I already posted about my problem -- I put in new cartridges, and
suddenly the colors were messed up -- but the solution struck me as so
unexpected -- the kind of thing that could trip other people up --
that I thought it's worth having an entire separate thread.

I don't know if this can happen with other brands, but it turns out
that Canon makes printers that use identically SHAPED ink cartridges,
but where the cartridges are subtly different colors. For example,
they have plain Cyan, Yellow, and Magenta; and then they also have
PHOTO Cyan, PHOTO Yellow, and PHOTO Magenta. (They even have these
subtle shade differences for black.)

Further confusing the matter is that the listings of the printer names
and types can be similar. So, here's my sad saga. I go to the store
and look for cartridges for my i860, and I see a cartridge that looks
like the right shape, and it's for some very similar model number (I'm
not sure what it was, the i800, or the i960, something like that).
Even the model number for the cartridge itself is VERY SIMILAR,
something like 6Y (for plain yellow) and 6PY (for photo yellow).
These things are easy to miss if (like me) you are more "conceptual"
oriented than "detail" oriented.

The point is, I get it home, and it fits just fine, except now the
colors are coming out funny. Turns out, after calling Canon tech
support, that I in fact had the wrong cartridge, which is why the
colors were off.

So, the moral is, you have to be very careful to buy the exactly right
type of replacement cartridge. I can understand that Canon wants to
use the same cartridge technology in different models, since I'm sure
it saves money to not redesign the shape for each new printer. But
you'd think they'd at least label them dramatically differently.

On a plus note for Canon, Tech Support had an 800 number that worked
(800 828-4040 in the US, in case anyone needs it), was open until
midnight on a week night, no charge for the call, I got through very
quickly, and the tech support representative was reasonably
intelligent and resolved the problem quickly.

The only downside was that neither the manual that came with the
printer, nor the Web site, ever suggested that the cause of the "off
color" problems might be that you are using the wrong darn ink! That
would have saved me some time....

Hope this can be of help to someone else.

Steve O.


"Spying On The College Of Your Choice" -- How to pick the college that is the Best Match for a high school student's needs.
www.SpyingOnTheCollegeOfYourChoice.com

Steven O. wrote:
> I already posted about my problem -- I put in new cartridges, and
> suddenly the colors were messed up -- but the solution struck me as so
> unexpected -- the kind of thing that could trip other people up --
> that I thought it's worth having an entire separate thread.
>
> I don't know if this can happen with other brands, but it turns out
> that Canon makes printers that use identically SHAPED ink cartridges,
> but where the cartridges are subtly different colors. For example,
> they have plain Cyan, Yellow, and Magenta; and then they also have
> PHOTO Cyan, PHOTO Yellow, and PHOTO Magenta. (They even have these
> subtle shade differences for black.)
>
> Further confusing the matter is that the listings of the printer names
> and types can be similar. So, here's my sad saga. I go to the store
> and look for cartridges for my i860, and I see a cartridge that looks
> like the right shape, and it's for some very similar model number (I'm
> not sure what it was, the i800, or the i960, something like that).
> Even the model number for the cartridge itself is VERY SIMILAR,
> something like 6Y (for plain yellow) and 6PY (for photo yellow).

I thought a 6Y was a 6Y and was suitable for any printer that uses the BCI-6
cartridges.
--
--
Ben Thomas - Software Engineer - Melbourne, Australia

My Digital World:
Kodak DX6490, Canon i9950, Pioneer A05;
Hitachi 37" HD plasma display, DGTEC 2000A,
Denon 2800, H/K AVR4500, Whatmough Encore;
Sony Ericsson K700i, Palm Tungsten T.

Disclaimer:
Opinions, conclusions, and other information in this message that do not
relate to the official business of my employer shall be understood as neither
given nor endorsed by it.

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 21:20:04 GMT, Ben Thomas <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>I thought a 6Y was a 6Y and was suitable for any printer that uses the BCI-6
>cartridges.
>--
The OP had a problem when trying to use photo carts in his Canon i860.
The Canon i860 is NOT a photo printer.

It's a case of RTFM to see what the printer is for, how to use it, and the ref.
of the cartridges.
A photo printer will accept and print with photo cartridges.
A non-photo might accept but might not print with photo cartridges.
A bit like a car with a fuel tank will accept both petrol and diesel but might
not run if the wrong fuel has been inserted.

In article pete says...
> The OP had a problem when trying to use photo carts in his Canon i860.
> The Canon i860 is NOT a photo printer.
>
>
You shouldn't be that emphatic that the i860 isn't a photo printer.

