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Hi all. I recently purchased some non-OEM ink for my Canon MP730
printer...and it sucked! It's a CMYK printer and I replaced the CM&K
with the crappy ink. The output on color photos was terrible. It looked
washed out and faded; just really really bad. So I replaced the C & M
with regular Canon ink and things look a lot better. I did not,
however, replace the black because I thought there's not much true
black in color photos so probably wouldn't matter much. Is that a
faulty assumption? I just printed a few images and there are some odd
color artifacts it them. I don't know if it's dirty heads or the ink.
The odd part is, the artifacts appear in places where I would think
there would be no black at all. So, is there a decent amount of black
ink used in color images, for shading, etc? Should I replace the
non-OEM ink with trusty Canon stuff?

Thanks,
Ben..

Ben Bowen wrote:
> Hi all. I recently purchased some non-OEM ink for my Canon MP730
> printer...and it sucked! It's a CMYK printer and I replaced the CM&K
> with the crappy ink. The output on color photos was terrible. It
> looked washed out and faded; just really really bad. So I replaced
> the C & M with regular Canon ink and things look a lot better. I did
> not, however, replace the black because I thought there's not much
> true black in color photos so probably wouldn't matter much. Is that a
> faulty assumption? I just printed a few images and there are some odd
> color artifacts it them. I don't know if it's dirty heads or the ink.
> The odd part is, the artifacts appear in places where I would think
> there would be no black at all. So, is there a decent amount of black
> ink used in color images, for shading, etc? Should I replace the
> non-OEM ink with trusty Canon stuff?
>
> Thanks,
> Ben..


I am not sure of that printer, but some printers do not even use the
"black" ink for color printing. However I do believe some do.

It is important to remember that printing photos is teamwork. All the
members of the team need to be good and even more important they need to
work together. That means the printer, the paper, the ink and the software.
They all work together. It is generally a good idea to use all of them from
the same manufacturer and use the ones recommended for your particular
printer.

It is possible to use third party products, and in a few cases they may
even be better, but until you test, or until you have it on good independent
authority, I suggest you stick with all the same manufacturer.

In your case I would suggest getting a black cartridge and test it by
printing one of the images that did not look really good with the third
party cart and then change the the recommended Cannon cart and compare
results. Remember to align or do whatever maintenance is recommended by
Cannon when you change cartridges every time you replace carts.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

Ben Bowen wrote:
> Hi all. I recently purchased some non-OEM ink for my Canon MP730
> printer...and it sucked! It's a CMYK printer and I replaced the CM&K
> with the crappy ink. The output on color photos was terrible. It looked
> washed out and faded; just really really bad. So I replaced the C & M
> with regular Canon ink and things look a lot better. I did not,
> however, replace the black because I thought there's not much true
> black in color photos so probably wouldn't matter much. Is that a
> faulty assumption? I just printed a few images and there are some odd
> color artifacts it them. I don't know if it's dirty heads or the ink.
> The odd part is, the artifacts appear in places where I would think
> there would be no black at all. So, is there a decent amount of black
> ink used in color images, for shading, etc? Should I replace the
> non-OEM ink with trusty Canon stuff?
>
> Thanks,
> Ben..
>
You say you replaced the CM and K inks so what did you replace the 'K'
with? You say that you did not replace the black but 'K' is black -
could this be you problem?

--
Neil
swap 'ra' and delete 'l' for email

"Ben Bowen" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...

> Hi all. I recently purchased some non-OEM ink for my Canon MP730
> printer...and it sucked! It's a CMYK printer and I replaced the CM&K
> with the crappy ink. The output on color photos was terrible. It looked
> washed out and faded; just really really bad. So I replaced the C & M
> with regular Canon ink and things look a lot better. I did not,
> however, replace the black because I thought there's not much true
> black in color photos so probably wouldn't matter much. Is that a
> faulty assumption? I just printed a few images and there are some odd
> color artifacts it them. I don't know if it's dirty heads or the ink.
> The odd part is, the artifacts appear in places where I would think
> there would be no black at all. So, is there a decent amount of black
> ink used in color images, for shading, etc? Should I replace the
> non-OEM ink with trusty Canon stuff?


