Photo Ink vs Regular Ink

  • Thread starter Thread starter Big John
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Big John

I'm running an HP C4180 which will take either a standard color ink
cartridge (HP95) or a special Photo cartridge (HP99), "for brighter more
vivid photos". I just noticed that the HP99 contains almost twice as
much ink(13ml) as the HP 95 (7ml), and there is only about $1.00
difference in price (at Target).

My question is, why not use the HP99 all the time instead of the HP95.
Do the print heads put out more ink? Is there really a noticeable
difference in "family" type snapshots, and will it make a difference in
my day to day household printing? Just curious--

Big John
 
Big John said:
I'm running an HP C4180 which will take either a standard color ink
cartridge (HP95) or a special Photo cartridge (HP99), "for brighter more
vivid photos".
Click to expand...

The photo cartridge replaces the black cartridge and is used in conjunction
with the color cartridge. The color cartridge has cyan, magenta and yellow,
the photo cartridge supplies light cyan, light magenta and photo black.
I just noticed that the HP99 contains almost twice as much ink(13ml) as
the HP 95 (7ml), and there is only about $1.00 difference in price (at
Target).
My question is, why not use the HP99 all the time instead of the HP95.
Click to expand...

See above, the photo cartridge does not contain enough colors by itself to
make general color prints.
Do the print heads put out more ink? Is there really a noticeable
difference in "family" type snapshots, and will it make a difference in my
day to day household printing? Just curious--
Click to expand...

The photo cartridge will provide less grainy prints, especially in facial
tones or light areas such as a sky. If you are happy with photo prints
currently you may not notice much difference with the photo cartridge. If
you compare the same photo printed both ways you will probably see a
difference.

You might consider the "Photo Value Packs", which have a print cartridge and
paper for a lower price than the separate supplies. For example, see:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/Q7932AN%23140?

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
Bob said:
The photo cartridge replaces the black cartridge and is used in
conjunction with the color cartridge. The color cartridge has cyan,
magenta and yellow, the photo cartridge supplies light cyan, light
magenta and photo black.


See above, the photo cartridge does not contain enough colors by itself
to make general color prints.


The photo cartridge will provide less grainy prints, especially in
facial tones or light areas such as a sky. If you are happy with photo
prints currently you may not notice much difference with the photo
cartridge. If you compare the same photo printed both ways you will
probably see a difference.

You might consider the "Photo Value Packs", which have a print cartridge
and paper for a lower price than the separate supplies. For example,
see:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/Q7932AN%23140?

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob--

I guess it would help if I read the details more carefully. I was
thinking that the HP99 was used in place of the HP95, which really
doesn't make much sense when I think about it. We have been well pleased
with the photos done with the HP95, so there is no sense in tempting
fate!! I'll just keep on doing what I've been doing!

FWIW, however, I have already purchased the "value pack" but haven't
opened it yet. I did read the small print on the package and it does not
say how much ink it contains -- only enough to do 100 prints. Hmmm.
It's referred to as the "Custom HP95" so I figured you get what you pay
for!!

BJ
 
FWIW, however, I have already purchased the "value pack" but haven't
opened it yet. I did read the small print on the package and it does not
say how much ink it contains -- only enough to do 100 prints. Hmmm. It's
referred to as the "Custom HP95" so I figured you get what you pay for!!
Click to expand...

Well, the photo packs are tuned for the desired page yield (100 prints in
the one you bought). The standard #95 cartridge actually is rated at 85
prints for a typical printer, see
http://h10060.www1.hp.com/pageyield/us/en/DJ6620/photo.html for an example.
In this case the photo pack cartridge contains more ink than the standard.
There are also different size bundles, I think some have 60 pages and others
have 200 pages. The 60 page bundle has cartridges with less capacity, the
200 page bundle has two cartridges of the 100 page size. These packs are
designed to compete with the drug store pricing, at $0.29/print for paper
and ink. If you can use the paper and ink they are generally a
significantly better deal than buying cartridges and paper separately.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging
 
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