Canon i865 printer

Page 5.

The inks.

The main difference over the i850 is that the i865 is using the BCI-6xx series tanks, These are the same ink tanks that the i950, i965, i9100 etc. use - the i850 uses the BCI-3xx series. Canon have made a shrewd move by making their range of printers compatible with a single ink set, this means finding the right ink tank in your local store could be a lot easier, or if your a pessimist then it could also mean a higher demand for the inks and empty racks.

On the i850 black was a composite black, i.e. the black was made up from three colours (CMY). Dye sublimation printers also make up black from three colours, this can result in lower contrast in photographs. The black ink in the i850 is only used for text printing as it is a pigment based ink (dye and pigment inks don't mix well). The i865 now has a dye based black the BCI-6BK tank, this gives extra contrast and deeper photo blacks - ContrastPLUS is the official name. The i865 also has a pigment black for text printing only, the BCI-3eBK tank, I am not sure of the quantity of ink per tank but the BCI-3eBK is approximately twice as wide as the other tanks. This confirms that this printer is also intended as a general workhorse printer.

2pl 4ink v 4pl 6ink

How does the 2pl drop size on a four ink printer compare with a six ink printer using a 4pl drop size. The pictures below shows full black at the top and the next step down in a 11 stage greyscale wedge. The print shows how 2pl drops can fill in the gaps, the S900 (now 18 months old) is starting to pale compared to newer printers.

Canon i865 using four colours 2 pl	Canon S900 using six inks 4 pl

I am really surprised at how much a smaller ink drop size can make such a difference. Below is high magnification shot of Sophie's eye. The smaller 2pl drop size outperforms the 4pl s900 printer. Compared to a six ink printer using 2pl you can see the advantage of using six inks for high quality photographs.

i865 2pl	s900 4pl
i950 2pl	Kodak LED printer (£90,000)

Although the i865's four colour printing may not match the output of the Canon i950 six ink print. it has certainly by-passed the quality of the S900 - reviewing printers could work out to be an expensive job for me, I can see an upgrade for myself coming along. I should stress that all the pictures on this page are high magnifications and under normal viewing conditions you would not be aware of the print dot. The i865 gives a very good account of itself and has handled colours, smoothness of tone and sharpness extremely well.

© Vincent Oliver 2003 www.photo-i.co.uk
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