Canon Pixma Pro9500 Pro Photo Printer Review
By Michael Perlman
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
September 06, 2007
Behold the Canon Pixma Pro9500 pro photo printer. Perched within the echelon of professional photo inkjet printers, the Pixma Pro9500 cranks out crisp, high contrast, vibrant prints. At $849, the Pro9500 is in direct competition with Epson’s Stylus Photo R2400. For photographers and designers who want stellar color performance in their prints, the Pixma Pro9500 is an excellent option.
The Pixma Pro9500 is a fairly large printer that consumes the vast majority of a small table or desk. This is to be expected, given the printer’s A3 Plus (13x19) maximum print size compatibility. Stylistically speaking, the Pixma Pro9500 is a looker, sporting a two-tone gunmetal and charcoal gray body and sleek, chrome buttons. Controls and buttons are sparse, with most of them found along the front panel. The innovative output tray also doubles as an input tray. The Pixma Pro9500 features a pigment-ink set comprised of ten cartridges. Individual ink cartridges can be replaced at $14.99 a pop, eliminating the need to buy an expensive all-in-one cartridge.
You won’t find a menu structure anywhere on the Pixma Pro9500 because the printer lacks an LCD screen. Instead, controls are found within the Canon My Printer driver utility, which contains more options and controls than any other manufacturer’s driver. Navigating through the tabbed menu interface is reasonably simple, and you can choose between page setup, effects, and profiles, to name a few. The Pixma Pro9500 ships with Easy-PhotoPrint Pro—a simple, intuitive software that offers advanced printing options. In addition to color correction and management, brightness, and contrast settings, you can choose the desired printer, paper type, size, layout, source, and quality.
When it comes to print speed, the Pixma Pro9500 is the tortoise of its class. It takes 1 minute and 47 seconds to print a single document page at the highest quality settings, which is almost double the time it takes the Epson Stylus Photo R2400. A similar performance applies to color printing, as well. It takes the Pixma Pro9500 4 minutes to print a 4x6 photo, while the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 can turn one out in just over 2.5 minutes.
In terms of print quality, the Pixma Pro9500 takes the reins. Printed text features sharp, defined edges and rich black color with minimal bleed. When pinned against the Epson Stylus Photo R2400, the Pixma Pro9500 proved to be the ultimate champion, hands down. The Pixma Pro9500 has excellent color accuracy and a wide color gamut, which provides more true-to-life prints. While the Pixma Pro9500 handles color graphic documents like a champ, however, its step-down sibling, the Pixma Pro9000, holds the belt with more vibrancy and punch.
The most notable difference between the Pixma Pro9500 and its prime competitor, the Epson Stylus R2400, is that the Epson is known for its high-quality black-and-white printing. Although the Pixma Pro9500 produced superior sharpness and saturation, the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 has extra gray inks, making it more versatile. If you want to spare some green, the Canon Pixma Pro9000 will give you eight-color, dye-ink printing for $350 less. At $699.99, the HP Photosmart B9180 is another pigment ink printer that features network connectivity, an option that cannot be found on the Epson or either Canon model.
The Canon Pixma Pro9500 is simple to use, has great color accuracy, and is equipped with well-designed drivers and software. The Pixma Pro9500 also gives you rich black-and-white documents, and it is uncannily quiet. On the downside, print speed is slow and the printer lacks media slots and wireless or network capabilities. The Pixma Pro 9500 is available for the same price as the Epson Stylus Photo R2400. With the playing field even, those who aim for more subtle prints will want to explore the Epson Stylus Photo R2400. For a more brilliant color performance, seek out the Canon Pixma Pro9500.
|
|
