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 5 - Test results; introduction and costs

Jump to operational costings - click here

Print quality, costs and speed:

Generally speaking, the Canon S900 produces stunning results when used with Canon Photo Paper Pro glossy media. However, we did find a couple of problems, one of which is illustrated a little further down this page.

For detailed analysis of print quality, including colour gamut tests, print sample reproductions and comparative results from other printers, click here.

You can also click on one of the thumbnails below to link directly to print result comparisons between the Canon S900 and some alternative printers.

A significant print quality flaw

One S900 print problem we did discover was significant jagging artefcts along straight, contrasty, detail boundaries that lie at very acute angles in relation to the horizontal. It only occurs under certain conditions, but needs addressing.

Notice, above, the uneven, jagged, progress of the linear detail in this S900 print section. It’s even more apparent when examining the actual print by eye,

Here is the same portion of the image printed using an Epson Stylus 870. The lines are much more smooth.

The S900 is more prone to jaggies at certain resolutions. Above is a smaller S900 print, which we have magnified to roughly match the size of the other examples on this page. As a smaller print represents lower print resolution, you’d logically expect more severe jaggies, but instead, the problem has disappeared.

Our theory is that the jaggies are more prone to appear at certain print resolutions only and may be something to do with the screened half-toning used when printing on to Canon Photo Paper Pro. It’s a quality issue we did not expect to be debating about the S900. However, we have now tested other Canon S-series photo ink-jets and they can all be made to exhibit the same problem.

But general photo quality remains excellent

Apart from the above, surprising, flaw, the S900 builds on the positive reputation set by the BJC-8200 and S800. To the naked eye and without squinting a few millimetres in front of a print, grain on Canon Photo Paper Pro is virtually invisible, colours are rich and vibrant without looking over the top and detail retention is excellent. Smooth tonal gradation is also very good. Black density is good, though if you want truly deep and dark blacks in your photos, Epson, in our opinion, retains a small advantage.

Print speed

Let’s not beat around the bush. Only one other printer on the market can match the sheer throughput performance of the S900’s print head and that other printer happens to be the S900’s sibling, the wider carriage S9000. Both use the same print head and inks.

Using an image file that doesn’t cause the USB connection to the printer to be being a print head interrupting bottle neck, we were able to see 10x7.5 inch prints completed in as little as 66 seconds. That’s almost a factor of four times faster than anything else currently available.

Larger image files do cause the print head to pause during printing, but we rarely saw an A4 photo print take more than about three minutes, still comfortably faster than the very fastest most of its rivals can operate at in photo mode.

Print costs

DPN routinely tests ink cartridge life to exhaustion. This is done by repeatedly printing a composite test photo, in default highest quality photo mode, containing elements from several different scenes to represent an average ink consumption that should be close to typical consumption in real life.

No two photographers will consistently produce the same average colour ink consumption across the spectrum, so it’s best to use our figures as a comparative guide rather than as being definitive.

Separate colour ink tanks do benefit ink thrift

The Canon S900 has separate tanks for each ink. In our experience different colours are exhausted at different rates, so a separate ink tank system will definitely be more frugal on ink than single tanks containing several colour reservoirs. Happily, Canon has combined its physical ink frugality with modest pricing, to make ink costs less than 80 percent of its nearest rival. Unfortunately, Canon Photo Paper Pro media is expensive enough to wipe out the advantage conveyed by its inexpensive inks.

Costings:

Media and ink only (costs in brackets are for Epson Stylus 895 Photo):

• Ink cost per printed square inch: 0.60p (0.79p)
• Cost per 10x7.5 inch print: 118.5p (114.4p)
• Cost per A4 borderless print: 131.6p (134.2p)
• Cost per 5.3x4 inch print: 31.1p (30.5p)

 Including cost of printer, media and ink:

• Average cost per 5.3x4 inch print after 360 prints: 122.5p (73.9p)
• Average cost per 5.3x4 inch print after 720 prints: 76.8p (52.2p)

 

Cost comparisons: HP psc-950 Epson 895 Canon S900 Epson 810 Pages printed* 41 29 54 30 Time per page (sec) 265 255 66 233 Ink cost per page 72.4p 59.4p 45.2p 64.3p Ink cost per sq inch 1p 0.8p 0.6p 0.9p Paper cost per page 64.5p 55p 73.3p 55p Cost/sq inch overall** 1.83p 1.53p 1.58p 1.59p Total cost per page 136.9 114.4p 118.5p 119.2p

*Pages printed before first colour ran out
**Includes unprinted border area

Costs summary:

If you exclude the purchase cost of the Canon S900, running costs are competitive because ink costs are very low. Much of the ink cost savings are negated by Canon’s expensive, but very good, PR101 Photo Paper Pro. However, we believe there are papers out there that can be used to substitute Canon paper, maybe reducing the paper cost element by as much as 40 percent. This could deliver a borderless A4 print for about £1 a go - a third less than an Epson Stylus 895 Photo using Epson Premium Glossy paper.

Costing when the hardware cost is included is less impressive. While Lexmark and Epson seem to be driving printer prices down, with the S900 Canon is playing the game of providing more features, in this case doubled speed and borderless printing, for the same price as the out-going model.

But to summarise, Canon S900’s ink system is significantly cheaper than the competition. To maximise the cost of ownership of the S900 you will, however, need to invest in alternative media to Canon’s expensive Photo Paper Pro.
 

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