2009 Writer
Cat
Charlotte, NC

You Want that Print HOW Big? No problem!

4 star rating

a PC user, a gadget geek, a tech geek, a travel photographer
Pros

    under $500, fast printing, fantastic quality and colors, individual ink cartridges, Canon quality and warranty

Cons
    non-archival quality ink, prints only up to 19" long, ink and paper costs add up

MAY
25
2007
Canon has a big idea. So big it fits onto 13" x 19" paper. It's called the Canon i9900 InkJet Photo Printer and it's one of Canon's dedicated photo printers. As a photographer who's a step above mere hobbyist and a step below being a pro, plus a gadget geek, I decided I must own one.

That, plus my Epson Stylus Photo 820 was starting to blow chunks.

Why I Chose the Canon i9900 InkJet Photo Printer
I did much research before buying this printer. I had to decide between Canon's i9900 and the Epson 2200, both large format printers. Each printer produces borderless prints from 4" x 6" up to 13" wide, although Epson will allow you to use a roll feeder so your print can be up to 13" wide x 44" long. Canon claims a resolution of 4800x2400 dpi, Epson claims a resolution of 2880 x 1440 dpi. Canon uses an 8 color system, Epson uses a 7 color system with an interchangeable photo/matte black ink cartridge.

Both printers work with standard ICC profiles, allow you to create unique ICC profiles, and Epson's 2200 also utilizes Epson's proprietary "PRINT Image Matching™" technology, allowing the user to print directly from a digital camera without making color tweaks. For me, this feature was also not useful, as I prefer to do my color/saturation tweaking off the camera in Photoshop, so I never want the printer actually controlling the color of my print. People who want to print without having to mess with or understand color management and ICC profiles will probably prefer the Epson.

The one edge Epson seriously has over Canon is in the longevity of their prints. Epson prints use archival digital inks and Epson claims the longevity of their prints on any of their photo papers is at least 71 years. You will find no such claim with Canon. With the Epson's retail price being more than $100 over Canon's, I found myself thinking seriously about the benefit of pure archival inks over regular photo inks.

I went with the Canon because it was less expensive, and because I don't feel I need the archival inks. I'm not a professional photographer and if I decide to sell a print to someone, I can outsource to a service who can provide archival quality prints. Meanwhile, if a print of mine fades, it's simple enough to print out a new copy, and even though Canon's inks aren't archival, it's not as if the prints fade within a couple of years if behind protective glass and not in direct sunlight. The price, my lack of needing Epson's additional features, and my previous experience (not great) with Epson's Photo Stylus 820 steered me to the Canon i9900. So buy the Canon I did.

What's In the Box
- The i9900 Photo Printer
- The i9900 Printhead
- All Required Ink Tanks: BCI-6C Cyan, BCI-6M Magenta, BCI-6Y Yellow, BCI-6Bk Black, BCI-6PC Photo Cyan, BCI-6PM Photo Magenta, BCI-6R Red and BCI-6G Green
- 4" x 6" sample paper pack of Photo Paper Pro paper
- Power Cord
- Setup Software & User's Guide CD-ROM
- Documentation

Setting Up the Printer
I am the Queen of short attention span and not reading the directions. Still, I was able to unpack the box and set up the Canon i9900 with just the briefest glance at the instructions. Once the print head is installed it's a small matter to unwrap the cartridges, twist the orange top off them, and insert them into their color coded homes on the printer head. After doing that, I installed the drivers as instructed on my Windows computer and hooked up the printer via a high speed USB 2.0 interface. I was ready to print.

It is worth noting that this printer is large and takes up a lot of space. It takes up the space of roughly two standard filing cabinet widths in my office. But with the paper feeder and the paper tray folded down, it becomes much smaller and unobtrusive.

Printing and Print Quality
First, I found Canon's interface in Windows more intuitive than Epson's. I loved being able to see how much ink is left in the cartridge, a feat Canon accomplishes apparently by shining a little light up through the cartridge and doing a measurement based on that. It's always very accurate. While my printing is Photoshop-based, so I control the printing through that application, making changes in Canon's printer setup utility through Photoshop is a snap. With the included ICC profiles and my freshly calibrated monitor, I was able to generate prints that were true color very quickly.