There can be a lot of black ink in a "color" image.

Let's say you've got a region of pixels with RGB
values near (15,5,5).

That basically means, "dark, dark gray --
almost black -- but slightly biased to red."

Most CMYK printers will take advantage
of that. Instead of using equal amounts of
CMY and K, they'll crank down the CMY
and crank up the K.

In other words: the amount of K (black) ink
will correspond to the overall "darkness"
of the image, while the relative proportions
of C/M/Y will determine the color.

In terms of Lab color space, the amount of
K ink will correspond to the L channel,
while the relative mix of C/M/Y will
correspond to the a and b axes.

"GCR" (gray color removal) and "UCR"
(undercolor removal) are two different
strategies for doing this.


rafe b
www.terrapinphoto.com

Ben Bowen wrote:
> Hi all. I recently purchased some non-OEM ink for my Canon MP730
> printer...and it sucked! It's a CMYK printer and I replaced the CM&K
> with the crappy ink. The output on color photos was terrible. It
> looked washed out and faded; just really really bad. So I replaced
> the C & M with regular Canon ink and things look a lot better. I did
> not, however, replace the black because I thought there's not much
> true black in color photos so probably wouldn't matter much. Is that a
> faulty assumption? I just printed a few images and there are some odd
> color artifacts it them. I don't know if it's dirty heads or the ink.
> The odd part is, the artifacts appear in places where I would think
> there would be no black at all. So, is there a decent amount of black
> ink used in color images, for shading, etc? Should I replace the
> non-OEM ink with trusty Canon stuff?
>
> Thanks,
> Ben..

Black is used in most color photos, so yes...that was a faulty assumption.
Any time you need a shade that is darker than CMYK etc., your printer will
use black.
And...black ink isn't just...black ink. There are many factors that effect
things based on the makeup of the ink iteself, including:
dullness/shine/absorbancy/water-resistance/light-fading resistance/airborn
chemical resistance/absorbtion and other aspects.

If you're going to use OEM color, you should definitely stick with quality
black.

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

Mark² wrote:
> Ben Bowen wrote:
>> Hi all. I recently purchased some non-OEM ink for my Canon MP730
>> printer...and it sucked! It's a CMYK printer and I replaced the CM&K
>> with the crappy ink. The output on color photos was terrible. It
>> looked washed out and faded; just really really bad. So I replaced
>> the C & M with regular Canon ink and things look a lot better. I did
>> not, however, replace the black because I thought there's not much
>> true black in color photos so probably wouldn't matter much. Is that
>> a faulty assumption? I just printed a few images and there are some
>> odd color artifacts it them. I don't know if it's dirty heads or the
>> ink. The odd part is, the artifacts appear in places where I would
>> think there would be no black at all. So, is there a decent amount
>> of black ink used in color images, for shading, etc? Should I
>> replace the non-OEM ink with trusty Canon stuff?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Ben..
>
> Black is used in most color photos, so yes...that was a faulty
> assumption. Any time you need a shade that is darker than CMYK etc.,
> your printer will use black.
> And...black ink isn't just...black ink. There are many factors that
> effect things based on the makeup of the ink iteself, including:
> dullness/shine/absorbancy/water-resistance/light-fading
> resistance/airborn chemical resistance/absorbtion and other aspects.
>
> If you're going to use OEM color, you should definitely stick with
> quality black.

I should qualify the above and mention that there are a FEW (mostly crappy)
printers that don't use black (some Lexmarks come to mind), but nearly all
photoquality printers will use black, or "light black" or even light light
black...in order to control color shades.

--
Images (Plus Snaps & Grabs) by Mark² at:
www.pbase.com/markuson

Wow. Thanks for all of the answers. I appreciate the input. I'll
replace the non-OEM black with the good stuff.

And to answer this question:
> You say you replaced the CM and K inks so what did you replace the 'K'
> with? You say that you did not replace the black but 'K' is black -
> could this be you problem?
I replaced C,M, & K with bad ink, then replaced C & M with the good
Canon stuff, but left the non-OEM in black.