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Epson R1900 Comparison Summary |
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  • The Epson has the edge in color accuracy, depth of blacks and color gamut over the Pro 9000 Mark II
• The Epson doesn't have a flat paper path
• Both printers cost about the same
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Samples |
Page 10 of 12 |
Conclusion |
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Comparison Specifications |
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Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Mark III |
Epson R1900 |
| Price |
$499 |
$480 |
| Type |
Inkjet |
Inkjet |
Color resolution
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4800 by 2400 |
5760 by 1440 |
Black resolution
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4800 by 2400 |
5760 by 1440 |
4 x 6 prints
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Yes |
Yes |
| 5 x 7 prints |
Yes |
Yes |
| 8 x 10 prints |
Yes |
Yes |
| 11 x 7 prints |
Yes |
Yes |
| 13 x 19 prints |
Yes |
Yes |
| Banner prints |
No |
Yes |
| DVD printing |
No |
Yes |
| Letter printing |
Yes |
Yes |
Legal printing
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Yes |
Yes |
Tabloid printing
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Yes |
Yes |
| Flat paper path |
Yes |
Yes |
Fine art paper support
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Yes |
Yes |
Number of cartridges
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8 |
8 |
| Ink Cartridge type |
Canon Type 8 |
Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss® 2 Pigment Ink |
| Ink Cartridges |
Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Photo Magenta, Photo Cyan, Red, Green
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Photo black, Matte Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Red, Orange, Gloss Optimizer |
Borderless printing
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Yes, up to 13 by 19 inches |
Yes, up to 13 by 19 |
| Paper paths |
3 |
2 |
| Main paper tray capacity |
150 |
120 |
| Network |
None |
None |
| Media slots |
None |
None |
| PictBridge USB |
Yes |
Yes |
Performance
The Epson R1900 has the advantage on most of our tests; it had better color accuracy, a wider gamut and deeper blacks. However, the Pro 9000 Mark II was no slouch in any of our tests; it had very creditable results all round when properly calibrated.
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Color Accuracy Comparison |
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Canon Pro 9000 Mark II,
Default profile, Canon Photo paper pro II
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Canon Pro 9000 Mark II,
Custom profile, Canon Photo Paper Pro II |
Canon Pro 9000 Mark II,
Custom profile, Ilford Galerie |
Epson R1900, Custom profile, Ilford Galerie |
| Mean Color Error |
7.4
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5.1
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8.9
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4.8 |
| Canon Pro 9000 Mark II DMax comparison |
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Inks & Media
Both printers have excellent support for producing large prints; both support producing borderless prints up to 13 by 19 inches on a variety of different paper types, including art paper. The Pro 9000 Mark II does have a the benefit of a straight paper path (so it can work woth thick card or other media that can't be curved), but the R1900 also supports printing onto DVDs and producing banner prints at sizes up to 13 by 44 inches. The latter can be especially useful for panoramas: that's big enough to produce a print of a nice landscape that would look awesome on the wall. So it's a question of which is more important for the type of printing you want to do: the straight through paper path of the Pro 9000 Mark II or the braoder medai support and banner printing of the R1900.
The R1900 also has the advantage of the gloss enhancer ink, which seems to do a very decent job of adding an extra protective glossy layer to prints. Although the cartridges don't last long, this is a definite advantage if you are producing prints that you want to keep for a long time.
In Use
Both printers proved to be very easy to use, with well designed interfaces and decent software packages that add to the flexibility of the printer. However, the Pro 9000 Mark II was the faster printer: we found that it was significantly faster, especially with larger prints.
| Canon Pro 9000 Mark II Photo Speed Comparison |
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Canon Pro 9000 Mark II
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Epson R1900
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| Canon Pro 9000 Mark II Document Print Speed |
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Canon Pro 9000 Mark II
0.88
Pages Per Minute
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Epson R1900
2.06
Pages Per Minute
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The Epson was somewhat faster when printing onto plain paper, though: it managed just over 2 pages per minute while the Canon managed less than 1.
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