Customer Reviews

Canon S900 Photo Inkjet Printer

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I did a lot of research on printers and decided to wait for the Canon S900 to come out. It was definitely worth it...compared to other ink-jet printers, you are gaining in speed and quality, which is really what it all comes down to with a printer.

The printer comes nicely packed with a quick-start guide and CD right inside the top of the box. The 6 ink cartridges are also tucked in, three on each side. I ordered backup ink cartridges as well. Ordering the ink cartridges without actually having seen the printer or what cartridges it takes was a bit of a risk, especially when the cartridges were shipped ahead of the printer and were labeled for the Canon S800. But they are fine. Look for the BCI-6xx model numbers and you will be fine.

Also, be sure to order a USB A-B type cable as the printer does not come with one. These are very cheap, but if you get the printer and don't have a cable, it will make for a disappointing evening when you can't set it up.

Setup was a breeze. The print quality is outstanding, and the printer is very quiet. I do a lot of graphics and text printing and it is amazingly fast and the the text is clear. I would recommend getting some good paper, though, as regular xerox machine type paper will not do this printer justice. I could notice a clear difference in text output.

The six different ink cartridges could be viewed by some to be a downfall, but I would rather replace one $10 color when needed than have to replace all of the colors at once like in other brands.

In summary, this is outstanding printer, and if you can afford it, you will not be disappointed. Coupled with a good digital camera, you will never need to get film developed again!

I originally gave the S900 a 5 star review back on March 16 and espoused the great photo quality prints. It doesn't print great photo quality prints anymore! As a matter of fact, it doesn't print anything anymore. I was in the middle of printing a page and it died. The printer just powered off and would not power back on. It is now being repaired at a Canon Authorized Service Center. (Note: Another reviewer had a similar situation which he posted on July 22).
Upon doing a little more research, I discovered that the printer has a waste ink tank that collects used ink from any print head cleaning that you peform under your routine maintanence to ensure consistent quality printing. Once this waste ink tank is full it needs to be replaced and is not user servicable. The printer will transmit an error message and will stop functioning until it is sent to a Canon Authorized Service Center for repairs. One would think the major cost to owning this printer was just the consumables, ink, paper, etc., so buyer beware.
I still think the print quality is great but I question the manufacturing quality.

When I first tried out the Canon s900 printer, I was sure the photo quality would be great (Canon is known for that)but I doubted that it could really print out a 2400x1200 4x6 photo in 30 seconds...but it did! On some pictures, it takes even less time than that! And the photo quality could not be better--it is relieveing to watch this printer shoot out a picture at such high speeds (any other printer would take 5 min to print the same thing)and, on close inspection, I am hard pressed to find ANY dots or graininess--and it is crisp, not blurry, which I have seen dye-subs to be. My dad has an HP "photo printer" that takes for-ever to print out pics that don't look half as good. On top of that, I can replace each of the six colors individually--which is fortunate, because they run out at VERY different times. I read in every review site that Canon has by far the most inexpensive and economical ink system, which also helped in my decision. This is without a doubt the best printer out there!

The Canon S-900 is my first non-Epson photo printer. It is less than half the cost of the nearest Epson competitor, the 2000P. It can be purchased online for about 75% of its suggested list price of $..., and is worth every penny of it for picture perfect 2400 X 1200 dpi 6-color photo printing.

It comes with a paper support, a manual and quickstart guide, six ink cartridges (black, cyan, photo cyan, yellow, magenta, and photo magenta), a power cord, and a CD with the driver and some other software, ZoomBrowser EX, Photo Record, and Photo Stitch, all of which work in Win 9x/Me/2K/XP, and MAC. Like other printer manufacturers, Canon saved some dough by not including an AB USB cable to connect it to your computer. Get one online or at Costco, otherwise you'll get stuck for over $...for a cable when you can get them for under $...elsewhere.

Installation using the quick start guide is as easy as it gets. Install the printhead, load the six cartridges, plug in the power cord at both ends, plug in the USB cable at both ends with the printer off, and put the autostart installation CD in your CD-ROM. Everything is automatic, but beware, Canon says to plug the USB cable directly into your computer, not a hub. If you use a hub make sure it is powered, although you may still get an error when the driver tries to automatically detect the printer's port. When you get to the port detection dialog screen during installation, you are instructed to turn the printer on for automatic port detection. It may hang here if you're using a hub.

The printer driver has quite a few little extras like custom print quality in addition to High, Standard, and Draft, halftoning, a print advisor wizard for newbies, an image optimizer for making smooth enlargements of low resolution photos, vivid photo for intensifying the sky, trees, and other background colors in landscapes while keeping skin colors correct, manual adjustment of balance, intensity and brightness (you really ought to do this in your photo editor software), normal/fit-to-page/scaled printing, booklet/banner/borderless/duplex printing,and the usual suspects such as choosing specialty media. This printer is best with Canon's Photo Paper Pro (wouldn't you know it), and gives incredible colors with default driver settings on this paper. The Photo Paper Pro glossy prints are virtually indistinguishable from 35 mm photo prints. There are downloadable ICM files to use with specific specialty papers, mostly Canon papers. You can set it up in Paint Shop Pro 7.04's color management system to get colors that print like they look on screen, and I assume you could do this with Photoshop also.

This printer is not designed to be an all around office printer, and doesn't do text very well. I use mine at home solely for printing photos, and haven't had a single paper jam in two weeks (keep in mind I'm using 10 mil photo paper only). I have an HP LJ6 laser printer for text, and an HP 895 color inkjet for all around stuff. I would not recommend networking it, and don't think you easily could. The difference between this model and the S-9000 is that the latter will print 13 X 19 paper and costs $...more. Consumables like specialty paper and inks (OEM & compatibles) are available online for good prices. I highly recommend this printer as the nearest you're going to get to 35 mm prints without spending your kid's college education fund. ...

