Which printer Epson or Canon for 44inch??????

[mjkim]

Hi there
I am very new to this large format printer and about to spend big $$$ for one!
Here is my question,
Epson 9900 or Epson 9890 or Canon iPF8400?
I would very appreciate your help, btw I am portrait photographer...
Best

[Peter McLennan]

Whoo boy!  This should start a firestorm.     Just kidding.

I'd suggest you start by reading the thread on the Epson 7900.  It's incredibly long, but there are some really valuable insights there.

I have no experience with the Canon, but quite a bit with Epsons.  They make excellent prints when they're working.  Nozzle clogging, or more accurately, clearing clogged nozzles, can be very, very, very frustrating and expensive of both time and money.  My 4800 drives me mad in this respect.

I also have an Epson 9800 - an eight ink printer that's a few generations old. It rarely gives me trouble.  The newer ones, not so much.  Or so I read.

Happy researching.  Consider the HP printers, too.

[Mike Guilbault]

I've had the Epson 9900 for just over a month.  I was frustrated at first because my 4900 ran flawlessly, but if you keep the humidity level within range (they suggest 40-60%, although I'm running at about 35% with no problem) and use it a lot, it works great.  By using it 'a lot', if I skip three days, I usually have to do a cleaning, but if I run just about anything through it, even one small print a day, it seems to love me back - and the print quality is outstanding.
My main reason for going to the 9900 was because I already had the 4900 and I reasoned that prints made on both machines would be reasonably accurate - and they are.  I have no qualms about running the same image through both.  That probably wouldn't have happened if I went to the Canon.

[Wayne Fox]

I recommend a search, this has been debated numerous times.  This gets asked about 2 or 3 times a month here on LuLa.

[Czornyj]

This gets asked about 2 or 3 times a month here on LuLa.

...and the answer is: get the iPF8400. It's better

[sfblue]

Yes, this gets debated a lot on here. 

I've owned the Epson 7900 and now own the Canon 8400.  There are advantages to both and from a print quality standpoint, I would say that you would be happy with both. A quick summary of pros and cons for me without getting into arguments about color gamut:
Epson 7900:
-Great output
-Outstandingly fine dither (though this can really only be seen with a loupe-- but it is remarkable).
-Straight paper path for printing on thick materials, posterboard, metal, etc.
-Slightly faster to change rolls with no spindle and a very clever 2 inch to 3 inch core switch.
-In theory, an easier cut sheet feed.

Canon 8400:
-Great output
-Incredible ease and speed of operation:
     -no PK/MK switching and the extra cleaning cycle/time waste
     -no wasted ink/time with cleaning cycles in general.
     -less time "thinking."  It just prints and is very low fuss.
-Comes with full-sized ink tanks on the purchase (the 6400 does not).  If you buy it with a good rebate going on, it's really a great deal

I did not think I cared as much as I do about operational ease and efficiency, but it is remarkable how much less time I waste (and ink) while printing-- not running cleaning cycles, not having to switch between mk and pk (which I thought I didn't care about, but the ease and speed of going back and forth between papers is really nice).  Also, I have the sheet feed down and it's very easy and fast for me with 100% success of getting sheets loaded perfectly straight.

My 7900 made great prints.  I had some early problems with it and had D1 out.  And there were a few lingering oddities, but by and large I had a year and a half of problem free printing though a reasonable amount of ink wastage with cleaning and pk/mk switching.  Then, for quite a while, I was running daily cleaning cycles-- sometimes running cleaning cycles in the morning, printing, and then having a clog by noon.  Some people run these printers without problem and then they are great.  While I know that things like humidity and conditions, cutting a lot of matte papers, and frequency of use play a role, I do think there is some random outcome to printhead failure and when I had the permanent clogs, it was cheaper to buy a new printer than have D1 fix it.  I did not find Epson particularly helpful at this stage. 

So far so good with the Canon, but objectively, I've only had it for three months and would have said not quite the same thing with my Epson in the first three months-- but I hadn't had the major problems yet.  Time will tell, but at least the Canon has replaceable heads. 

Finally, I took a good look at Canon two generations ago and then, for me Epson was still clearly ahead.  I didn't really look at the x300 series, but when I looked the x400, it was the first time that I would have considered Canon.  I had four Epsons in the past and this is my first Canon and I like it.  And competition is good. . . .

[Rob Reiter]

I switched from Epsons (9600, then 9800) five years ago, first to the Canon 8100, then 8300, and since last December, the 8400.

As for image quality, I think both Canon and Epson do excellent work and it usually hard to tell, from side by side comparisons, which printer made which print. They do each have slight slivers of color where one printer may excel, but overall, they are neck and neck in the image quality quest.

The biggest operational differences are the ones discussed elsewhere in this thread-reliability, ink switching, etc. I don't have any trouble feeding sheets into Canon printers, or changing paper rolls and I greatly appreciate the lack of clogging and the large ink cartridges Canon includes with the 44" models. The print module for the Canons, accessible from Photoshop's Export menu, is dead simple to use, much easier than navigating the Print command dialog box.

