Tracking Canon Printer usage....how to do?

[mtbdudex]

I have 2 of your basic Canon printers, a ip4500 and MP980.
Is there an free/cheap application that will track usage?
# color pages printed, # B&W printed, # photos printed, etc?

Seems they suck ink cartridges (IMO) and I'd like to grasp $$ spent for them vs usage.

 

[Designer Dale]

I have a wide format Epson 1400. From my point of view with this one, ink usage is a true $$$ sucker. I'm not really sure if any inkjet will be different for a few reasons; they spray quite a bit of ink to saturate the paper compared to the volume of ink in the cartridge and quality photo printing demands a high level of saturation.

Epson has a utility for it's photo printers that gives readings of remaining ink per cartridge, but not the kind of print breakdowns you are looking for. This is from the Epson side of things, but Canon should be similar.

Someone prove me wrong, please...🙂

Dale

 

[mtbdudex]

I have a wide format Epson 1400. From my point of view with this one, ink usage is a true $$$ sucker. I'm not really sure if any inkjet will be different for a few reasons; they spray quite a bit of ink to saturate the paper compared to the volume of ink in the cartridge and quality photo printing demands a high level of saturation.

Epson has a utility for it's photo printers that gives readings of remaining ink per cartridge, but not the kind of print breakdowns you are looking for. This is from the Epson side of things, but Canon should be similar.

Someone prove me wrong, please...🙂

Dale

Dale;
Canon utility also give visual pict of ink cartridge with a dotted line representing when it should be replaced.
I went to the Canon usa website, downloaded all the latest drivers and software.
What I tried to see is if any can show me # prints used per cartidge.....I like fact based data to see where the $$ is going and why.
At work we can do this for our server LAN based printers, but guess for home based inkjet they (printer makers) never thought of that need.....or possible they don't want us to know the "truth" of how many prints/cartridge?

fwiw; I even put my Canon MP980 onto my wired LAN and used those drivers/software, even with that no option/tab to track # prints/cartridge.

Guess I'll have to give up for now.
It would be something I'd add to my wish list when shopping for next printer.

other: I don't like to double post same Q in multiple forums, however after posting here I posted in Canon POTN forum, no response there, so even those Canon gurus don't have any solution for my request.

Heck, I'll just send my daily shots to CVS and my keeper 8 x 10's to Costo instead......and relagate the home inkjets to stuff like kids homework, the occassional "I need a pict now", etc. Probably best way to balance $$ and quality.

 

[Designer Dale]

The issue with tracking pages per cartridge is that you are printing color. Some shots may use a lot of red/magenta and some may use none at all. Quality of paper effects this too. Some soak up ink and others don't.

I understand your frustration here. I put $400 into a wide format photo printer that I can't afford to use in the way that I had in mind when I purchased it.

Dale

 

[Darien Red Sox]

You could try paper cut http://www.papercut.com which is free for up to 5 users. I tried this for a wile until we started to get multiple computers and the tracking would require a print server.

 

[Ish]

I hesitate to suggest this in this age of electronic wonders, but failing all else you could keep a small notebook and pencil by your printer with a line for each use and jot down the numbers of each for a while until you've got the info you want. 🙂

 

[mtbdudex]

You could try paper cut http://www.papercut.com which is free for up to 5 users. I tried this for a wile until we started to get multiple computers and the tracking would require a print server.

Thx, since we are a simple home usage with 3 computers this should suffice.

I hesitate to suggest this in this age of electronic wonders, but failing all else you could keep a small notebook and pencil by your printer with a line for each use and jot down the numbers of each for a while until you've got the info you want. 🙂

😛 ; actually I could take a photo of each print job with my iPhone4 and organize that into an aperture project library.....

Seriously, I am curious the avg # pages for the Canon print cartridges, that's all.
That will help me grasp cost/pg based on supplies.

 

[Ruahrc]

I hesitate to suggest this in this age of electronic wonders, but failing all else you could keep a small notebook and pencil by your printer with a line for each use and jot down the numbers of each for a while until you've got the info you want. 🙂

I was going to suggest the same thing, to make an excel spreadsheet or even just a notepad .txt file or something.

It continues to amaze me how many people look for (and pay for!) apps for tasks that can be accomplished by the most basic software that is available on nearly any computing device sold. Like a tip calculator. I mean, really?

Ruahrc