canon s800 ink puddles? 'checking'

[jaeder]

Hello,

I have spent several hours so far digging around in this forum for some solution for this, but no real answer yet..
Here is the deal-

I have a canon s800 that I got new last week, but I guess it's been new for a while in the box...

I do know that the canon is optimized for canon brand paper, but I did find here on this forum that other good photo paper can work too.

The thing is, in every setting I've tried, using for example Kodak's best glossy photo paper, the canon ink sort of cracks or puddles as if the ink was beading up to get away from the surface. In highlights, the photo print looks great, but in saturated and shadow areas, the cracked up puddling is there..

Could the ink be bad?

The best I can do so far is using plain ordinary paper, but plain paper hardly yeilds photo quality..

What paper type setting for the canon driver , either using the OS X driver or the os 9 one, is close to right for common glossy photo paper?

Also, using the osX driver, when I make a custom paper size, the stupid printer tries to print off on the edge of the paper, missing the paper almost entirely. This does not happen in os9 land.. I am using the latest drivers from canon's site..

I know this has got to have been addressed here on the forum before, as the s800 is quite old now, but I have not found the answer..
Thanks,
clint

 

[Tricia]

Hello,
I have spent several hours so far digging around in this forum for
some solution for this, but no real answer yet..
Here is the deal-
I have a canon s800 that I got new last week, but I guess it's been
new for a while in the box...
I do know that the canon is optimized for canon brand paper, but I
did find here on this forum that other good photo paper can work
too.
The thing is, in every setting I've tried, using for example
Kodak's best glossy photo paper, the canon ink sort of cracks or
puddles as if the ink was beading up to get away from the surface.
In highlights, the photo print looks great, but in saturated and
shadow areas, the cracked up puddling is there..

Could the ink be bad?

The ink is fine - the paper is the problem. There used to be a profile or something on the Kodak site that helped with this - don't know whether it's still there. You'd be much better off getting either Epson Glossy Photo or Office Depot (I think it's premium) - they'll both work better with the Canon ink.

Sorry, can't help with OSX.

--
Tricia
Minolta Dimage D7(UG), Epson 2200, PS7, Qimage

 

[jaeder]

Tricia,
thanks so much-
The kodak site has a huge chart showing settings for the paper..

all I can say is duh-I don't know why I didn't think to look to the paper maker for printer settings.....
I think the only osx solution may be gimp-print...
I'll get some of the other epson paper too.
Thanks again- here is the kodak chart if the link works..
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/dlc/book1/chapter4/premiumPaper.shtml

clint

The ink is fine - the paper is the problem. There used to be a
profile or something on the Kodak site that helped with this -
don't know whether it's still there. You'd be much better off
getting either Epson Glossy Photo or Office Depot (I think it's
premium) - they'll both work better with the Canon ink.

Sorry, can't help with OSX.

--
Tricia
Minolta Dimage D7(UG), Epson 2200, PS7, Qimage

 

[Richard W]

The thing is, in every setting I've tried, using for example
Kodak's best glossy photo paper, the canon ink sort of cracks or
puddles as if the ink was beading up to get away from the surface.
In highlights, the photo print looks great, but in saturated and
shadow areas, the cracked up puddling is there..

This is typical behaviour of Kodak papers on the Canons which print too fast for the paper with ink coalescence/pooling/cracked mud appearance.

Try the Kodak site suggestions but please realise you will be getting far from best quality prints when using the Kodak papers. Try something like Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper for comparison it will be a huge improvement. Avoid HP papers too.

I know the Kodak paper bundles seem like good value, but it's just false economy at the end of the day.

S800 is still a very competent photo printer - prints will be of same quality as last year's S900, just that you can't print borderless without perforated papers.

Do check the Canon site for software - I don't know if there are Mac versions of Easy Photo Print etc but it's worth a look. If you're running virtual PC you could look at QImage but it may run quite slowly depending on your specs.

RW

 

[Drestin Black]

The key word is "Good paper", which Kodak is not. I used to think that the name Kodak said it all, but I dumped theiir paper long before I got a canon and was still using HP's. It's not water resistant and if you look at it from an angle it looks like the ink is layered just sitting on top of the paper using any printer. I gave the Kodak papers (the same with hp papers) to friends kids to play with on their printer and have been using office depot eversince. That's on hp's and canon's.

To each his own though.

clint

The ink is fine - the paper is the problem. There used to be a
profile or something on the Kodak site that helped with this -
don't know whether it's still there. You'd be much better off
getting either Epson Glossy Photo or Office Depot (I think it's
premium) - they'll both work better with the Canon ink.

Sorry, can't help with OSX.

--
Tricia
Minolta Dimage D7(UG), Epson 2200, PS7, Qimage

 

[acmeron]

The thing is, in every setting I've tried, using for example
Kodak's best glossy photo paper, the canon ink sort of cracks or
puddles as if the ink was beading up to get away from the surface.
In highlights, the photo print looks great, but in saturated and
shadow areas, the cracked up puddling is there..

This is typical behavior of Kodak papers on the Canons which print
too fast for the paper with ink coalescence/pooling/cracked mud
appearance.

Try the Kodak site suggestions but please realize you will be
getting far from best quality prints when using the Kodak papers.
Try something like Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper for comparison
it will be a huge improvement. Avoid HP papers too.

I know the Kodak paper bundles seem like good value, but it's just
false economy at the end of the day.

S800 is still a very competent photo printer - prints will be of
same quality as last year's S900, just that you can't print
borderless without perforated papers.

