Pros: The convenience of having a photo lab quality printer in your own home.
Cons: Flimsy, paper output tray.
The Bottom Line: Quiet, high speed printer capable of photo lab quality prints. Six separate ink tanks and an excellent price to performance ratio make this printer a bargain.
watchdr_2000's Full Review: Canon I960 InkJet Photo Printer
Well, I finally got around to replacing the printer that I gave to my daughter, a Canon S300. As I was very happy with that one, both its quality and reliability, I decided to get myself another Canon printer, only this time a much better one.
The Canon i960 was very highly recommended in quite a few reviews that I read online, both for its speed and the high quality of its printing. Especially the high quality of photos that it’s capable of producing. The latter being very important to me. Another added advantage in Canon’s favor is that it uses separate ink tanks for the various colors, so when one color runs out there is no need to dump a cartridge when the other color tanks are still 90% full.
What’s in the box?
1) Canon i960 Printer
2) Installation Guide
3) Instruction Manual (Labeled ‘Quick Start Guide’)
4) Photo Paper Tray for 4” X 6” paper
5) Print Head and Ink Tanks
6) CD-ROM with all the software
7) Sample pack of Canon 4" x 6" Photo Paper Pro for Borderless Printing
7) AC power cord
Please note that this printer does not come with a USB cord to attach the printer to your computer.
Some Important manufacturer’s specifications:
1) 4800X1200 dpi (dots per inch) maximum printing resolution
2) 512 nozzles per color cartridge i.e. 3072 nozzles in total
3) 6 ink cartridges – 1 black and 5 color ones
4) 8” (203.2mm) maximum print width – 8.5” (216mm) for borderless printing
5) USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed) interface
6) Approx. 420mm Wide X 311mm Deep X 185mm High (16.54”W X 12.25”D X 7.28”H)
7) Approx. 5.8Kg (10.8lb)
8) Both Mac and Windows capable
9) PictBridge capable (print photos direct from camera sans computer)
10) 1 year limited Warranty
11) Canon’s intelligent Think Tank System™ (which warns you when a tank is running low on ink)
The following installation instructions are for a Windows based computer. Mine is an XP Pro based one, fully updated with SP2 and all other necessary software and hardware driver updates.
After unpacking the printer and removing all the protective tape and bubble wrap, attach the AC cord and turn the printer turned on. This is in order to install the print head and ink tanks, but make sure that it is not hooked up to the computer yet. When the front cover of the printer is opened, the print head holder automatically moves to the center thereby giving you easy access to it. Install the print head and then the ink cartridges as per the instructions, being sure not to touch the electrical contacts on the print head. Also be careful not to squeeze the ink tanks, or touch the opening that feeds the ink to the print head unless you like brightly colored finger tips.
Close the front cover and extend the paper rest and output tray. The printer will then automatically go through its print head cleaning maintenance routine. This only takes a short while and be sure to wait until it’s finished and then turn the printer off. Now the printer is ready to be hooked up to the computer.
Connect the printer to your computer with a USB cable. The back of the printer has 2 USB ports, one for USB 1.1 and one for the newer faster USB 2.0. If you’re not sure whether your computer is USB 2.0 compatible or not, use the USB1.1 port to be on the safe side.
Load paper into the tray and adjust the guide to take up any slack. Make sure that the printer is turned off before installing the installation CD-ROM. If the Windows Hardware Wizard wants to do the installation instead, cancel it and follow the instructions on the CD-ROM. You’ll be given the option of whether you want to install all of the included software or not, and if you choose not to install it, you can always install it at a later date if you change your mind. Turn the printer on when prompted by the instructions and then reboot the computer after the installation is complete.
After installation or replacement of an empty cartridge, the print head will need to aligned. In the Control Panel, right click on Printer and Faxes, then right click on the i960 icon. Now click on Properties, and then click on Maintenance, now click on Custom Settings. Make sure that Align heads manually and Identify paper type are checked. This will ensure that the printer goes through the complete print head alignment and not the abbreviated one (which should never be used IMHO). Now click on Print Head Alignment, and allow a minute or two for the pattern to print completely before answering the question of whether the pattern was successfully printed or not. Choose the number in the columns that gives the smoothest line-free pattern and adjust your print head accordingly. Once it has been aligned, it won’t need to be adjusted again until you replace a cartridge. As a note of interest, follow the above procedure for cleaning the nozzles. Just be sure to click on Cleaning instead of Print Head Alignment. I always clean the nozzles before printing photos.
Are the photos as good as the local photo lab Gary?
In a word, yes. But, having the best interests of my readers at heart, and being a glutton for punishment – or to put it more accurately, more than willing to experiment with an enormous amount of various options – I was finally able to get really good and consistent results. Please note that all photos were printed on borderless 4” X 6” paper, and that I cleaned the print head’s nozzles before I printed every photo in order to keep things as consistent as possible. My test picture for most of these experiments was a fairly large high resolution file (253Kb) of my cousin’s daughter that he took at her wedding with his expensive Nikon D100 – an excellent camera that I wish I could afford.
First off, let’s talk about the software options. As most computer users know, the drivers are the software that instruct the hardware exactly how to work. But just to confuse things a little bit more, the computer, with its related software, instruct the drivers how to do their job. This means that even although the printer and its driver don’t change, it doesn’t mean that all applications will give identical results. This was born out in practice too.
