Digital Photography Now Printer Reviews

Printer review: Canon S900

11th March - 2002
By Ian Burley

Select a page... Canon S900 review In use Description ..The S900 in pictures Test summaries and costs ..Print quality ....Colour gamut ....Detail magnified ....Flowers and foliage ....Human tones ....Text quality Conclusions

Page 7 - Colour gamut test results

The colour gamut of a printer is the colour range, across the spectrum, that the printer is able to reproduce in a print. Gamut is dependent on a number of factors, including the ink formulation and the reflectivity of the paper. Our tests are conducted using a Gretag colour profiling system that analyses a test chart produced by the printer.

The test is completely independent of printer profiles and any colour enhancement settings in the printer driver. However, gamut data can be used to build profiles that can optimise reproduction quality on different types of photo media.

In the gamut plots reproduced below, the rainbow coloured area represents a perfect colour reproduction range that is, in practice, impossible to attain with current printer technology. The (usually) triangular trace represents the gamut range of the tested printer in relation to the maximum gamut. The larger the area the better.

Here we show the gamut plots for Canon’s S9000 (a technical delay means the S900 result was not available at publication time, but the S900 uses the same inks and print head as the S9000. The S900 result will replace the S9000 result as soon as it is available.), the Epson Stylus 810 and its Epson stablemate - the 895.
 

The Epson Stylus 810 has a respectably broad gamut
 

The Epson Stylus 895, if anything, has a marginally narrower gamut than the cheaper 810.
 

Our tests indicate that Canon’s S9000 has a very similar gamut range to the two Epsons.

Click on a thumbnail below to see print comparisons between the review printer and some of its rivals:

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