Canon Pro9500 Printer Review

This will be an ongoing review. Most reviews are written by reviewers. Duh. But most of them are written by people who have a pretty wide range of experience in photographic printing, and so I’m going to give my perspective as one who has never used photo-quality printer (certainly not of this size, anywa), and yet leaped ahead to the Canon Pro9500 13×19″, 10-ink printer system.

First things first. If you use CS3, start downloading the Easy Photoprint plugin for CS3 right now, as the download in North America tends to be agonizingly slow (I am waiting for it as I speak; 8.3kb/sec right now). Also, I want to vent about every piece of software Canon makes.

Why, Canon, can you not, like everyone else on the planet, make a software program that has a “check for updates” option? And then, perhaps, just perhaps, link all of them into a single, international download database, rather than making us all navigate your poorly designed (USA/Japan/Europe) websites to find the plugin and/or update we need. It’s a shame to computers the world over.

Moving on. Physically setting up the printer was pretty simple. I mean, yes, it’s pretty heavy, but I could lift it. I can’t underestimate the importance of finding a physical space large enough to put it. My computer (Mac Pro 2x dual-core 2.66ghz Xeon, 4GB ram, 1 20″ Cinema display, plus one 20″ 2007WFP, ATI X1900XT + NVIDIA 7300GT) is set up on a 6-foot by 3 foot folding table instead of a computer desk. I thought, “Hey! I’ll set this printer next to my two screens!” Yeah, turns out it won’t fit.

Some elements of the setup are quite ingenious. The print head is (easily) user replaceable, so if it’s damaged somehow, you can change it out yourself. Each ink tank has a nice little red LED on it that lights up when the ink tank is seated properly. When an ink tank is low and needs replacing, the LED on that particular ink tank blinks, notifying you of which one needs changing right there while you’ve got it open. Very handy.

Auto head alignment is very simple… Two sheets of normal letter paper and you’re good to go.

Also, of particular note, and the deciding factor in my choosing this printer over the Epson R2400… It has a separate ink tank for both matt (which is the technically correct spelling) and glossy black inks. This is the same as the Epson, however the major difference is that they’re both loaded at the same time. The Epson requires you to swap the ink tanks when switching paper types, as well as flushing the ink out of the lines, which adds both time and cost to an already time consuming and costly process.

OK. Having finally gotten the correct plugin for CS3, I loaded it up, loaded in a sheet of Photo Paper Plus Semi Gloss (which needed a little finicking, and reading the instructions and diagrams very carefully), but as soon as it was in, I just selected borderless 13×19″ and hit print. It was incredibly simple, and looking at the print now, hot off the press, I’m amazed. The crispness and saturation seems great. My first print was actually of this file:

Some of the spotlighting you see behind him has disappeared, and gone totally black. This didn’t surprise me, as monitors obviously have a grossly higher contrast range than prints. That being said, I did not, in any way, alter my original file before going to print.

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Those stars represent arbitrary time periods that somehow add up to about two weeks. As of now, I’ve made something like 20 prints, using Semigloss, Premium Matt, Photo Rag, and Museum Etching. I have to say, the museum etching is especially cool… It has a very subtle look to it, but man is it impressive. Of note is that none of the “fine art” papers can be printed anywhere near borderless. Probably closer to about 10×14″ print size. Maybe I could get a little closer to the long end if I used a wider cropped photo, but thus far I’ve mostly been printing uncropped work, as this is my traditional style.

Prints all have a massive 3D appearance to them that is extremely eye-catching. Already I’ve received numerous compliments on the photos I’ve printed, and I can’t blame them… It’s really a wonderful piece of equipment that makes great looking prints.

A couple quick tips before I go. 1. Museum Etching is expensive. Something like $75 for a 20-sheet pack from Adorama last I checked. However, you can get a paper sampler pack with 5 sheets each of Semigloss, Premium Matt, Photo Rag, and Museum Etching. If you have use for even one of those other paper types, it’s cheaper to buy the sampler packs, even if you end up throwing the other half of the pack away. Since Photo Rag is also very pricey, if you can use that paper up, then you’re really doing yourself a favor.

The second item before I go is one of necessity if you print any of the beautifully crisp semi-gloss papers. The ink sitting on the surface is extremely fragile. The prints need to dry several days before you can even stack prints up, and even then, it would really be far wiser to invest in some protective sleeves as well.

Long story short. Good printer. Yeah, kind of expensive, but if you plan on doing serious printmaking, it’s a pretty decent deal. You won’t likely be disappointed.

Update: I just today discovered a kind of irritating coincidence of this printer. While it is functional as a normal document printer as a last resort (although not particuarly wise, with the ink costing what it does), it will not let you print a grayscale document if you perchance are out of Red ink. While obviously not the primary focus of this printer, I feel as though it’s really a somewhat idiotic oversight in the design. While the fact that the printer warns you ahead of time that the following print won’t turn out nicely because you don’t have a color, it is somewhat foolish to not have a black and white option that really truly only uses black ink. Something to keep in mind when ordering, and realistically you should just pick up a cheapo second printer for documents.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 and is filed under review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.