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Epson Printer problems and looking at Canon Printers

Chip NoVaMac

Chip NoVaMac

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 25, 2003
8,888
31
Northern Virginia
I have a CX6400 printer that seems to work ok, though I have had a few issues. The Epson 2200 has been a pain in the you know what.

I need to be able to print 13x19 posters of ads from a PDF imported into PS CS.

My question is are the Canon printers less problem prone then the Epson's under OSX 10.3?
 
I think the Canon printers should work pretty well. I've read of very few, minor problems with them. I have noticed that Epson has problems with some of their printers but not all.

I just got a CX6400 yesterday to replace my CX5200. It was quite an experience installing the software for it in contrast to the CX5200 which went extremely well. The kernel panic was especially bizarre.

I'm interested in the Canon i9900 tabloid printer, which is due in May. 8 colours and 6144 nozzles per cartridge looks amazing for $499. Maybe that's what you'll want as well.
 
Go Canon :)

Originally posted by Chip NoVaMac
I need to be able to print 13x19 posters of ads from a PDF imported into PS CS.
Click to expand...

Canon printers are great and work well with Mac. The i9900 replaces the i9100. Both print up to 13"X19" and both are listed at $499.99 retail. The main difference is that the i9100 only has 6 colors and the newer i9900 has 8.

There probably won't be a huge difference in quality, although I'm sure that 8 colors will produce a slightly more realistic photo/poster. Depending on your needs and how urgently you need it, you might want to pick up the discontinued one and save a few bucks.

http://www.canonusa.com/html/conCprProductDetail.jsp?modelid=8738&item=8776&section=10214
 
I had a run-in with Epson support the other day concerning the CX6400 and colour fidelity. I mentioned that the CX5200 accurately represented the photographs I took and that the CX6400 had way too much blue and a little too much magenta, giving a purple cast.

The person answered with the appropriate canned answer that the inks are different between the two print units and that using Epson papers would make my life more fulfilling.

Unfortunately, their paper didn't do any better job than the Ilford Galerie. :( I can make the adjustments in the printer driver, but I can't imagine why Epson is hit-and-miss with their products.
 
Epson seems to have given up on the Mac format. This is really Apple's fault since it is Apple that has lagged so badly in the consumer market.

I like my Epson 960 -- my only complaint is that one of the papers I like won't work with Epson inks. I use Kodak double sided semi-gloss for printing two sided brochures and booklets. The ink tends to run badly. I don't have the same problem with my old Epson 850 -- completely different inks.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
IThe Epson 2200 has been a pain in the you know what. (I mean)

I need to be able to print 13x19 posters of ads from a PDF imported into PS CS.

My question is are the Canon printers less problem prone then the Epson's under OSX 10.3?
Click to expand...

I have a Epson 2200, no complaints here. (OS 10.3.2, still using PS 7.x) Although it does work with Firewire, I've been told to stick with the USB connection (Connective speed really means nothing to a slow thing like a printer) It could be a driver issue, and so I stick with that advice.

As far as PDFs I also never print them, so I may be missing something.
What are the problems that you are having?

One place that I found a good definition for the connection and set up of the printer is at brilliantpaper.com a product of calumetphoto.com
 
Personally, I switched from Canon to HP a few years ago. Never turn back. Canon products were unreliable and the HP is a workhorse.
 
Re: Epson printers

The Epson R300 seems to work great, I haven't had any problems with it at all, except the fact that printable CD-R's are a pain in the behind to find. I have noticed that all of the companies seem to be slacking on the ink jet market as of late. HP gives some crazy drivers and crappy software that never works, Canon seems to be alright, Epson has been a little fishy, and Lexmark is still, well, Lexmark. Any thoughts on color laser printers? Perhaps this is why ink jet's have fallen so fast in the last two years.

John
 
numediaman said:
Epson seems to have given up on the Mac format. This is really Apple's fault since it is Apple that has lagged so badly in the consumer market.

I like my Epson 960 -- my only complaint is that one of the papers I like won't work with Epson inks. I use Kodak double sided semi-gloss for printing two sided brochures and booklets. The ink tends to run badly. I don't have the same problem with my old Epson 850 -- completely different inks.
Click to expand...

