 auto cleans with 4880 printer on small cartridges, which is about worst new printer for head clogging issues. It is not that expensive as people believe. For one friend, he have 4900 in very dry and dusty environment (it sits in a hall near construction site), we tried to setup small script which prints a color test every day on normal office paper. Printed didn't needed any cleaning for over two months now. I know it is a little rad, but it does not cost anything other that you throw a printed paper every morning away. May 13, 2012 at 07:05 AM

Creative Edge Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #8 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? my vote is for the Canon ipf6350 been running the ipf6100 for 2 years, no clogs, no issues whatsoever. the 6300 is supposed to be a slight upgrade from mine so you cant go wrong... May 13, 2012 at 12:04 PM

ModifiedPhoto Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #9 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? Kittyk, I've heard of scripts like that. It just queue's up a small print that passes just enough ink through once a day or so and it's supposed to keep the ink from drying too much in the head due to non-use. I would consider doing something like that even if I wasn't having clog issues just to keep things moving now and then. CE, good to hear your luck with the 6100, yea the 6300 is a minor upgrade and the 6350 just adds an internal drive for quick job access and takes a bit of the load off the system sending the job. May 13, 2012 at 07:12 PM

phil hawkins Offline • • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #10 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? Peter Le wrote: Kittyk wrote: newer epsons have no big problems with head clogging and they reliability cannot be even remotely compared to same canons. though canons are as good for low volume printing, it just is not that well thought through and driver issues, as well as manageability is much worse. I think canon and epson high end printers would both do you great job. Just make sure you check them out in person before buying. And of course you cannot ever compare 4 color printing with full 8 or 10 ink printer, especially on any fine art media. if you are ok with poster quality, then you can take almost anything though. Sorry Kittyk I can't agree with that as I am now struggling with a 6 month old 7890 that continually losses a whole color channel or 2 and sometimes all. Epson has been very good about things but you have to deal with inept techs that come to your door and make thing worse then before they came. What am I going to do when the warranty is up......make it a giant paper weight ? I think you should go over to LULA to the printer section and read some of those threads by very knowledgeable people.....before you buy another Epson.... On a better note......when it is printing it puts out just unbelievable prints.... What is "LULA"? Aug 22, 2012 at 01:05 AM

John Caldwell Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #11 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? Curious to hear why the Z3200 isn't for you. We own the Epson 4900 and HPZ3200, and regularly use a collaborators 9900. They're all nice. My only regret is that we bought the Z3200 in a 24", rather than 44", model. John Caldwell Aug 22, 2012 at 01:36 AM

Dadsdesk Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #12 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? Been using a HP130 for 6 years now. Great printer. Great photos. I only print 24" in spring and fall. Printer sits for 4,5,6 months at a time. Need to run head clean B4 I start a new project. Ink is cheap. Have never needed to replace a head because of clog just maintenance. Heads are $35.00 +_. Almost jumped for an Epson 7900 when I purchased my 4900. Way too expensive to fill with new ink. Staples and Wal-Mart use HP printers must be because of inexpensive consumables. Paid $1300 new for printer. Have paid for this printer 10 times over. Photos good enough to sell as fine art. HP still sells and supports this printer. Aug 22, 2012 at 03:03 AM

John Caldwell Offline • • • Upload & Sell: On p.1 #13 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? What is "LULA"? The Luminous-Landscape Printing forum, as hosted by Michael Reichman. It is the best online discussion of all topics regarding digital printing. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?board=6.0 Aug 22, 2012 at 04:50 PM

kdphotography Online • • • Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #14 · Anyone Canon iPF6350 vs Epson 7900? As with many pieces of technological pieces of equipment, and pro-printers are no different, there is a learning curve of sorts to figure out both how to maintain the equipment as well as operate the equipment to enjoy its full potential. Epson professional level printers are definitely in this field. You need to learn to play your instrument just as a musician masters a new musical instrument. Those that expect to only simply "push a button" will either be sorely disappointed or never fully realize the true capabilities of their newly acquired professional fine art printer. To be sure there are "lemons" in every product line, but I'm also convinced that the internet tends to amplify the squeeky wheel syndrome. I do not mean to minimize the difficulties or problems that people have had with clogging, head issues, etc. as their pain is very real. But I do know that the vast majority are extremely happy with their professional printers, and by default those that are happy don't go complaining loudly on the internet. I'm happy to be part of that group (knock on wood!) and have had zero issues with my 9800, 4800, and 9900 printers. But to be sure, I've spent a lot of time learning about maintenance, environmental issues, custom profiles, fine art media characteristics, spraying, framing, etc. all in pursuit of making the best fine art print. After all, isn't that the next step after the photography? Early on, I had to ask myself if I really wanted to "be a printer." And I knew it meant more than simply pushing a button. You need to really make the commitment to learn your instrument. Cost should not be an issue or "trying to save money" over a pro lab as the primary motivation. Anyway, between Canon and Epson pro level printers, you really can't go "too wrong." It really comes down to your own workflow and preferences. My studio and printing business is firmly seated with Epson, from both a workflow, reliability, and quality perspective. ken p.s www.harveyheadcleaner.com is the printer utility that can run scheduled test prints automatically in your absence, presumably to keep a small amount of ink moving through the heads and keep the capping station moist. No connection, but I use this utility and it works as advertised. I use hhc on a 9800 that I converted to K7 piezography. Aug 23, 2012 at 03:30 PM

	end FM Forums | Post-processing & Printing | Join Upload & Sell end

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username   Password    Lost your password?