Digital Photography Now Printer Reviews

Printer review: Canon S900

11th March - 2002
By Ian Burley

Page 8 - Print quality evaluation - magnified detail

Selected area is approximately two thirds of an inch or 17mm in width. This file was created by scanning a medium format film image printed by our review printers. The master scan was created at 2400dpi, using a HP ScanJet 5470C and re-sized to 600dpi and reproduced here at 1:1 (100%), at approximately 430 pixels in width. The re-sizing was followed by a light unsharp mask application to bring out detail slightly.

The second, further magnified, image is a 2400 pixels per inch (ppi) scan reproduced here at 1:1 (100%), just over 400 pixels wide, representing about a sixth of an inch or around 4.5mm in actual width.
 


Canon S900 The dots are layed down with some finesse. There is no clumping and detail preservation is excellent. Colours are neutral and a tad lighter than the S800 (see below).

 


Zooming in further, the columnar screen array that Canon chooses as the default half toning method for Photo Paper Pro media is very evident. This regular pattern is only visible if you look for it in normal viewing conditions, but some viewers didn’t like it when they discovered it. It also prevents  high-resolution print re-scanning as digital pattern interference can occur.

 

 


Epson Stylus 895 Photo At this magnification the Epson 895 image is almost entirely free from banding and extra contrast retains detail well, although there is some dot clumping. The result is slightly softer than the S900.




When magnified, horizontal micro-baniding, following the path of the print head travel, is evident. It’s not as apparent as the S900’s vertical bands of screened dots, though. However, the 895 doesn’t retain as much detail as the S900.

 



Canon S800 Here is the prededcessor to the S900. The screen effect is also visible, but it’s less well defined compared to the S900.

When magnified, the S800’s dots are slightly less well defined that then newer S900. However, this does slightly mask the screen effect that some find obtrusive in the S900.

 


Click on a thumbnail below to see print comparisons between the review printer and some of its rivals:





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