I don't see where Epson has given up at all. Each new device is available to Macintosh users. Apple should be considered responsible for some of the mess that Epson received since Jaguar arrived. My SC900 suspiciously stopped working then and suddenly started working again with 10.2.4, even though the Epson driver was not changed.

It's still odd to me that Epson would rather put out b.s. rather than fix their own problems. I imagine it has to do with wasted effort during Jaguar.
 
bousozoku said:
I don't see where Epson has given up at all. Each new device is available to Macintosh users. Apple should be considered responsible for some of the mess that Epson received since Jaguar arrived.
It's still odd to me that Epson would rather put out b.s. rather than fix their own problems. I imagine it has to do with wasted effort during Jaguar.
Click to expand...

How true, both statements... seems like Epson and other other manufactures didn't want to follow the Apple OS X plan, and drug their heels... Hopefully sales will change this kind of thinking.
 
Apmonia said:
The Epson R300 seems to work great, I haven't had any problems with it at all, except the fact that printable CD-R's are a pain in the behind to find.
John
Click to expand...

Assuming you are in the U.S., you can go to any Best Buy and pick up a 30 CD spindle of Memorex printable CDs. I've never had any burn issues with them.

Finding printable DVDs at a retail outlet is another story all together!
 
epson vs canon

I have always used epson, but my new one, the C82 has been disappointing. I got it for the individual ink cartridges, but when one color runs out, the printer won't print at all. I want to be able to at least print black and white text and I don't see why it needs magenta ink to do it. Is it something to do with the individual inks? My old Stylus Photo EX still prints in B&W and it hasn't had color ink in it for years. I'm thinking of getting a Canon i960, the prints I've seen look great. Does anyone know if it stops printing when it runs out of one color?
 
milkgap said:
I have always used epson, but my new one, the C82 has been disappointing. I got it for the individual ink cartridges, but when one color runs out, the printer won't print at all. I want to be able to at least print black and white text and I don't see why it needs magenta ink to do it. Is it something to do with the individual inks? My old Stylus Photo EX still prints in B&W and it hasn't had color ink in it for years. I'm thinking of getting a Canon i960, the prints I've seen look great. Does anyone know if it stops printing when it runs out of one color?
Click to expand...

I own a Canon BJC-8200 and when a color becomes low a graph shows me which color(s) are running low. It lets me continue to print until one runs out completely. I then need to install a new one in order to start/continue my print job.
 
Color and Ink problems

I don't think that you can use Kodak paper with the newer Epson inks. The Epson ink will NEVER dry on the Kodak paper. (as to why - no clue). If the printer is printing different than the screen is showing you probally need to profile your monitor and or printer.

If you don't have the software and hardware to do that double check in CS that you have the right profiles set for the paper and printer that you are using.

Doug
 
I had the CX5200, which is the C82 with a scanner. I didn't notice any difference in the way it worked from the way my SC900 worked as far as being loaded with ink to print.

Also, I was using Kodak Ultima photo paper with that unit and it worked impressively.

I just wish the CX6400 worked as well as a printer. It's a huge disappointment. Here's an update on making adjustments in the printer driver. Adjustments don't work. The sliders don't seem to do anything to the colour that comes out of the printer. :mad:
 
I think everyone is going to have a favorite manufacturer. Personal experience usually rules over reality. What I mean by this that one bad experience with a particular brand tends to cloud one's judgement. In the 90's HP was the dog because they dropped driver support for their printers even though they had a contract to manufacturer printers for Apple-the Stylewriter printers were all HP printers underneath.

The point to keep in mind is this and it works for all printers:
The manufacturers ALL integrate their own paper with their ink. If you mix paper and ink from different manufacturers, I can assure you problems will prevail. As far as drivers go, OS 10.3 has introduced the Open Source GIMP Print technology for near universal printer driver compatibility across manufacturers. People using Jaguar, can download GIMP Print and install it separately. You can find it at Vertsiontracker. Also download Ghostscript for Postscript compatibity. So if the manufacturer's driver doesn't seem to work well, try GIMP Print. This works especially well for older printers that are currently unsupported.
 
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