Average Rating: 
Rating: - COMPARED CANON I850 and S900 PHOTO PRINTERS
I couldn't decide which printer to get. I am using a Sony DCS P9 (4MegaPixel) camera. I bought both the Canon I850 and the Canon S900. I decided to use both and whichever one I liked better, I would return the other one.
I was only using Canon Photo Paper Pro papers. I used both 4x6 and 8 1/2"x11" full size papers. The price I paid after rebate and tax on the I850 was $140 (yes, afer rebate and including all taxes) and the Canon S900 set me back about $250 dollars + tax. Both were equally easy to set up out of the box. I was comparing 3,072 nozzles on S900 to 1,600 nozzles on I850. But, the I850 also offers:5 and 2 pico-liter droplet size for ink...S900 is 4 pico-liter
248 RAM buffer for quicker printing compare with 80 for S900
4 colors of ink cartridges including a double size black (because it does text well, too)which is cheaper to replace than 6 cartridges on S900
Very, very quiet operation BOth were quiet but I850 was quieter
Liked the fact the I850 has a door that closes on front AND BACK...the S900 doesn't close on back to keep dust out
Smaller in size than S900...and sleeker looking in aluminum look Bottom line...I could see a difference in certain kinds of pictures...I saw a little more purple in a flower picture printed on the S900 and more of a deep blue color on same picture printed on I850...the picture looked more blue than purple on my computer though so I don't know how good a test this was. This color shade difference may be due to the 49 graduations of color available on S900 and only 27 on the I850. But, on most printing, the sharpness seemed to be slightly better on the I850..only slightly better...details were darker on the I850, like outlines of green leaves on trees.
Would I justify the difference in price for the difference in print...ABSOLUTELY NOT. It just seems that the I850 is the newest printer technology and the S900, although only out since March 2002, will probably be replaced in the next 6 months or so with newer technology similar to the I850. Some colors on S900 came out with a different shade like bails of hay in a Halloween shot; on S900 it had a little more yellow tones than the I850 but the I850 had more detail on lines in hay and on my kids hair. Both were excellent and I took both 8 1/2x11 sheets (1 from each printer) to my local Best Buy store on a Saturday and the Canon rep working there couldn't tell the difference between the two printer's results. Bottom line is; If you need a magnafying glass to see the difference, then the I850 should be the choice. These pictures on both printers rival those that you get from local photo developing store...and you can adjust the contrast, brightness and color to your liking.
The speed when printing pictures on the I850 is fast. Again, I must stress how quiet this machine is while printing. You will almost forget it's on even when printing. The software that came with the I850 is Canon's Zoombrowser 3.5 version...the S900 came with older version. I took the pictures to show some friends and they couldn't believe I printed them at home. If you get this printer, you will not regret your purchase. Just remember, from what I've heard, that it does make a difference which photo paper you use...Canon's Photo Paper Pro is the BEST (and Canon claims pix will last 25 years on this paper). The text is quoted in Black/White as 22 ppm (WOW). Also, haven't done it yet but I've heard from other's that the I850 does awesome Black and White pictures...better than the S900. I hope this helps in your decision...by the way, it does only take about 30 seconds to do a high quality 4x6 print on this printer. An Epson of equal comparison would easily take at least 4 to 5 minutes to do the same print!!!
Rating: - Great photo printer!
I just bought the Canon i850 printer after reading all the positive reviews here, and everybody was right! I could not believe the quality of the photos that this printer can produce! Set up was a breeze and the speed that this printer prints out both photos and black and white documents is amazing. I did a lot of research on photo printers that would not break my wallet, and would produce quality prints, and this printer always ranked high on every web site I visited. Now I can really see why! Everybody that I have shown the pictures to can not believe that they came from an inkjet printer and not a photo lab. I would highly recommend this printer to anyone!!
Rating: - Very fast and very good.....
I recently had my first child and took a bazillion pictures of her with my Canon S40. Then came the daunting task of making hard copies. I had a printer that came with my Dell. It was so slooowwww and LOUD. After reading reviews on CNET, Amazon.com and Consumer reports, I decided to go for a Canon and eventually ended up with the i850. I couldn't more agree with all the positive reviews. This printer is amazing. The Photo pictures prints in 2 minutes and look like it came from a photo lab. You may need some tweaking if you have a darker picture. But the default is perfect normally.
I am by the way, concerned about some reviews that the pics fade away faster than an Epson print. But I promised myself to stay away from Epson due to its noise, speed and clogged nozzles. Canon says that the pics are good for 25 years in a 500lux environment (I guess in an album they will last longer than me). If you need pictures that last that long on exposed condition, like on a fridge, then you one eccentric person with a very lonely life and maybe five pictures. I change my pics many times and don't have time to wait that long. For framed pics I will always goto a photo lab.
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