Canon PIXMA G3600
If you’re fed up with continually buying expensive replacement ink cartridges for your printer, Canon is offering a refillable model using bulk inks. Trevern Dawes explores the economics and the photo print performance.
Sick of spending so much money on replacement ink cartridges for your photo printer? Canon’s new PIXMA Endurance series models will cost you a bit more initially, but the big refillable ink tanks can deliver real savings long-term. Trevern Dawes finds out how the entry-level G3600 performs.
Early in 2015 Epson released the WorkForce ET-4500 and ET-4550 A4 multi-functional inkjet printers. This reversed the strategy of selling cheap printers with expensive small genuine ink replacement cartridges to selling more expensive printers with far cheaper and more convenient bulk inks in refillable tanks. As a direct competitor for the Epson WorkForce models, Canon’s PIXMA Endurance G3600 is cheaper in terms of the initial outlay, but has slightly more expensive inks.
The PIXMA G3600 supports PIXMA Cloud Link – including Instagram and SlideShare – in addition to existing services such as Facebook, Dropbox and Google drive. Direct connection from smartphones using the Canon Print Inkjet/SELPHY app and print documents is available. However, there are no fax, AirPrint support or Ethernet facilities. The G3600 has a one year warranty compared to two years for the Epson WorkForce range. Because the inks are integrated into the printer, rather than attached on the side, the G3600 is smaller and could be regarded as more elegant. By occupying a relatively small footprint on a desktop, the printer has immediate appeal.
The G3600 is designed to provide five years of usage or a duty cycle of 15,000 pages. It is promoted as being able to print up to 7000 A4 size pages in colour and 6000 in black and white from a set of inks. The total amount of ink equates to about 30 times as many prints compared to a set of conventional cartridges. Print resolution extends to 4800x1200 dpi, colour postcard prints (100x150 mm) take about 60 seconds and borderless prints are possible in popular sizes up to A4.
The PIXMA G3600 is manufactured in Vietnam and has
a matte black polycarbonate casing which is neatly styled and quite compact. Ink levels are shown in front-facing, transparent reservoirs which are easy to monitor. Tiny triangular markers at the base of the reservoirs denote low ink levels and then it’s time to top up. The rear paper holder folds into the top while the print-receiving tray folds out 100 mm with one section and has a small flip-over extension for another 50 mm. When paper is placed in the rear feeder, it is positioned snug to the right-hand guide and the left-hand guide moved in. The two adjustable slider guides work together to centre the paper in the print pathway. Strangely, there is no cover or lid to protect the output tray area. This design oversight could potentially cause dust problems and surely enforce the need to cover the printer with a lint-free cloth when it’s not in use. Power and USB connections are at the rear. At the top right-hand side are a line of basic controls – namely On/Off, Wi-Fi, Stop, and Start for Black and Colour.
The four-colour ink set is a hybrid type. The black is a pigment and the colours are dyes. As the tanks are air-sealed, drying out of the inks over many months cannot occur.
GET SET
Several YouTube videos can be viewed to compliment the ‘Getting Started’ instruction sheets and assist with the set-up. This includes installation of the print heads (the G3600 does not have pre-installed print heads) and ink loading. The videos are well worth looking at regardless of whether you are an experienced user of inkjet printers or a beginner.
After removing all the orange protective tapes, the knob at the front of the print head compartment is used to open the locking cover. The black and colour print heads are clearly marked as ‘B’ and ‘C’. Take each print head, remove their protective strips (while avoiding touching the actual head and contacts) and place into position. Close the lid with a firm click and press down the two blue buttons on the top.
It doesn’t make any difference which ink tank is filled first, provided each ink is filled correctly. Open a tank cover and prize off the rubber sealing cap. Remove the cap off the plastic bottle, turn the bottle upside down and insert the nozzle into the top of the tank. The small, spillresistant nozzle will only release ink by gently squeezing the bottle to pump into the tank. Replace the rubber seal to ensure a tight closure and close the cover lid.
Thereafter the installation of the software takes about 20 minutes. As per all inkjet printers, a small amount of ink is required to initially charge the print heads. This will result in a slower output compared to replacement inks. Expect the ink charging to be a noisy affair. If the printer is to be moved, it must be kept level as any tilting is likely to result in ink spillages.