The OP would have had the same problem if he had been careless enough to
put PC or PM carts into the C or M slots in an i960.

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 21:20:04 GMT, Ben Thomas <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I thought a 6Y was a 6Y and was suitable for any printer that uses the BCI-6
>cartridges.

In the message that you quoted, he says "6Y (for plain yellow) and 6PY
(for photo yellow)" . So yes, a "6Y [is] a 6Y" but a 6Y is NOT a 6PY.

>A bit like a car with a fuel tank will accept both petrol and diesel but might
>not run if the wrong fuel has been inserted.

Which is why they make different nozzles for diesel fuel, nozzles that
won't fit in regular car tanks, because even smart people can make
errors -- so the technology should be designed to safeguard against
them. (Same reason they put asymmetic notches on memory chips, so you
can't insert them the wrong way on your motherboard.)

Occasional user error should be anticipated in design, if not, it's
the design that's flawed, not the user.

Steve O.

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 21:41:56 +0000, pete <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 21:20:04 GMT, Ben Thomas <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>
>>I thought a 6Y was a 6Y and was suitable for any printer that uses the BCI-6
>>cartridges.
>>--
>The OP had a problem when trying to use photo carts in his Canon i860.
>The Canon i860 is NOT a photo printer.
>
>It's a case of RTFM to see what the printer is for, how to use it, and the ref.
>of the cartridges.
>A photo printer will accept and print with photo cartridges.
>A non-photo might accept but might not print with photo cartridges.
>A bit like a car with a fuel tank will accept both petrol and diesel but might
>not run if the wrong fuel has been inserted.


"Spying On The College Of Your Choice" -- How to pick the college that is the Best Match for a high school student's needs.
www.SpyingOnTheCollegeOfYourChoice.com

>The OP would have had the same problem if he had been careless enough to
>put PC or PM carts into the C or M slots in an i960.

The OP (me) was not careless, the product design and packaging were
both inadequate in failing to anticipate easily-made errors. Tell me
you've never grabbed the wrong product or item off a shelf when two
different items were none-the-less very, very similar.

Steve O.

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 13:07:00 +1300, colinco <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>In article pete says...
>> The OP had a problem when trying to use photo carts in his Canon i860.
>> The Canon i860 is NOT a photo printer.
>>
>>
>You shouldn't be that emphatic that the i860 isn't a photo printer.
>
>The OP would have had the same problem if he had been careless enough to
>put PC or PM carts into the C or M slots in an i960.


"Spying On The College Of Your Choice" -- How to pick the college that is the Best Match for a high school student's needs.
www.SpyingOnTheCollegeOfYourChoice.com

SK wrote:
> On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 21:20:04 GMT, Ben Thomas <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>
>>I thought a 6Y was a 6Y and was suitable for any printer that uses the BCI-6
>>cartridges.
>
>
> In the message that you quoted, he says "6Y (for plain yellow) and 6PY
> (for photo yellow)" . So yes, a "6Y [is] a 6Y" but a 6Y is NOT a 6PY.
>

True. I've never seen a photo yellow cartridge before though. I though it was
only cyan and magenta that could be made different and called photo whatever.

--
--
Ben Thomas - Software Engineer - Melbourne, Australia

My Digital World:
Kodak DX6490, Canon i9950, Pioneer A05;
Hitachi 37" HD plasma display, DGTEC 2000A,
Denon 2800, H/K AVR4500, Whatmough Encore;
Sony Ericsson K700i, Palm Tungsten T.

Disclaimer:
Opinions, conclusions, and other information in this message that do not
relate to the official business of my employer shall be understood as neither
given nor endorsed by it.

In article Ben Thomas says...
> True. I've never seen a photo yellow cartridge before though. I though it was
> only cyan and magenta that could be made different and called photo whatever.
>
In the BCI-6 range the only "photo" colours are Photo-cyan and Photo-
magenta. In the BCI-3e range there is a BCI-3ePBk Photo-black as well as
the larger pigment cart BCI-3eBk. Canon don't have a single cart Photo-
yellow in any range.

In article Steven O. says...
> The OP (me) was not careless, the product design and packaging were
> both inadequate in failing to anticipate easily-made errors. Tell me
> you've never grabbed the wrong product or item off a shelf when two
> different items were none-the-less very, very similar.
>
Canon did put a strip with the cart type eg 6BK,3eBK,6Y,6M and 6C on the
printhead carrier where you insert the carts.

One of the local brands of compatible carts has labels with rabbits,
bananas, apples etc on them so that conceptual types can remember which
one they need.