Canon iPF8300 vs 8300S

[Drundel]

Hi all,

Our Faculty print shop is upgrading from our old HP Designjet 5500s and we've decided to go with the Canon 8300. We're about ready to pull the trigger on the purchase, however I've started re-investigating the 8300S. The problem is that our customers (students and staff) want exceptional quality and they want it as quickly as possible (Architecture students with deadlines, Professors with gallery exhibitions, etc). Is the 8300S significantly faster than the 8300 and how comparable is the quality? I haven't been able to find a comparison online and I haven't found a retailer in the city that has an 8300S to look at. Hopefully someone out there has had a chance to demo both units, or has come across a comparison that my google searching's missed.

Thanks for your help!

[Johnny_Boy]

Per this page: http://canonipf.wikispaces.com/message/view/FAQ/50749942

"The "S" is for speed. It basically uses two sets of CMYK inks for printing at least twice the speed. The print heads then have redundancy for speed instead of 12 ink distribution for smoothness and quality."

[Jim Pascoe]

Yes - which means it only has half the colours available as the 8300 - so possibly not as good for photographic output.

Jim

[Czornyj]

It uses 8 LUCIA EX colors - it only lacks R,G,B,PGY. Frankly, there's not much difference in most real world photographic prints. The iPF8300s I've tested was about 2.5 - 3x faster than my iPF6350, so it's worth considering.

[aaronchan]

I would still highly recommend the 8300S

I've used both printers for a long time as their tester in asia. I personally own a 8300 right now but the "S" version still conquer the speed and quality if you do "graphic" type printing only. Adding RGB would be a waste for your shop.

aaron

[Drundel]

After reading your replies and digging around a bit more, I made the recommendation to my manager to get the 8300S. As much as I would like to have the best image quality possible, it really doesn't make sense for the high volume work that we do. Thanks for your replies!

[Darrel]

If you are not aware, these 2 Canon printers do not come with an internal RIP (HPGL2, postcript), if you are used to working with a HP 5500ps.  I would say the 8300 on draft settings can print at the same speed as the HP5500 on max speed, but the quality is very high.  The quality from a HP 5500 at max speed is generally not acceptable due to low ink load and distinct banding.  You should still considering keeping your HP as a backup printer as this is a very low overhead printer (ie almost free ink from non-retail channels, long head life etc).

[Drundel]

We've been using a software RIP (Wasatch) with our HPs for a couple of years now and we'll be doing the same with the Canons. Back when I first started working for my Faculty, they were using non HP papers, with no custom paper profiling and printing through the driver. The results were awful. I started pushing pretty hard for proper colour management from the get go and eventually they caved. Should have seen the look on people's faces when I compared the old output to the new

Also we'll be ordering two printers to replace the two HPs. So they'll serve as backups to each other. It's only around end of term that we need both printers going at the same time.

[aaronchan]

If you want to use Wasatch for the future, it is even better to use 8300S since this is a CMYK printer.
Wasatch really not good for CMYK+N printer.
I've been trying to use Wasatch for both Z3200 and 8300, basically it is impossible.

Aaron

[Ernst Dinkla]

I share that experience with two 12 ink HP Zs. Avoid Wasatch when you have an N-color printer.


--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

Dinkla Grafische Techniek
Quad,piëzografie,giclée
www.pigment-print.com

[Atlex.com]

The main difference is the speed and amount of inks in the printer.  IPF8300 is 12 colors and IPF8300S is 8 colors.  Since 8 colors can print quicker, it helps during the process of printing banners, posters in a timely manner.  If you're not in huge time crunch and rather have the quality to be better, the IPF8300 is the better model.  Both units ship with a full set of 330ml, but both models have different size hard drives.

Otherwise, it's just the speed that differs on both models.

Feel free to contact us if you have questions.
Chris W