Canon pixma 4000 vs 4200 colours

[HarryGSi]

Hi,
I'm new to the forum so please forgive any transgressions !

I have had the Canon Pixma 4000 for a year but recently bought the 4200. To say I am disappointed with the colour reproduction is an understatement.

The 4000 printed straight from the screen as WYSIWYG. The 4200 is tinged so much that snow is showing pink! I have tried different media and tweaking the colours before printing but it makes no difference.

Anyone had the same experience please? I believe the ink is different, could this be a reason?

Cheers
Harrygsi

 

[Osage]

To harryGSI,

In general the ip4200 has gotten rave reviews---except for the curse of the chip that make using non-OEM cartridges impossible and adds alot of pain to refilling.---nor have I seen similar posts on color balance problems at Steves digicams or nifty stuff forums.

In terms of the Chromalife 100 inks, they are very similar to the prior inks. There are minor color difference in a few colors but many using refilling in the ip4200 are simply using inks formulated for the previous Canon generation.

So if you are getting huge major color shifts in the ip4200, I would suspect that you have a defective printer or some sort of driver conflict. The latter could occur if you are using both drivers on the same computer or fragments from the previous ip4000 drivers remain.

In any case, its a job for Canon tech support which should be free given the printer is less than a year old.-------this is what tech support does;
They are supposed to know their printers and should know how to troubleshoot this problem. What you are getting is not normal.

 

[HarryGSi]

Thanks Osage!

Your comments appreciated. I have removed the software and reinstalled about 3 times but whatever route taken to do this always leaves some part installed. However, the new software claims to update whatever is left there.

I have spoken to the 'technical support' in a 'remote' centre! The communication was difficult (being kind here!) and all the operative seemed interested in was the printer producing the correct test page! This level of support regrettably seems to be all I can get.

I have tried more tweaking with the printing 'preferences' even reducing the magenta to almost zero but with minimal effect.

It seems that everything is 'over rich' and if you have no comparison with another printers output you may well be satisfied with the results.

If I could reach someone in their ACTUAL technical area maybe I could get the message through.........maybe that's the next step, use snail mail !

Many thanks!

 

[Osage]

To HarryGSI,

The other thing that occurs to me is that a defective cartridge or a printhead with a problem could also give you identical problems. With a cartridge with a feeding problem being highly probable---and yes even Canon OEM cartridges are sometimes defective.---but given this is not a problem with the text black cartridge---that leaves only four CLI-8 cartridges to swap and you should not have to pay for that swap---in terms of the printhead, have you tried a test pattern?

If it is an option, simply exchanging your printer for another one at the store you bought it at may be an option to explore. Usually Canon tech support is rated very good but there is no explaining color balance over the phone-----seeing is believing.-----------so snail mail with a sample of pink snow is hard to argue with.

But I still maintain it could be a driver problem---some previous print drivers are very hard to remove---so until a clean install on another computer is tried it may be premature to rule out a driver problem. But any printer self tests independent of computer drivers can also be a diagonis--if those self tests have screwed up color balance you know its not a driver problem.

But given that I am not expert on the ip4200---I could recommend two excellent forums-------"steves digicams" and the "nifty stuff forums"-----just google the names without quotes------for a second opinion-----and many of these users do own a ip4200.

And one more thing that occurs to me---just to check--are you sure you are using a usb-2 port and a usb-2 cable?

Good luck

 

[HarryGSi]

Hi Osage,

Now spent more time than I should on comparing ip4000 with ip4200.

I looked at other sites, (as suggested, thanks) and as others found the 4200 manufacturer default printing does seem to be too high on resolution with the magenta.

I used the same defaults on my 4000 with better results. However after a long, long time adjusting preferences on 4200 I have a setting producing similar results to 4000. All this on XP pro. I installed printer on my old PC with 98se and colour results were better on manufacturer defaults than with XP!

Using same paper quality on all I am convinced that definition is slightly better with 4000.

So, I seem to have a printer that was cheaper than the 4000 but with no improvement in quality (possibly not quite as good?) and it needs more time to 'tweak' it to get similar results. Ah! the power of advertising!! it means more profits from ink cartridges me thinks?

I should have paid more and bought the ip8500...........

Thanks for your help.

Harrygsi

 

[Osage]

To HarryGSI,

Glad to hear your problm is partially resolved.-----I did not cover adjusting
the color balance in software as I was guessing it was so far off ---but you pleasantly prove me wrong.---but lots you can do in exploring printer profiles.

But I do not think the ip4200 is mechanically inferior to the ip4000---its basically is the old ip4000 with provisions of chips and the chromalife 100 inks.---with the ip5200 just a faster verision of the ip4200 with the added benefit of a printhead with more nozzles.

But as time goes on and you replace cartridges--you may discover a color balance shift if a cartridge with feeding problems is replaced with a better cartridge.

But another option to explore is the photopapr you use.---that too can cause color balance shifts and is at least as important as the ink in that regard.-----a paper with a swellable coating is probably best for fade resistance.---so you have lots of options to explore.-------but bottom line is that you are looking for some ink and paper combination that gives you proper color balance.

But the Canon ip4000 is an ideal printer for using cheap third party cartridges and refill methods.----when and if a way is found around the Chips, the ip4200 is likely to become a very economical printer also.
And many are refilling the ip4200 cartridges now at a cost of navigating some nag screens and losing ink monotor.--------and refilling offers a 10x reduction in consumable costs over Canon OEM.---and may offer you better not worse color balance. So if your printing volume is fairly high, you may wish to explore that option also---right now I am using third party cartridges in my wife's ip4000 and am probably going to order a refill kits
from hobbicolors in the near future as their screw seal cartridges will make refilling very easy.

