Canon Lucia EX 8 color vs Canon Lucia 12 color (older ink set)

[marcsitkin]

Has anyone done direct comparisons between the new 8 color Canon Lucia EX inksets vs the older Canon Lucia 12 color?

I have an aging IPF9100 which is giving me error messages, and since I hardly do any 60" printing anymore, I'm exploring my options going forward.
80% of my work is portable trade show graphics, and almost all falls under 44". I can do the larger work on an HP Latex.

The remaining 20% is art reproduction for painters and a few photographers. Can the 8 color inkset handle this work?

I'm planning on retiring within a year, and want to basically run dependably until then. I'm hesitant to throw money ($1500) into a 5 or 6 year old printer if an 8 color for $3000 will do most of what I need.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[I.T. Supplies]

The only major difference between both is that the 8 ink version will be a bit faster speed due to less inks than the 12 ink version.  The 12 ink will produce better quality and will use less ink for doing high quality photo prints.  You will get a very similar quality in the 8 color printer, but not as huge in the color spectrum as the 12 ink.  Plus, you will save more ink on the 12 ink during printing since it uses the additional RGB colors.

If you decide to go with a new printer, Canon has a Mail-in on the 44" 12 ink printer for this month.

Atlex.com

[Geraldo Garcia]

I honestly believe that the ink consumption will be about the same (ml/m²) but you will change cartridges more often on the 8 ink version.

[Czornyj]

I honestly believe that the ink consumption will be about the same (ml/m²) but you will change cartridges more often on the 8 ink version.

It's 10% lower on average. For example think about red - normally you need 100% Magenta + 100% Yellow to achieve this colour, so you can potentally save up to 50% in saturated red parts.

[mstevensphoto]

if you're printing for photographers I'd do a very careful test of the fine gradients, I think thats where the difference will really show.

[shadowblade]

if you're printing for photographers I'd do a very careful test of the fine gradients, I think thats where the difference will really show.

And in areas of highly-saturated colour - particularly red, green and blue, which lie between the yellow, cyan and magenta colours of the four-colour inkset.

[Czornyj]

And in areas of highly-saturated colour - particularly red, green and blue, which lie between the yellow, cyan and magenta colours of the four-colour inkset.

Frankly there's not much of a difference in a real life regarding photography. There's less grain in neutral photos, but such super-saturated reds, phtalo-greens and violets (rather than blues) doesn't occur in most of cases, so for me the main benefit of RGB inks is 10% ink save rather than quality.

I suppose there may also be some better permanence in case of 12 vs 8 ink set, but it's a question to Mark McCormick-Goodhart to what degree it may matter.

[marcsitkin]

Thanks for your answers. For some reason, I never got emails informing me of replies. I elected the 12 color 8400. It has arrived and is up and running. Unfortunately, my dealer neglected to mention the machine no longer comes with a takeup system, so it's pretty much useless for us, as we do a lot of long panels for display stands. We are having a conference call today with Canon to discuss moving the roll takeup from our aging 9100 to the new machine. I really don't want to spend an additional $1500 for the takeup, so we will see how it goes.

[jdoyle1713]

Mark
The old take up reel will work .. The 44" models never came with a take up reel none do.. Only big boys  do like Cannon 9400 and Epson 11880 as standard..last month the 8400 was the best buy on the market glad u took advantage if you still have problems let Jason know and I'll get u fixed up!

Thanks and Cheers
Jim Doyle
Shades Of Paper