Canon Pixma Pro9000 Photo Printer Review
By Michael Perlman
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
September 06, 2007
The Canon Pixma Pro9000 is a dye-based inkjet printer geared toward semi-professional photographers and designers. With a friendly price tag of $499, the Pixma Pro9000 produces high quality prints. Other similarly-priced competitors within the professional printer realm include the Epson Stylus Photo R1800 ($549) and the HP Photosmart 8750 ($499). The step-up big brother of the Pro9000, the Canon Pixma Pro9500, utilizes nine-pigment ink cartridges, as opposed to the eight dye-based cartridges found in the Pro9000. Nevertheless, you can still expect a significant bang for your buck with the Pixma Pro9000.
Physically, the Pixma Pro9000 is fairly barren, with a control panel that consists of only three buttons embedded along the right side of the front panel. The Pixma Pro9000 will steal glances with its sleek graphite and silver two-tone plastic paneling and minimalist design. This is a big printer—it will engulf most of a small-to-medium-sized desk or table. An array of inconspicuous panels can be flipped open to reveal paper trays and the ink cartridges. The Pixma Pro9000 uses an eight-color dye ink system via cartridges that are easily accessible behind an access door. Each cartridge will set you back $14.25 a pop, or an entire set can be purchased for $99. Individually, Canon’s ink cartridges are less expensive than those offered with HP printers.
There is no external menu interface on the Pixma Pro9000 because the printer has no LCD screen. In this case you’ll have to rely on the included printer interface, My Printer. My Printer is found on all Canon printers, and features a four-tabbed menu design that is easy to use and rife with features. Color settings and management, paper size and quality, and effects are just a few. To top it all off, the Pixma Pro9000 ships with a bundled suite of software and drivers, including Easy-PhotoPrint, Easy-PhotoPrint Pro (Photoshop plug-in), and Photo Record. With this software suite, users can edit, resize, and select desired quality settings for their prints. For those looking to perform basic to intermediate photo and document adjustments, the Pixma Pro9000’s included software will do the trick.
Printing speeds vary on the Pixma Pro9000. Text and graphics yielded the slowest print times, with less than a page per minute results. However, the Pixma Pro9000 is designed to print photos, and that is where it excels. The Pixma Pro9000 can crank out two 4x6 photos at the highest quality setting in one minute. It ranks competitively among other photo printers and all-in-ones such as the HP Photosmart 5180 and Kodak Easyshare 5300.
Print quality is a mixed bag; the Pixma Pro9000 does not offer the best color accuracy. The Canon Pixma MP600, Epson PictureMate Snap, and Epson Stylus Photo R2400 all perform better in this area. Black-and-white prints are a bit on the weak side, as well. The good news is the Pixma Pro9000 is graced with a wide color gamut—wider than most printers on the market. The Pixma Pro9000 may not offer the pinnacle of professional print quality, but it will produce some high quality photos.
Those looking for more functionality in a printer might consider the Epson Stylus Photo R1800. This printer accommodates roll paper and features a FireWire terminal. In addition, the Stylus Photo R1800 uses longer-lasting pigment inks instead of dye inks. The HP Photosmart 8750 steps it up a notch by offering standard Ethernet connectivity, a small LCD display, and 64 MB of RAM. The Photosmart 8750’s curse is that it can’t print high quality black-and-white photos.
For the semi-professional photographer or designer, the Canon Pixma Pro9000 is a decent option. It’s easy as pie to use, features a sturdy construction, and accommodates larger paper with a switchable output tray. On the downside, the Pixma Pro9000 has weak color accuracy, a small memory buffer, and is devoid of media card slots. The step-up Pixma Pro9500 uses pigment inks and produces excellent prints. In addition, the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 performs admirably when it comes to black-and-white prints. Though both printers cost $350 more, the price gap merely separates the semi-pro from the pro.
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