The Microsoft Photo Printing Wizard is software that is included in Windows XP, both the Home Edition and the Pro version. This software, while very easy and straightforward to use, produced the worst results. Worst only in comparison to two other excellent and specialized products, but the results will still be more than acceptable for most users. Photo Shop Elements 2 produced slightly better results, and the special photo printing software included with the printer – Easy-PhotoPrint – produced the best results. While there wasn’t a huge difference between the three, they were fairly discernible to my unaided eye and very easily seen under 5X magnification.
The main difference in the results from using the above software was in the amount of pixilation that was visible. Less pixilation resulted in a slightly sharper and more detailed picture, and hence was more pleasing to look at. Please let me reiterate again that I’m talking about subtle differences here. Only die-hard photo fanatics like myself will be satisfied when their printers results are indistinguishable from those of a pro photo lab.
Is it necessary to use Canon paper in order to achieve the best results?
Another good question, and really just a continuation of the above topic, but I put it under a separate heading for those who just scan through articles without bothering to read them in their entirety.
I can’t say that I tried every type of photo grade paper available out there, but I can in all honesty say that I did try quite a few. Probably a lot more than most people are willing to experiment with.
First off, Kodak’s Ultima Picture Paper and HP’s Premium Plus Glossy Photo Paper are not compatible with this printer. The results were very poor, and nobody would be happy to receive pictures of such low quality. Obviously due to complete incompatibility between Canon’s ink and these papers.
IBM’s Heavyweight Ultra-Glossy Photo Paper actually looked matte to me, especially in direct comparison with the others anyhow. The focus also appeared marginally softer and this resulted in slightly less detail too.
Canon’s two photo quality papers - Photo Paper Plus Glossy and Photo Paper Pro - both produced excellent quality prints. While the colors were marginally more vivid on the former, the latter more closely resembled a photo from a photo lab produced from a film camera.
Epson’s Premium Glossy Photo Paper produced a photo print that had the most vivid colors, and most closely resembled a photo lab quality print. Vivid is not really the ideal word to describe these differences as there also appeared to be a wider dynamic range – i.e. shaded areas had more contrast and detail – in addition to the slightly more saturated/vivid greens. Very natural looking. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that with the unaided eye, it would be virtually impossible to tell them apart, the results are that good. Only with a 5X loupe could I then see that the photo was printed on a printer and not in a photo lab. It’s also worth noting that the latter three papers produced virtually identical quality skin tones of the highest order.
As far as I was concerned, only the last three papers are worth experimenting with. Of the two Canon papers, I have a very small preference for the cheaper Photo Paper Plus Glossy because although the colors were marginally less vivid than its pro counterpart, it appeared slightly sharper to my eye, and there were also fewer micro-bubbles under the glossy surface coating. These are not easily seen when looking directly at the photo, but are easily seen when it is tilted at just the right angle in order to catch the light to highlight this minor defect. The glossy surface coating of the Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper was absolutely flawless. Indistinguishable from that of a photo lab print. I was really amazed at the stunning results produced by the Epson paper, especially in light of the fact that these results were produced on a Canon printer with Canon ink. The only downside to the Epson, is that it too wasn’t quite as sharp as that produced by the Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy.
Please note that the degree of sharpness that I’m talking about when comparing the results of the above three papers is tiny indeed. Something that would probably be missed by all but the most astute of viewers, even if it was pointed out to them. The vividness of the colors and the glossiness of the surface finish is more easily seen, and which is preferred is more a degree of personal taste than of actual correctness.
Personally I liked the Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy and Epson Photo Paper Plus Glossy best, but would probably use the latter exclusively when printing photos for friends and family due to its slightly more realistic photo quality.
Final Thoughts:
Printing technology has really made awesome leaps in quality in an amazingly short time. A high quality printer like this is exceptionally reasonably priced for the quality and speed that it delivers. If you’ve read this far, then you know by now how impressed I am with this printers ability to print photo lab quality pictures.
This is also one of the quietest and fastest ink jet printers that I have ever used. A full page of plain text takes about 30 seconds from the time you click the print button until the page drops into the paper output tray. A 4” X 6” borderless photo of the highest quality at the best resolution settings took about one and a quarter minutes. These times differ from Canon’s as these were actually timed by me. Your results may vary depending on your computer, software and the type of document that you are printing etc.
In the 4 months that I have had this printer I have done a large amount of printing. Keep in mind that ink is used every time the nozzles are cleaned too, and my ink tanks still have about a quarter of a tank left. Replacement cartridges are reasonably priced and easily obtainable.
The only negative remark that I can make about this printer is its flimsy paper output tray. It folds open very easily for use, but I always have a hard time folding it away. A minor quibble to be sure, but worth mentioning just the same.
Finally, just a short note about the software that Canon has included with this printer. The photo printing software, Easy-PhotoPrint and Easy-PhotoPrint Plus, have been updated. The latest version, which I have installed, has rolled both versions into one. Basically it’s the photo printing software with minor photo editing capabilities added. Such as red eye reduction, face smoothing etc. Besides the aforementioned, the only other software that I installed is the Easy-WebPrint. This is really a great piece of software if you print a lot of web pages like I do. It simplifies printing web pages because wysiwyg – i.e. what you see is what you get – exactly how it appears on your computer monitor, is how it will be printed out. I can’t comment on the other software because I haven’t installed it and have no intention of trying it out either.
All in all this is almost like having a $10,000 photo lab printer in your own home. Gary.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 170.00 Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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