Do check the Canon site for software - I don't know if there are
Mac versions of Easy Photo Print etc but it's worth a look. If
you're running virtual PC you could look at QImage but it may run
quite slowly depending on your specs.

RW

Kodak is a company without a rudder. They cannot compete with the digital camera. There are dozens of companies that make anything Kodak makes, but much better. The film selling industry is fading fast. Kodak even has competition in that field too. Why they still make this photo paper is the reason they keep going under. They won't change. To claim it is for all printers is ridiculous. Dye based inks will not work on it. Even a HP with their pigmented inks take hours to dry. O.K. I'm finished.

 

[jaeder]

I tried the kodak settings on the cannon, but that only reduced the problem. No worries, I'll just use the box 'o kodak paper in my old kodak printer- the snail slow ppm200 by lexmark. I guess kodak paper is fine for other 'razor' printers (a term I use to describe printers that cost less than their replacement ink carts- lexmark mostly- give away the razor, price-gouge for ink).

Part of the problem is that kodak only gives settings for the new, incomplete bunk canon osX driver, where the s800 driver in classic mode works with all the features, and the setting panels for the os9 driver are different than the osX driver. I guess it won't matter anyway, since the problem is speed, and there is no adjustment for that really.

Lucky for me, I noticed costco carries the better epson paper now, only slightly more expensive than the kodak, I'll get some.

I guess kodak is lagging behind the times again with their slow to absorb paper..

No wonder it was cheap.

stazsoftware.com has FuturePaint2.0, a small freeware app that runs in classic mode and has a nice easy print interface once you get used to it. That's what I end up using with these printers with classic only drivers.
Thanks,
clint

In highlights, the photo print looks great, but in saturated and
shadow areas, the cracked up puddling is there..

This is typical behaviour of Kodak papers on the Canons which print
too fast for the paper with ink coalescence/pooling/cracked mud
appearance.

I know the Kodak paper bundles seem like good value, but it's just
false economy at the end of the day.

S800 is still a very competent photo printer - prints will be of
same quality as last year's S900, just that you can't print
borderless without perforated papers.

Do check the Canon site for software - I don't know if there are
Mac versions of Easy Photo Print etc but it's worth a look. If
you're running virtual PC you could look at QImage but it may run
quite slowly depending on your specs.

RW

 

[Clackey]

I have used my Canon S800 for two years. I have spent a fortune in paper and ink trying to deal with some subtle problems, and still have one that I won't go into here. (0% of the images don't show the difficulties.... mostly with light purple and white/off-white walls, and other detals lost in greys.

I think the S800 is a really great printer for the money!! But I have been where you are. Here are some quick tips, not in any particular order.

Kodak Paper and many other name brands are not "good paper" for the S800 and probably some other Canon printers. Kodak recommends you do NOT use any of the "Photo paper" settings. Set the paper to "Plain Paper". Do your proofs with "Standard Quality". (You will find that "High" does not gain you much).

After I tried that, i discovered that evn with the "good paper", it conquered some of my other "dificult" photos. I no longer use the "Photo Paper Pro" or similar paper choice settings at all. I use "Plain Pape"r for just about everything".

The best paper I have found is the sample that came with the printer. It is the pricey and hard to find Canon "Photo Paper Pro". It IS impressive. No other brand name has worked for me in smoothing out the micro-dots so perfectly.

FLASH!

Office Depot "Premium High Gloss PHOTO paper" is just as good as the Canon Photo Paper Pro! 100 letter size sheets, 69 lb. paper for $38. It's all about letting the canon ink formula flow just enough that the micro dots touch each other. HP and Kodak paper does not do that for me.

Carl

Hello,
I have spent several hours so far digging around in this forum for
some solution for this, but no real answer yet..
Here is the deal-
I have a canon s800 that I got new last week, but I guess it's been
new for a while in the box...
I do know that the canon is optimized for canon brand paper, but I
did find here on this forum that other good photo paper can work
too.
The thing is, in every setting I've tried, using for example
Kodak's best glossy photo paper, the canon ink sort of cracks or
puddles as if the ink was beading up to get away from the surface.
In highlights, the photo print looks great, but in saturated and
shadow areas, the cracked up puddling is there..

Could the ink be bad?

The best I can do so far is using plain ordinary paper, but plain
paper hardly yeilds photo quality..

What paper type setting for the canon driver , either using the OS
X driver or the os 9 one, is close to right for common glossy photo
paper?

Also, using the osX driver, when I make a custom paper size, the
stupid printer tries to print off on the edge of the paper, missing
the paper almost entirely. This does not happen in os9 land.. I
am using the latest drivers from canon's site..

I know this has got to have been addressed here on the forum
before, as the s800 is quite old now, but I have not found the
answer..
Thanks,
clint

 

[jaeder]

Just to follow up on my own questions-

the Epson paper works great, and costco has new improved packs of 120 with better brightness or something compared to the old stuff..

The osX driver for the s800 can't use custom page sizes, but the classic driver will.

The canon site does not list the Image Browser application for osX if you follow the links to s800 drivers, but you can find it by following the links to the software for the s900 model, and the downloaded installer will work using the Image Browser disk (the installer requires one to own the canon cd).

I usually cut letter size pages into smaller bits, like quarters or halfs, but since the osX driver won't let the printer deal with those custom sizes, a work around using Image Browser for osX lets you put multiple images on one full letter size sheet, then cut after printing..

Thanks for all the help,
clint