I have seen many posts regarding the Canon i950, asking about it's quality, and comparing it to various other printers. I almost posted this on the tail of one, but decided to make a fresh post, so maybe more people like me will catch it and can chime in to give an opinion to those like us.
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I'm no pro (would like to try one day soon), and I haven't had a printer of this caliber before, including the i850. My awful general purpose printer was on it's last leg, and so I decided to buy the best photo printer that was within a reasonable budget, and be able to print out my OWN prints, in addition to being able to print text if need be when/if my old junker office multiuse gives out completely.

After reading reviews, especially the one at www.steves-digicams.com and general owner opinions I decided that the i950 seemed like the printer that would fit my budget and do me right.

Actually, I first had bought an Epson 785epx thinking I would get our cheap since it had been reduced at walmart to $119. That printer is of course old technology but had some nice reviews. I got it and was disappointed.

So I returned the epson and decided it would be worth it for me to lay down a slightly larger chunk of change for a printer that would not blow ink as fast, and produce what users were saying is a really juicy print. Of course, I took the reviews and user opinions with the appropriate iffiness, after all you know, when someone buys an item, can sometimes become over-enamored with it.

I am not the kind of person that has either 1> buyers remorse or 2>buyer's enamoration. I objectively look at what I got and form my own opinion. Here's my opinion on it so far:

I was simply flabbergasted at the quality of prints it makes. No kidding. I have 8x10 comparison prints of the same photo printed on our local walmart fuji frontier minilab, a kodak reproduction kiosk off of a cd, off of the old epson, and the i950, and the i950 beats them all. Like by a looong shot.

I have a 21" gamma-corrected monitor, and can hold the prints up next to the monitor, and the i950 is spot on. It puts the other comparisons to shame. The quality of this is something that I would be proud to sell, if I ever get the guts to try doing a little portraiture on the side. All of the others, including even the frontier, don't quite cut it. The frontier comes the closest, but as you may have seen in other posts, frontiers have exposure issues, which you can resolve by applying one of those color maps. Sounds like alot of extra work to me, no thanks.

I have only had mine for a week or two, but I was blown away with the prints the i950 is putting out, and I do not often say something like that. As far as direct comparison to the i850, I have never seen an i850 print in person, but looking at the comparison in steve's review made me feel like the i950 retail $250 was worth the investment for something I knew would last a long time, especially considering consumer head replacement vs sending it in if you fall victim to that.

I have been using Jet Print Portrait Studio Satin finish paper, about $10 for 20 sheets at walmart, and it looks awesome, however from what I read, the Ilford smooth pearl is also a great choice, and would like to try that sometime soon. (I prefer a satin finish, but many people say Office Depot Glossy is much cheaper if you like that finish).

As far as ink: I am still on my first set of cartridges, and surprised. I figured it would have blown them long before now, and bought a couple of extra sets from this place called aink.com, pretty cheap. After reading I considered using the refill kits, but considering how conservative it's been so far, I am starting to wonder if I will not instead just buy remanufactured carts from aink, and pay roughly 2x what it would cost me to refill them myself, and save the hassle.

To wrap up: IMO... It's incredible. Really.

I hope this helps some, and if any more experienced people can correct me in any errors I have have stated above, please chime in and let us all benifit from your knowledge!

Art


Sony f717, 2X Alien Bees B400's, Promaster 5750dx, Canon i950
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