PRINT MAKING
For general colour printing the ‘Quick Setup’ and ‘Auto’ method performs admirably. The digital print files used for this review all have Adobe RGB 1998 colour space so the pathway of ‘Colour Intensity’, ‘Manual’, ‘Matching’, ‘ICM’, ‘Input File’ and ‘Adobe RGB (1998)’ was adopted. Either way produced good results on both matte and gloss media. Since the printer is essentially dye-based, the best results will be on gloss or semigloss media with a flawless surface.
Although locking into ICC profiles is not a feature of multi-functional printers, the generic paper profiles will suffice for Canon branded papers and those of a similar type. If fine-art papers are preferred, adopt the closest routine and if there is a consistent colour cast – or the prints are lighter or darker – then manual adjustments can be made. New settings may be saved to a convenient name, such as “Fibraprint gloss” or “250 gsm 2s Matte”.
It would require extensive use to discover if the traction feed system might eventually baulk or take sheets through without printing (a common situation), but the PIXMA G3600 worked smoothly and positively during the two weeks of testing, including a long run of greeting cards from stacked paper.
The Epson ET-4500 we reviewed in early 2016 did not make any claims to be a quality photo printer yet the four colours can produce remarkably good prints that, in many cases, rival output from printers with multiple ink cartridges. Canon does claim the PIXMA G3600 to be a photo printer and, in terms of print quality, it certainly is.
Paper type selection is rather general and can be applied to a variety of stocks. These list up as ‘Photo Paper Plus Glossy 11’, ‘Glossy 11’, ‘Pro Lustre’, ‘Semi Gloss’ and ‘Matte’. The ‘Quick Setup” panel covers ‘Media Type’, ‘Printer Paper Size’ and ‘Print Quality’, while ‘Print Quality’ can be set to ‘High’, ‘Standard’, ‘Draft’ or ‘Custom’. In the ‘Main’ panel, the
CANON DOES CLAIM THE PIXMA G3600 TO BE A PHOTO PRINTER AND, IN TERMS OF PRINT QUALITY, IT CERTAINLY IS.
‘Preview Before Printing’ facility should always be selected. This is an invaluable final check that can save paper and ink.
The CD-ROM that is supplied with the printer contains a very useful feature called “My Image Garden”. Details are available in the download version of the instruction manual. Here, there is scope to explore aspects such as capture and print single frames from video, printing labels for CDs/DVDs, organising photos for calendars and cards, correction and enhancement of images and scanning.
PRINT SPEEDS
A postcard print made with the ‘Standard’ (Level 3) quality setting took 35 seconds (timing print head activity) and at the ‘High’ (Level 5) setting took 1:25 minutes. An A4 colour print at the ‘Standard’ setting took 1:25 minutes, and at ‘High’ took 4:05 minutes. The higher print resolution does create a finer dot structure that is evident under a magnifier, but there may be little difference in image quality at a normal viewing distance. It will be up to the individual and the intended purpose to determine if longer printing times with higher resolutions are warranted.
For printing plain black text using the ‘Document’ setting, an A4 page was delivered in a very quick six seconds. No arguments about this laser-type speed and the clarity of the text.
The printer has a default setting of ‘Do Not Use Quiet Mode’. In this setting, the printer can be rather noisy, but in the ‘Maintenance’ panel there are options for ‘Always Use Quiet Mode’ and ‘Use Quiet Mode During Specified Hours’. Also in the ‘Maintenance’ panel are the ‘Auto Power Off’ choices to disable or enable (the maximum time setting is 240 minutes).
Black and White
The normal practice for basic inkjet printers is to use all the inks to produce a black and white print. This tends to result in a print with a slight colour cast. If a deliberate sepia effect is required then variations can be applied as a colour print to warm up the image in ‘Colour Adjustment’. However, if a perfectly neutral black and white print is preferred with maximum black density, then the printer must be forced, if possible, to use the black ink only.
Many multi-functional printers and basic A4 printers will not allow the black ink only technique to be used for photographs, but the G3600 is a welcome exception. This can be achieved by selecting ‘Business Document’ and ‘Plain Paper’, irrespective of the inkjet paper to be used. The highest resolution allowed by ‘Plain Paper’ is Level 2. By increasing the ‘Intensity’ and lowering the ‘Contrast’ values, a reasonably good result can be produced. The changes in values will vary from one paper type to another.
The dot structure will be coarser and the blacks noticeably denser, but expect bronzing and gloss differential characteristics to occur with gloss and lustre media because of the pigment ink. Print times are fast with an A4 print, taking just 35 seconds.
