Canon i550/850 visible diffs of photo on plain paper

[Heli Hickle]

Hi,

At the moment, I'm using my brother's Canon i550. When I print photos
using plain paper, the results are very good for me. Now I want to buy
a Canon printer too. Because prices have dropped, I can buy an i850
for the same money that my brother paid for his i550 a few months ago.

My question is: when I print a photo on plain paper in the highest
quality mode (Plain paper, Q2, diffusion) and ICM, can you tell the
difference between the output of the i550 and the i850?

In the output of the i550, I notice very small dots that I think are
the result of the dithering process. Are these also visible on the
i850 (using plain paper)?

Is the output of the i550 sharper than that of the i850 (again on
plain paper)? I noticed this when looking at a comparison on Tom's
hardware guide:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/20030725/canon-04.html

I was also wondering whether the 2 picoliter drops are used for plain
paper? Or only for higher resolution paper?

BTW: does anybody know wheter the number of nozzles for magenta and
cyan are different from the number for yellow for the i850? I found
this in a brochure from Canon, but cannot see why this is the case.


Thanks!


Henk

 

[Bill]

At the moment, I'm using my brother's Canon i550. When I print photos
using plain paper, the results are very good for me. Now I want to buy
a Canon printer too. Because prices have dropped, I can buy an i850
for the same money that my brother paid for his i550 a few months ago.

Don't even hesitate...get the i850 and you'll be a happy camper. If I
could, I'd guarantee it.

My question is: when I print a photo on plain paper in the highest
quality mode (Plain paper, Q2, diffusion) and ICM, can you tell the
difference between the output of the i550 and the i850?

On plain paper, I'm not sure since I don't do a lot of plain paper photo
printing, I think it's a waste of ink. On photo paper, the difference is
noticeable.

In the output of the i550, I notice very small dots that I think are
the result of the dithering process. Are these also visible on the
i850 (using plain paper)?

On photo paper, I can't really see the dots at regular viewing
distances, only when I look closely. I'm not so sure about plain paper.

Is the output of the i550 sharper than that of the i850 (again on
plain paper)? I noticed this when looking at a comparison on Tom's
hardware guide:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/20030725/canon-04.html

The image is NOT sharper on the i550.

In fact, the smoother shading and detail in the scanned images is
deceptive in that it looks less sharp on the i850, when in fact it is
not. The lack of finer detail in the i550 causes higher contrast in the
scans, not sharpness. I have a few photos printed from my friends i550,
and my i850 is just as sharp, but with finer detail and shading.

Take another look at those images on Tom's site...the i450 and i850 have
finer detail and shading, which makes sense since they both use 2PL
nozzles.

I was also wondering whether the 2 picoliter drops are used for plain
paper? Or only for higher resolution paper?

I'm not sure since I haven't looked that closely, but my guess is no,
it's only used on hi-res and photo paper. I could be wrong though.

BTW: does anybody know wheter the number of nozzles for magenta and
cyan are different from the number for yellow for the i850?

For anyone who doesn't already know, the 2PL droplets are only from the
magenta and cyan nozzles. The 1600 nozzles and colours break down like
this:

-320 5PL nozzles for black (high speed grayscale printing)
-256 5PL nozzles for magenta
-256 5PL nozzles for cyan
-256 5PL nozzles for yellow
-256 2PL nozzles for magenta (fine detail)
-256 2PL nozzles for cyan (fine detail)

If you see a picture of the printhead, you'll notice the long strip for
black-only which is why it prints grayscale so damn fast, and two strips
for magenta and cyan, with a single yellow strip in the middle.

I found
this in a brochure from Canon, but cannot see why this is the case.

The 2PL droplets are used for fine detail and shading. Think of them as
taking the place of photo cyan and photo magenta cartridges which are
lighter colours for blending in the shades and details on six colour
printers.