p.1 #1 · Canon 9500II vs 9000II vs 9000II w/OCP ink
For those of you trying to decide between the Canon 9500 mkII and 9000 mkII printers, and for those of you considering replacing the 9000 mkII OEM ink with OCP ink, I hope you find this comparison useful.
I originally bought a Canon 9500II printer for printing color and black and white mostly on Red River UltraPro Satin paper. The ink cost was really high so I bought a Canon 9000II and tried the Canon and OCP inks. To compare the output of each of the three printer/ink combinations I printed a sunset/pier photo in color and black and white on the RR UltraPro Satin paper with
All printing was done from Lightroom, and the respective Red River color profiles were used. Here is what I found:
Black and white prints:
The Canon 9500II was slightly, but noticeably better than the 9000II and 9000II w/OCP ink. The difference was clear, but not substantially better. Without looking at them side-by-side you may not be able to tell the difference. The 9500II prints had slightly more contrast, better blacks, and a smoother tonal gradation than either of the 9000II prints. The 9000II and 9000II w/OCP inks had a slight brown tint to the prints. The 9000II w/OCP ink had less of the brown tint than the 9000II with Canon ink. Both 9000II prints were nearly identical.
Color prints:
The colors in both 9000II prints were slightly more saturated than the 9500II print. The 9500II print seemed like it had a slight haze to it vs the 9000II prints, while the 9000II prints seemed slightly sharper and clearer. The 9000II w/OCP ink was lighter than the 9000II w/Canon ink (and the 9500II), but if the exposure was adjusted just slightly, the 9000II w/OCP and w/Canon ink would be very, very close.
Conclusion:
I'm very satisfied with the Canon 9000II w/OCP ink. The cost savings is substantial and the quality of the print is every bit as good as with Canon inks. I don't see a need to do a custom profile for the OCP inks since the prints with OCP ink were very close to prints with Canon ink (using the RR custom profile for UltraPro Satin paper and Canon 9000II printer). Black and white prints look marginally better from the 9500II, but I don't think I could tell the difference if I wasn't looking at the same image side-by-side.
I didn't test the longevity (color changes) over time. I may put the prints in a sunny spot in the house for a while to see if there are color shifts over time.
I hope that helps answer questions for some of you.
p.1 #3 · Canon 9500II vs 9000II vs 9000II w/OCP ink
Psychic1, I think that's what I ordered, except I didn't (but should have) order the 16oz black. I don' think the refill kit was available when I ordered my ink, so I ordered all the stuff separately, including 8 small rubber stoppers for the ink refill hole (where the ball was).
p.1 #5 · Canon 9500II vs 9000II vs 9000II w/OCP ink
The inks are different...the OCP is dye and the ink for the 9500 is pigment...and the 9500 is known for it's B+W qualities just as the Epson R2880.
I use OCP ink in a 9000 that I bulk buy and the cost is maybe 10% that of OEM inks and the quality (with Ilford paper) easily matches the original Canon materials for colour work.
Neutral B+W is near impossible to achieve with the 9000 so I use the R2880 with OEM carts for this...unfortunately OCM don't produce ink for this range of Epson printers.