 

[Heliopolis]

...

I used the same defaults on my 4000 with better results. However after a long, long time adjusting preferences on 4200 I have a setting producing similar results to 4000. All this on XP pro. I installed printer on my old PC with 98se and colour results were better on manufacturer defaults than with XP!

...

Harrygsi

To HarryGSi,

Hello. I have purchased the Pixma 4200 and, although this printer is much better than my previous, I have noticed the saturated pinks in skin tones.

I see you have been able to adjust your printer to give more natural (WYSIWYG) colour output. Is it possible that you could post these settings so that I may use them with my printer.

I suppose this request shows I am lazy :roll: . But my lecturers tell me that smart lazy (reuse of code to find an answer) is better than dumb lazy (making no attempt at all).

Thanks in advance.

Heliopolis, Australia (Not Egypt)

 

[HarryGSi]

Hi Heliopolis,

Having spent nearly a whole month trying many options with the iP4200 printer and getting no sense out of the Canon 'helpline?' I returned the printer to the retailer and received a full refund. They could not supply the iP8500 so I bought it elsewhere and it has been excellent!

I sincerely believe the manufacturer has tried to offer increased resolution with the iP4200 and it has lead to an excess of magenta in the printing process. Regrettably just using the options in the 'printing preferences' to reduce this does not fully restore a better picture but it helps.

A bonus of the iP8500 is that is uses the similar ink cartridges to the iP4000.......no chips!

It is my opinion the iP4200 is NOT an improvement over the earlier Canon range but just a redesign, like car manufacturers, to boost sales. However in the process they have naturally looked for a way to reduce manufacturing costs but the product is inferior to the earlier model (in fact I now prefer the earlier 'art noveau' design)......CAD is just so easy to 'play' with !!

I sent a selection of prints from both the iP4200 and iP4000 with a long letter to the retailer when returning the printer. All was, I felt, constructive criticism but I have heard nothing from either them or Canon. The products I have from the earlier range should last me for a time but I wonder if future products will be an improvement?

The iP4200 is not for serious colour prints but good for other colour reproduction, reports etc. I also like the option of printing CD & DVD's. A 'first time' buyer of the printer may not find any fault with it but I just got so frustrated trying to achieve as good a reproduction that I knew was possible with my other similar priced printer. I admire your efforts in attempting to overcome the reproduction faults but it ain't you it's the 'b' machine!!

Sorry, but that is as positive and helpful I can be, good luck.......

 

[Heliopolis]

Thanks for your reply HarryGSi,

I noticed the reproduction tones when printing a close-up of my daughter. At first I thought my settings were incorrect, but then gradually came to the conclusion that the printer was not outputting correctly.

I will try to find a method of improving the tone reproduction, however, I only use the printer for assignments, personal printing & discs. Therefore, I will be sticking with this unit. I always seem to buy the wrong unit and actually spent a bit of time looking at a number of printers before buying the 4200.

The option of printing to CD/DVD was the deciding factor for purchasing this unit for $AU199. I have printed in excess of 50 discs in the past 2 months.

To date I have not had to replace the cartridges, but will need to do so soon. The cost to do so is approx. $AU25 per cartridge. Wow! So... I am investigating my options.

I have been in contact with a local supplier in regard to refilling the ink cartridges and this was his reply...

"As I understand it the warranty will only be void if you manage to damage the print head through allowing it to run dry.

When you refill the cartridge and replace it the printer apparently gives you the option to use the cartridge but disables the ink level monitor. It is therefore important that you monitor the level yourself physically to ensure the cartridge does not run dry and cause damage to the print head. Other than this I believe it would be a similar process to refilling the older Canon cartridges."

So, it looks like i will be able to refill the cartridges and save a heap of ca$h. Excellent! My previous printer - Epson C41UX, could not be refilled at all (without expensive rechipping technology - to my knowledge).

Best Regards to all in the forums,

Heliopolis - Australia

 

[Osage]

To heliopolis,

There are extensive threads on refilling the ip4200 on both steves digicams and the nifty stuff forums. There are some extensive nag screens to go through, and as you say, you must do your own ink monitoring.

Even though the new chromalife 100 inks are slightly different, most users refilling the chipped Canons use the same inks as used in the non chipped canons using the BCI-3&6 cartridge line.

In the past week, one vendor, hobbicolors has started vending an ink specifcally blended for the ip4200---and they do ship internationally.
Just type hobbicolors on the ebay search bar.--having or knowing someone with a pay pal account may be necessary for ordering. While these new inks have not been rated yet, I put it forth as information you might wish to check out rather than an endorsement.

 

[GMA77]

Hi everybody...

I read somewere that the difference between the ip4000 and ip4200 was the magenta color.

Even though they have different cartridges (bci-6 on ip4000 and cli-8 on ip4200) the colors were the same on 4 of the 5 carts. The magenta color somewhat is not the same in tone.

Maybe that is why the rare pink tones on each print that involves using magenta.

I have an ip4200 and I refilled the cartridges with the same ink that it is use to refill the ip4000 (bci-6 carts) and the pink tones disapeared.

I use inktec, deertec or ATI (All that ink) bulk ink for refilling. All these inks work great and give excellent print on common and photo paper.

Please excuse my english.

I hope this help.