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Canon Pixma PRO9000MkII Inkjet Photo Printer (3295B002)
High Performance Photo Printing up to 13-inchx19-inch for Professional Quality
Canon Pixma PRO9000MkII Inkjet Photo Printer (3295B002) Accessories
Canon Pixma PRO9000MkII Inkjet Photo Printer (3295B002) Reviews
So pleased with this printer. It was very easy to set up, and has worked like a dream. My prints are amazing, the color is so vibrant and the images are tack sharp, without any noticeable color casts or anything. They look so much better than what I've been getting from a few Pro labs, and this is straight out of the box, without messing with printer profiles, etc...
The only con, which isn't really a con, is that it is a big printer, and the cords it came with are far too short to reach a USB port on my computer and an available outlet, so I had to buy an extension cord and need to wheel the printer over when I want to use it.
Overall, when you factor in the cost, plus paper, plus replacement ink, I think this is going to be more expensive to use than say Costco or even some of the Pro labs. But the convenience and the stunning quality are worth it.
I have checked with some of the people that are selling their Canon Pro9000 printers, they offer no warranty and will not accept one that is DOA. I checked with Canon customer service and was informed that any product that is purchased from a third party that has purchased the printer previously does not have the one year factory warranty. So be cautious when purchasing one of these "NEW, NEVER OPENED" with the bar code removed printers from an individual.
I bought this to replace a Canon i9900, which I believe is just about identical except for ink cartridges. The i9900 lasted me just over 4 years, being used nearly every day, with a lot of 13"X19" photos and graphics being printed. It finally succumbed to a clogged printhead or damaged ribbon cable to the printhead, I'm not sure which. I might still try to fix it, I just didn't have time on a deadline, as I have a ton of ink for it. If this newer model lasts as well as the previous one I will be very happy, and I don't see why it wouldn't.
It was amazingly easy to set up, I didn't even open the manual, I just started tearing orange pieces of tape off, plugged it in, and started printing.
One problem is that the driver for OSX does not allow for shutting off color management. So, if you build or use a custom profile, you're pretty much screwed if you try to print with a program that tries to manage colors. As of the writing of this review, there is no 64-bit version of the driver available, and my experience with Canon is they don't put a lot of effort into creating or updating their software.
This printer uses Chromalife 100 ink, which is supposed to be fade resistant. I suspect that the biggest difference here is that the cartridges are now 'chipped' to deter refilling. I figure I saved over $5,000 in 4 years by refilling cartridges. Yes, I may have clogged a printhead, the second time I've done that as a matter of fact, but it is well worth it. I'm not printing that much these days, so I just bought 2 of the Canon sets of ink, its not too horribly priced. Maybe though, I'll find a way to refill these. The printer seems to be pretty good on ink. I've printed about 30 pages (8.5X11) of photos with about 75% coverage, and only 3 of the tanks are showing down about one third.
As far as longevity, I never really worried about it. I can always print another copy years down the road if need be. To sell something or to print something I really like, I use a printing service (Adorama) that uses real photographic paper. If you need to do it at home, the next higher model (Pro 9500 MarkII) uses pigmented ink, but the printer and the ink are much more expensive. I also thought about Epson as an alternative, but the last one I owned used a goofy vacuum system with a bunch of tubing to deliver the ink. One leak, lose vacuum, need repair. From what I read, most Epson printers require daily usage or the print heads clog up, and they eat ink like crazy trying to clear them.
This thing does make an awful racket when feeding paper. My old one was bad, but this is a terrible plastic crashing sound.
The pictures that come out of this thing are stellar. They are bright and crisp on both Glossy and Semi-gloss paper. There are no visible ink dots, and no banding. Even though Photoshop showed blacks as out of gamut, the prints exhibit a rich deep black. The speed seems a little slow, but not real bothersome if you're not in a big rush.
Even with some shortcomings, the picture quality more than makes up for them. At this price for a large format printer I would buy another one in a minute if I needed a new printer, or if I was just getting started printing my own large format photos.
I purchased this printer 4 months ago because my wife and I got tired of paying the outrageous prices to get professional prints for her photography business. I haven't been disappointed one bit - the quality of the prints is unbelievable. Ink use is fine, noise-level is fine and overall, I couldn't be happier (nor could my wife). The only problem I've had (and we do quite a bit of printing - 8x10s, 5x7s and notecards) is with the roller not accepting the paper (has occurred on 3 occasions). Each time, I used the Canon software to clean the rollers and the problem was resolved. When this one dies, I'll buy another (newer model I'm sure).
Pros: High Quality Output, Good Media Handling, Durable, Easy Setup, Easy to use, comparatively silent operation., looks cool., built solidly.
Cons: slight problem with driver installation.
I've only had the printer for two days, but that's enough time for a first impression and to reveal basic features, any problems encountered and to give the person contemplating the purchase of the Pro9000 Mark II a feel for it.
First of all, I've been using Canon printers almost exclusively since 1995. Except for an Epson here and a HP there, Canon has been my printer of choice because 1) I've never encountered clogged printer heads as I had with Epson printers and 2) Canon drivers and software is not bloated like the HP's. (The latest software update for my wife's HP 7210 printer is so obnoxious with its pop up this and pop up that I removed it and installed the basic driver only).
As has been stated on this and other sites, the Pro9000 Mark II is BIG. Although I'll probably never use the front feed feature, a person wanting to use this function should be aware that it will take an additional 15" in the rear of the printer to allow feeding 13 x 19 stock. The unit uses 13" to 14" wide paper and eight cartridges, so it has to be 26" wide in order to accommodate the full path of the print head, so complaints about this situation are unwarranted. If you want a narrower printer, buy one that prints 8-1/2" wide stock.
This thing is built like a Bradley tank, with no compromises as to quality of materials or assembly. If you can get over the first impression of the enormous size, the second impression is that it really looks cool with its black on grey exterior and lack of useless bells and whistles like LED screen and a plethora of buttons and lights.
It gives you the impression that this baby is meant for one and only one thing: Printing photos.
I've read nearly every review of this printer I could find on the Web. One of the complaints that cropped up on a few of the reviews is that this printer's ability to render documents leaves something to be desired. I've printed a half dozen Word documents and the results were just as good if not better than my Canon 6700's. Size 6 font printing is just as good as anything I've ever seen from an ink jet printer.
There are two other problems reported about this printer that I have to correct. First, problems with feeding paper with from the back. I've got a sneaking suspicion that the folks complaining about this "problem" are feeding the paper from the left side of the slot when they should be putting the paper on the right side.
Second, "noise". What noise? You want to hear noise, listen to the grinding coming out of the HP B8550. Besides, if you can't stand the near silence coming out of the Pro9000, there's always the Quiet Mode in the Maintenance section of the driver.
The only problem I've encountered thus far with the printer is the installation of the newest driver I got from Canon's site. When trying to install this driver for Win 7/64-bit, I got the message that I have to first install the IP driver (which is provided on the CD that comes with the printer). I did that but still couldn't install the new driver. I finally got this driver installed by running it directly from the download instead of saving it first and then installing it. Still, Windows 7 balked at the install but finally accepted it.
That's it so far. As I stated, I've only had this printer for less than 48 hours, so this review is hardly complete. As I use the Pro 9000 for printing pictures, I'll submit a more thorough review.
Before closing this review, I'd like to thank Keith Thompson, one of Amazon's featured merchants, for selling me this printer for less than $300, including shipping. The printer arrived in a factory-sealed box in perfect shape. I probably couldn't have afforded to buy the Pro 9000 for a while if it were not for the fact that I got it for $200 less than the advertised price.
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