Epson 7900 vs Canon ipf6300 - I Need to Purchase

[ozphoto]

May 31 is the last day for a rebate on the Epson 7900 which I can get for $3074.00 CDN the Canon is $4000.00 with a rebate almost a thousand dollars more.

Here are some of the differences I have found thus far.

1). Epson 1 fixed head (requires service guy) vs Canon user replaceable at $450 each head there are 2 heads
2) Can has cost management software - Epson no longer has the web version available
3) Epson better construction metal etc, Canon more plastic.
4) Ink is always expensive, but folks says Canon is cheaper, but only 1 size, Epson has 3 sizes available.
5) Epson says they are better at black detail and skin tones that Canon, but what else would they say.
6) Canon says they are better at saturated color, but what else would they say.
7) Epson says Canon heads clog more often thats why the heads are user replaceable, Canon says the opposite.

At this point I am really confused, is the Canon ipf6300 really worth $1000 more for the cost management software? My environment is Win 7 64 bit and Win Server 2008 Lightroom 4 and CS5, I would consider my printing low volume mainly for my photographic clients as well as other wedding photographers who now use Costco and other labs for their shots. There is no rip in my future for either machine.

Any advice as to which model is best for my environment, you are basically at the hands of these sales people but I would like to hear from folks who have actually used both.

 

[Prepper]

Check out Luminous Landscape

 

[jfmeggitt]

I can tell you that the Canon heads "DO NOT" clog as often as Epson heads. I have over 800 installed Canon printers in the field. They stay very clean - unless you let it sit for a few weeks, as in any inkjet printer.

 

[ozphoto]

which models do you have?

mine may sit for a few weeks? implications?

 

[Emtri]

We've got an 8300, while not the same model. We've been pretty impressed with it. The colours are amazing and I we've never really had issues with the heads clogging. We had some install issues but cannon came out and fixed the problem at no charge to us.
The cost management bit is pretty neat, but if thats all your comparing, its not worth a $1000. Also I was under the impressing cannon had 2 sizes of inks

 

[Johu]

Well here's my two cents:

Canon pros:
Faster, Heads do not clog as often as Epson especially in low usage (sorry John I need to disagree with you there), cheaper to print until you need to replace head(s). This makes the costs about even. Has internal calibration, which is more like linearization, but it makes the printer come back to a certain level. Better in Red-Blue are => photographers like this because it allows deeper blue skies.

Epson pros:
Bigger ink tanks, better resolution (2880 vs 2400), this is usually not noticeable unless you are doing dot proofing. If you buy the spectroproofer version you will have an internal spectrophotometer, which may allow you to be more versatile with materials. If you have a rip that supports the measure head you can even make the calibration automatic. Better in the green and orange color area => better in Pantone colors.

I have installed several of both and my suggestion is go for Canon if you don't want to do any easy large scale color management. If you plan to use several different non Epson materials and do not have calibration equipment go for Epson + Spectroproofer.

 

[ozphoto]

no the ipf6300 has only a 130ml cartridge.

the $1000 diff is still an issue still trying to reconcile it, the ipf6300 has 2 heads and when a nozzle clogs it remaps to another nozzle, until of course when it can't do that anymore then you need to replace the head of which there is 2 heads.

use LR4 and sometimes CS5, both my monitors are calibrated with data color and I intend to use available icc profiles from the paper manufacturer.

 

[Johu]

Canon can not remap to a different head, because both heads have 6 set of nozzles and the printer has all together 12 colors. What it can do though is it can "cover" the fact that one of the nozzles is clogged. As you have probably noticed both of these printers usually do image in several sweeps. Meaning that one place is covered with several layers of ink. Because of this you usually can not notice if Canon is missing a nozzle other than the warning before printing. In Epsons case the missing nozzles are usually very obvious but usually cleaning can open the clogged nozzles. To my experience Canon does almost perfect prints until the point when you really need to replace the heads. You can replace only the defective head in canon. It is not necessary to replace both heads at the same time. Also even replace heads have one year warranty (in Europe at least) so in case of Canon keep those head invoices safe for at least a year.

 

[ozphoto]

also what other maintenance items might I need on the ipf6300 that I could install besides the head which I believe is user installable?

plus how do you determine which head needs replacing?

 

[Johu]

Maintenance tank (as in Epson as well) needs to be changed time to time. But it costs far less than even one ink tank. In case the internal diagnostic detects something wrong with the head it tells you which head it is Printhead L or R. The heads are user replaceable.

 

[ozphoto]

do we know the cost of the heads?

 

[Johu]

do we know the cost of the heads?

to my knowledge you had the correct number in your first post.

 

[Lenny"Blue"Weiland]

Update rebate

Update rebate

Hi OZPHOTO,
Glad to tell you that the Rebate has been extended into June 2012. I'm in NYC , where are you?
Contact me at [email protected] for more info, prices, media swatch books etc.