So, image quality-you can't go wrong with either. Day to day operations, Canon wins hands down.

[designpartners]

we've got the 9900 for last 2 year and it's absolutely fantastic! and we bought the 7900 6 months back.
I cannot recommend it highly enough. I've read the "from the inside out" thread.. absolutely great info there. all's that I can say is I've had no problems. I do get clogs but they always clear.

I can say that we are lucky enough to have and to be able to afford the extended warranty, but.. we are a business, and I believe that part of running a business is having these warranty and support systems in place. we have it for our software, we have it for out IT infrastructure, we have it for our specialized equipment. it's a cost (a large one at that) that needs to be factored in because our clients do not accept excuses, nor should they have to.

the epsons are truly stunning.

[Luca Ragogna]

There's a reason that there's no 80 page thread about the problems of running a Canon printer. I run an iPF8400 and have a broken Epson 9890 for sale.

[Geraldo Garcia]

There's a reason that there's no 80 page thread about the problems of running a Canon printer. I run an iPF8400 and have a broken Epson 9890 for sale.

I could not have said it better. Add to that the shorter permanence ratings of the epsons and, to me, the answer is obvious.

Best regards.

[Landscapes]

And I have to back it up yet some more.  My experience with Epson comes from owning an Epson 4000 and 4800 and then vowed to never own an Epson again.  The thing would clog more after running a cleaning cycle!  With the Canons, even if you truly use it too much to burn out the print head or don't use it enough, you just buy a new one and pop it in.  Service calls after warranty runs out are incredibly expensive so this feature cannot be overlooked if you plan on owning the printer for a few years.  

I myself have a Canon iPF6100 now.  Didn't use it for a few months, left it off the whole time, and sadly had to replace one of the printheads.  But since then I have bring printing once or twice a week at least and leave it on all the time now and no problems since.  With the Epsons they clog in between print jobs run back to back when it hasn't even been left sitting!

[I.T. Supplies]

There are good and bads with both models.  Granite, the Canon printers have costly print heads, this helps with being able to replace them yourself vs Epson where you need to have it changed from the warranty or Authorized service center that can possibly cost as much as the printer (possibly).

Others are correct that the Canon doesn't use as much ink during the switching of the blacks and the nice part is that Canon has a accounting software to help with finding the amount of ink used on a print to help with calculating your cost to sell the print.  The other nice part is that Canon printers are not as heavy as Epson and do go on better deals as well.  Like someone mentioned on the starter ink for the 8400, they are a full 330ml upfront.  You can also get 330ml or 700ml when you need replacements.

We do sell all of the inkjet printers in the large format for both brands.  If you do have questions regarding pricing or how they work, feel free to contact us.
Atlex.com
800-327-2822
sales@atlex.com

[Damir]

Others are correct that the Canon doesn't use as much ink during the switching of the blacks ...

As I understand Canon doesn't use any ink because you don't need to swithch blacks.

I don't know, I am a happy user of HP!

[enduser]

"Granite"?

[hugowolf]

"Granite"?

It is a common igneous rock. Really, what is your problem?

Brian A

[howardm]

Obviously meant 'Granted', perhaps auto-correct hell?

[tsjanik]

Just emphasis that Canon is a rock-solid printer. 

[Darron Chadwick]

Hey guys
I'm new to this forum also I just lost my Epson stylus archival 10000 printer about a week ago black printhead died was going to try to do a flush but since this printer is a dinosaur I am going to bit the bullet and buy a new one befor the end of the month since both Epson and Canon are running promotions.  I do mostly fine art prints and some vintage black and white photographs and am in the process of also searching for a new printer I was leaning towards the 9890 or the 9900 but after spending the last week  reading through pages of posts I'm starting to look at the  canon IPF8400 so I have some questions about the 8400 I'm noticing that it could difficult to run sheets through is this true?, I sometimes print on metal with my fine art projects and my epson  allowed me to do this with a straight path could this be an issue for the 8400? what about the epsons?, also I do a ton of outdoor fine art shows and moisture resistance is a huge factor. Are the 8400 inks moisture resistant?  I have been at several art shows were an artist selling prints next to me would have their work ruined by rain. The prints would just start running which made me love my epson even more.  Epson drivers allows me to print without a rip anyone else do this?
Thanks so much in advance for all you guys help
Darron

[tbonanno]

At the 24" size, I switched from Epson to Canon (iPF6100 and iPF6300) and have never looked back...

[I.T. Supplies]

Darron,

Per our chat on the website, the Canon printer doesn't require a RIP, but it does come the plugin for PhotoShop to make it easy to print upfront.  No need for a RIP software with Canon.  Also, Canon does have 2 print heads in their printers that are user replaceable.  If a print head goes out, you can purchase a new one to continue printing vs Epson print heads that need to be replaced by an authorized repair center.

We also found out that the discounts from the beginning of March were extended until the end of April!

Atlex.com