Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: mg73 on April 01, 2013, 12:50:09 pm

Title: Canon 8400 max dpi output question...
Post by: mg73 on April 01, 2013, 12:50:09 pm
Just printed my first large print on my new Canon 8400.  I used Epson exhibition gloss canvase using the BC lyve canvas Icc profile which I was told is pretty close.  The print was beautiful.  I noticed in the print dialogue box that the choices for output quality were all 600 dpi.  There was standard 600 and high quality 600.  So I chose high quality 600.

I just switched over from having used Epson printers for most of my life.  The Epsons give you output choices of 720 dpi, 1440 dpi and 2880 dpi.  I'm not sure whether I'm comparing apples to oranges here.  Is the max output of the 8400 really 600?  Does that number correlate directly with Epson dpi numbers?  The literature says the max output of the canon 8400 is "2400 x 1200 dpi" but I'm not sure what that means when you compare it to the Epsons.  Can somone help me out here to understand this, please?
Title: Re: Canon 8400 max dpi output question...
Post by: I.T. Supplies on April 01, 2013, 04:36:07 pm
That resolution is correct, but it depends on the media (and profiles) that you're using as not all media has that ability.
http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/printers/large_format_printers/graphic_arts_and_photo_printers/imageprograf_ipf8400#Specifications

If the printer isn't giving the higher resolution options, I would contact Canon's technical dept to verify this as it could also be that the drivers may be be installed properly.
Title: Re: Canon 8400 max dpi output question...
Post by: Wayne Fox on April 01, 2013, 11:26:53 pm
Printers achieve resolution by moving the paper and making multiple passes.  Epsons do the math for you, so with a current Epson printer so you just indicate the final resolution and it will make the appropriate "passes", between 1 and 8.

I had a canon 6100 before going back to epson and it worked a little differently.  I'm not sure how the current canon interface works but with the 6100 basically you did the math ... you would select the dpi and then the number of passes, so to achieve a full 2400x1200 resolution, you would pick 600 dpi and 8 passes (I believe the head has 300 nozzles in an inch).

The 63/8300 and 83/8400 series of Canons dramatically improved the dot shape of the printers, resulting in a much more "round" dot and improvement in very fine detail.  I"m not sure if they simplified the method to achieve maximum resolution, but I believe now they have something called "print mode" which seems to control the number of passes.  What is confusing is they have a "highest" and a "Highest (max. no. of passes)".  I'm not sure if that means highest is actually less the the full passes so it's printing at less the 2400 dpi, or if highest is 2400 dpi and the other option enables a setting similar to what Epson calls super microweave which uses 6 passes instead of 4 when in 1440 dpi to get better results.  So it may make more passes and change the spacing in order to achieve a higher quality, yet it's technically still 2400 dpi.

Plenty of Canon users here, so perhaps one of them can clarify this.   It does sound from the description that for the best photographic results the highest (max. no. of passes) is the best setting.  Obviously the more passes the longer it takes to print a print.
Title: Re: Canon 8400 max dpi output question...
Post by: Bart_van_der_Wolf on April 02, 2013, 05:34:13 am
I just switched over from having used Epson printers for most of my life.  The Epsons give you output choices of 720 dpi, 1440 dpi and 2880 dpi.  I'm not sure whether I'm comparing apples to oranges here.  Is the max output of the 8400 really 600?  Does that number correlate directly with Epson dpi numbers?  The literature says the max output of the canon 8400 is "2400 x 1200 dpi" but I'm not sure what that means when you compare it to the Epsons.  Can somone help me out here to understand this, please?

Hi,

There is a difference between nozzle pitch (+ paper transport pitch), which determines droplet placement accuracy, and PPI Resolution. The maximum pixel (uniform RGB color) resolution refers to image detail, the nozzle pitch refers to dithering within/between each pixel to create intermediate ink colors. The maximum pixel resolution (Pixels per Inch), if not available from input it will be created by interpolation, for Canon printers is typically 600 PPI (note PPI which refers to Pixels, not DPI which refers to dots and droplets).

Cheers,
Bart