For the first prints I have used the Auto setting on the printers, I just selected the media type and set the rest to Auto. The i990 produced a light print whereas the i9950 has given a more saturated rendition. There is a leaning towards Magenta on the i9950. To print this A4 test file both printers took 54 seconds.

For the second prints I used Printer Colour Management and set the Colour Adjustment to ICM. The i990 has again produced a very light print. Sophie has a slight magenta cast on her skin. The i9950 has an increased saturation, but the magenta is still there and there is a shift towards yellow. The reds on the i9950 are excellent, I don't know why the i990 isn't displaying this same saturation, I can only put it down to the generic profile. The i965 is also displaying a similar magenta cast. Printing times for this test were, i990 1min 47sec, i9950 2min 36sec.

For the final print I used a profile that was included with the driver The PR1. To use this you have to select Print with Preview (in Photoshop) and set the Print Space to Canon i990 PR1 or Canon i9950 PR1. In the printers properties select Colour adjustment > Manual and in the Print Type (drop down list by ICM box) select None. This now forces the printer to use the profile indicated in your Print Space. This has pumped some life into the prints, at last I am now seeing an improvement in the colours. The i990 has produced some good colours, but are bordering on the over saturated. The i9950 has gone over the top with colours, the page looks underexposed and over saturated. I have included the Epson R800 print sample, this has a good natural colour but lacks the photographic "punch" of the Canon printers. Look at the magenta flower!

i990 Eye detail	i9950 Eye detail
i990 clock detail (Big Ben)	i9950 clock detail
i990 flower	i9950 flower

Sophie's eye shot shows that we need never worry about print dot again, it is hard to see print dots at this magnification - you certainly won't see it at normal viewing distance. This is due to the 4800 x 2400 print head delivering minute 2pl drops. Notice the slight magenta in the white of the eye's. Sharpness is excellent throughout the print, with plenty of subtle tonal gradations. The blue sky was well rendered, with no noticeable banding, even under high magnification. The flower picture I had to re-scan, I thought I had put the same print through twice, but no I was right - I had scanned in both prints, the colour was almost identical. The i9950 has slightly more saturation, but the i990 is slightly sharper.

i990 BW	i9950 BW

For monochrome workers the ChromaPLUS inks have not solved your problem. There is a slight magenta cast on the i990 and a heavier cast on the i9950. Look at the buildings on the right hand side. The slight moire on the water, is due to my old and ageing scanner and not the printers.

i990 Colour swatches	i9950 colour swatches

The last two prints are of the colour squares at the top of the test chart. You can see the improvement in colours on the i9950 over the i990, especially in the green, the red also looks stronger. The i9950 is producing more saturated colours, despite only having one extra colour (green), even the yellow looks more vibrant.

I will reproduce the cotton reels scans on the next page.