This alternative black ink method goes back a long way with inkjet printing, but it may not suit all tastes and ought to be regarded as the best way to overcome colour cast situations. Any settings created for this method can be named and saved for quick retrieval, as can any regular printing selection.
PANORAMAS
The maximum paper size that can be accommodated by this printer is 216x676 mm. As a matter of convenience, an A2 sheet of 230 gsm matte was cut to 594x216 mm and a panoramic image sized
THE G3600 IS PROMOTED AS BEING ABLE TO PRINT UP TO 7000 A4 PAGES IN COLOUR AND 6000 IN BLACK AND WHITE FROM A SET OF INKS.
at 562x172 mm. printed at the highest resolution available for matte paper (i.e. Level 2). This took 6:30 minutes and produced a very pleasing result. Because the output tray extends only 150 mm, remember to be ready to catch the print if the printer is on the edge of a desk. Panorama printing may not be an anticipated facility on an A4 printer, but it’s useful to know it’s available with the G3600.
As a photocopy machine, the process could hardly be any more straightforward. The original is placed face down on the platen, the lid closed and ‘Black’ pressed for a monochrome copy or ‘Colour’ for a colour copy. Total time for a black and white copy is 30 seconds and 40 seconds for colour.
Scanning of documents or photos on the platen incorporates all the usual features of a flatbed scanner. Maximum resolution for colour and greyscale is 1200 dpi and results can be saved to a nominated designation. The lid for the copy platform has a short lift-up capacity to handle magazines, books and other heavyweight originals up to about ten millimetres in thickness. Documents larger than A4 can be accommodated by scanning in sections and then stitched together via software provided.
LONGEVITY
Canon doesn’t mention the longevity ratings of the G3600’s inks any more than Epson does for its Workforce ET range. If these ratings are not specified or promoted, then we might reasonably conclude that they are probably not very favourable.
For casual printing where long print life is not required, there should be no concern, but professional and enthusiast photographers might not be too happy if the ratings are not specified. Consequently, projects involving producing prints for traditional photo albums or D-I-Y books – when a longer life is critical – should ideally be done on inkjet printers that utilise archival inks.
The pigment ink in the PIXMA G3600 should rate at least 100 years under glass, but the colour dye set would be considerably less. If the Canon dyes were ChromaLife 100 or similar, they would rate about 30 years under glass or, as the name applies, about 100 years in dark storage. Unfortunately, there is no way, as yet anyway, of knowing how long the PIXMA G3600 inks might last.
While the use of third-party inks is never recommended by the manufacturer, lack of an ink rating could encourage owners to chase up more savings with alternative inks.
THE COMPETITION
The Canon PIXMA G3600 is priced at $499 and competes directly with Epson’s WorkForce ET-4500 at $599 and the ET-4550 at $699. Ink bottles for the Epson printers (all 70 millilitres) cost $24.99 for the black and $16.99 for each of the colours. The Canon bottles are $29.99 for 135 millilitres of black ink, and $24.99 each for 70 millilitres of the other colours. All these printers perform essentially the same with a few feature variations and warranty differences.
The Canon inks work out at about 35 cents per millilitre which represents a considerable saving over small cartridges costing about $2 per millilitre. Of course, what is saved by the bulk ink facility is challenged by the initial outlay and here is where one does the sums, not only between the Canon and Epson brands, but also comparisons against the standard multi-functional types with ”special” prices – sometimes below $50 – that just happen to incorporate pigmented inks or long-life dyes.
THE VERDICT
The move from a cheap multifunctional printer to a unit like the PIXMA G3600 will probably only appeal to those who have a reasonable amount of work to handle, such as a busy small office or an enthusiast print maker. Casual printing of only a few prints per week would hardly warrant the outlay.
The maximum print size of A4 (or legal if you buy larger sheets or rolls and cut) may not be a limitation in terms of exhibition or display prints for short term purposes. Although the four-colour ink system is no impediment to print quality (in many cases hard to separate from the same print files assigned to printers with six-colour or more ink systems), the matter of ink longevity could cause intending buyers to look elsewhere.
From a photographer’s pointof-view the Canon PIXMA G3600 could be a handy printer to act as a companion to an A3+ or A2 inkjet printer. The larger format printer attends to those tasks where image permanence is important while the G3600 looks after general work, such as document scanning and/or copying, correspondence, reports, student projects, greeting cards or other applications where print longevity is not essential.
All things considered, the PIXMA G3600 is a neat package, easy to use and one that delivers quality output with a cost effective ink system. Convenience, compactness and versatility are the key attributes.