I put in my 4" x 6" Canon paper samples, and when I ran out of them I started using my Epson 4" x 6" paper, tweaking the color just slightly. I had heard that the i9900 makes a loud noise as it starts to spit out the paper to print, but I did not find it jarring in the slightest. Don't use this printer in your nursery if you have a sleeping infant. Otherwise, I think it should be fine. I was very impressed by the output speed and the quality of the pictures.

I had heard that the colors and the resolution on the i9900 were a huge step up from anything I'd ever used at home before but I was not prepared for the crispness of the images, and the vivid colors, that came from this printer. I was overjoyed at the results. Finally! There was no good reason to take my images to a local printer anymore! I became a full-fledged home photo lab!

After a round of 4" x 6" photos, all borderless and beautiful, I moved up to 8" x 10" photo paper from Kirkland, Costco's brand paper. I had to do some more color correction and tweaking on the Kirkland paper, but soon I was getting excellent prints from that paper as well! It took many weeks before I went out and bought the 13" x 19" photo paper from Canon, but I did. And my husband chose one of my photos that he wanted me to print for the display area at the top of our main staircase. I printed it, we framed it, and the result was an eye-popping "Wow!" The resolution was still extremely crisp and the colors bright.

And the speed at which the printer prints all these photos astounds me, to this day. I remember hearing my Epson Photo 820 sluggishly churn out line after line after line for twenty minutes for larger jobs. This i9900 slams through any size print with jaw-dropping speed. Canon lists the following "approximate" times (along with a set of disclaimers) for the following print sizes. It sounds good, but it's bafflingly good when you can print an 8" x 10" in less time than it takes you to get a soda from the refrigerator.

4x6 Borderless: Approximately 38 seconds
8x10: Approximately 50 seconds

Specifications
Speaking of specs, here are some of the other specs that I found most important when choosing Canon's i9900 printer:
- Nozzle Text: 6,144 nozzles (768 x 8 colors - C, M, Y, Bk, PC, PM, R, G)
- Print Resolution Color (up to): 4800 x 2400 dpi**
- Standard Interfaces: USB 2.0, USB 2.0 Hi-Speed, Firewire, - Direct Print Port (cables not included)***
- Supported Paper Sizes: Letter, Legal, 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 11" x 17", 13" x 19", U.S. #10 envelopes
- Paper Compatibility: Plain paper, Envelopes, Canon Specialty Papers - High Resolution Paper, Matte Photo Paper, Photo Paper plus Glossy, Photo Paper Pro, Transparencies
- Physical Dimensions: 22.7" W x 13.1" D x 7.2" H
- Weight: 21.0 lbs.

Warranty and Support
I have always been impressed by Canon's warranties and customer support. I own a Canon camera, tons of their lenses, and a host of other accessories and I've never needed a warranty service yet (knock on laminate). However, if you do, here's the warranty Canon offers on this printer:

1-year limited warranty with InstantExchange program. 1-year toll-free technical phone support.

To find all of the details on Canon's warranty programs you can visit http://www.canontechsupport.com. There you will find everything you could possibly need to know about the i9900 under the Canon I series printers drop down menu.

Cat's Bottom Line
I am thrilled with this printer and because of it I have more prints than I possibly can put up around the house, so they grace the walls of my office at work as well. At a sub-$500 price point, the quality of the Canon i9900 can't be beat. It prints beautifully, it prints big and it prints fast, three things that are very important to me. If you want archival quality prints, or prints longer than 19" then you'd be better served by the slightly more expensive Epson. But for a fairly productive amateur photographer such as myself, the Canon i9900 for personal use, plus a pro-quality lab for professional prints, is a winning combination and I couldn't be happier!



I_thumb_up Canon i9900 Color Photo Printer is recommended by Cat

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I_comment_shdw24 Comments about Cat’s Review

 


thepaintmess wrote on Nov 4, 2008 at 8:39AM

I like your sense of humor. I had an Epson 2200 and when it printed it did well. Often it would get half way through a print on expensive paper and stop. One day it stopped and I was told the ink heads were shot.-a repair that cost the same as the printer, at least here in Mexico. I believe Canon doesn't run into that problem with its print heads.

CyndiA wrote on May 25, 2007 at 3:31PM

We could really use this for newspaper. When it's shrunk down to 8x11, I can hardly proof it, because I can hardly read stuff that small.

Jolie wrote on May 25, 2007 at 9:07AM

Great review, Cat.

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