I was baffled by the different brands and models of photo-quality printers on the market and conducted some research on most of the key models. I finally decided on the Canon S800 and was ready to order it when it was discontinued. Fortunately I waited and came across the newly released Canon S900. My first test photo on this printer using Kodak Premium Picture paper (220g/m2) was an astounding 8x10. The quality is just unbelievable. The colors are vibrant and the resolution is crisp. I then tested a 4x6 image using the sample packet of Canon Photo Paper Pro that came with the printer and the result was indistinguishable from a conventionally processed photograph from a 35mm negative. The high gloss of this paper (245g/m2)really optimizes the capabilities of the S900's print head. Other pluses is the speed and the quietness of this model. On the down side, the text quality is mediocre at best.

I just got this printer last week, I am so overly impressed with how professional looking the prints turn out, especially using the photo paper pro paper! I highly recommend using this to get a true photo look and feel!
The setup of the printer was very smooth and the software is easy to use, anyone really wanting professional quality printing I highly recommend this model to! I have always been a Huge HP fan, but this has really impressed me!
GREAT JOB CANON!
The only downside right now is finding the
Canon photo paper pro paper! I will be glad when it is more readily available.

Keep in mind this is a consumer printer. It is not going to hold up long if you print hundreds of pages per month. I had mine for almost two years before it started acting up. I've probably printed between 300-500 full page (letter size or 8x10) prints with some smaller prints mixed in. It has now started clogging (one or more colors stop coming out) and doesn't appear to be as sharp as it used to be.

Using the cleaning or deep cleaning feature helped at first but it clogged again last night very soon after cleaning it. Using the cleaning feature seems to waste a lot of ink and this will fill up or saturate the waste ink pads inside the printer. Once the waste ink pads are full, the printer will not print any more and you have to have the printer serviced if you ever want to use it again. Mine hasn't stopped working yet but I'm sure the waste ink is getting full and I'm tired of wasting ink anyway by trying to "clean" it.

From reading up on this printer on the Web, it appears the print head is the weak link. Some people have had it replaced several times. A new print head is around $85 and the waste ink pads are about $25 just for the parts. I was quoted $135 to replace the head and pads. Since I did like the printer when it was working and because I already have extra ink for it, I was going to get it fixed. I then found a refurbished S900 here on Amazon for $99. It supposedly comes in the box from Canon and has a 90 day warranty and comes with ink! If it comes with all six colors of Cannon ink, that is worth $72 alone! I just bought the refurbished printer and wrote this review to help those of you who are having similar issues. I hope the refurbished printer works. If not, I'm going to find the nearest Canon office and throw both printers through the front window.

One more thing, don't waste your time, money or ink by using non-Canon paper. Kodak paper in particular (even their best paper) does NOT work well in this printer. I understand there are some 3rd party papers that work well in this printer but I have yet to use one. I have tried Kodak, HP, Epson, and a few other brands and they all stink. I prefer the Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy. It seems to look as good as the Photo Paper Pro and costs a little less. Namaste and Good luck!

The first thing that convinced me was the photo print outs in the store. I looked at them, I thought "Wow, I can't believe that a Digital Camera took this!" I mean, the picture was just great. You couldnn't tell the difference between a 35mm and a digital. I bought the printer and took it home to hook it up. I thought that the installation would be [heck], but it was super easy. I printed a photo that I had taken with my digital camera and it took only 1 and a half minutes to print!!! I thought I had set it to draft and that the quality would be horrible, but I WAS WRONG!!! The quality was great!! So far Canon has won me over. Their digital products are among the best. I also have their Cannon Rebel G. Of these 3 products, none of them have broken. I have had the Rebel G for 4 years, and the printer for a couple of months. Canon is the best in reliability and quality. I also did buy another printer before this one. I bought the Hp Photosmart 1315, and I was extremely disapointed. Sure it has an LCD and direct input from memory, but the quality is no where near where a [higer priced] printer should be. Also it prints with borders. The Canon does a great borderless photo job. If you are really into photography or you just like messing around and experimenting, this is a must have printer. Also if you have a camera with 3 megapixel or more, this is a must. The 8x10's are supberb. I can't say enought about the printer. In conclusion, if you are a photo buff or a really good photographer,you should buy it. You wont be disapointed.

After never being totally pleased with my Epson Stylus Photo 870
or the 785EPX, this printer produces the quality I want. It prints blazingly fast, lab quality, 4X6's from my 2mp camera, that I cannot tell apart from a photo lab print unless I look VERY close. However, I find that you basically MUST use Canon Photo Paper Pro for ultimate results.... I would guess that 8X10's will look equally impressive when I try some.

This printer is AMAZING! You cannot tell the difference between a real photograph and one from this printer. I used the 4x6 glossy paper that was included, and printed a photo taken from my digital camera. It was done in less than 20 seconds and I was stunned at the results. The picture quality and color are absolutely perfect. Everyone I have showed the photos to are shocked when I tell them I printed it and that it isn't a real photograph!

I had the printer set up and installed in less than 10 minutes. The software is very easy to use, and provides a great interface for printing photos.

Everything is included in the box to get started right away.. They give you all the ink tanks and some photo paper. The only thing NOT provided is a USB cable. I can't believe that they won't throw in a cheap USB cable for free!

The printer itself looks very sharp. It's silver and black and has a cool style and shape.

I used an Epson Stylus Color 800 for a few years, and that is a total piece of junk compared to this. The Epson takes 5 minutes to clean and prepare itself almost every time you want to print something. This printer starts up immediately and prints extremely fast.

I highly recommend this printer to anyone who uses a digital camera!