Hello Roger, I manage a digital imaging lab at Cecil College and we have (3) Canon iPF5100 and (1) iPF6100 printers all purchased in 2008. The ability to switch from "Photo" to "Matte" black inks on the fly was a major factor in our decision to switch from our aging Epson (4800) printers to the Canon's. There was also a significant improvement in output quality especially when printing with "Photo" black ink on satin and glossy media. On the down side the Canon's have not been as reliable over all as the Epson's . The main issue has been print head replacements. Early on Canon replaced a couple of our failed print heads at no charge despite recently expired warrantees. Since then however, we've replaced almost every print head and in some cases more than once over the 3 years since our warrantee's expired. One of our 5100's recently stopped printing with an error message that ended with "Call for service". It is currently awaiting a repair visit from Canon which they provide at a blanket rate of $700, including any necessary replacement parts. The print head replacements can easily be done by the user, but they are rather expensive at approx. $500 each. When Epson finally introduced their new 4900 printers we purchased a pair of them and have been pleased with them so far. Although the new models have both "Photo" and "Matte" loaded all the time and do a much better job at switching between them, it is still not "automatic" nor as fast or economical as with the Canon's. We've not yet reached a final conclusion regarding the total "cost of ownership" between the Canon's and the Epson's, but the Canon's do seem to be more expensive over the long haul. The output quality of both is excellent with significant improvements over previous models. The ink costs for both also seem similar, but the Epson may have a slight edge there as well. For us the main question is, does the superior media switching capabilities of the Canon offset the higher maintenance costs? Barry Gorrell VCP Lab Coordinator Cecil College ___________________________________________________________________ On Jan Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:25:47 -0500, Roger Breton <graxx@videotron.ca> wrote:
Message: 4 Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:25:47 -0500 From: Roger Breton <graxx@videotron.ca> To: colorsync-users List <colorsync-users@lists.apple.com> Subject: Are Canon IPF printers any reliable? Message-ID: <001601ccdd53$617bf740$2473e5c0$@videotron.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Now it's my turn. I can't put any more time and money on my old Epson 4000 printer without ruining my bank account. So, I feel like someone who's driven GM's for all his life and now wants to switch to an import.
I only hear good things about Canon IPF printers. I'm especially considering the 5100 as I don't really have a need for anything larger.
So my question is, does anyone have anything good or bad to say about this printer or Canon's in general? I intend to experiment with Canon's supplied Photoshop plug-in, of course, but will surely drive it mostly from a CMYK proofing RIP like ORIS or GMG or EFI. So I'm not too concerned about getting the color I want.
Some folks say they had to change print heads past warranty time? Some say that pages are not cut straight?
I thought Scott Martin could chime in with his experience?
Please don't try to convince me to stay with Epson -- I won't.
Best / Roger