iP8720 - horrible print quality

[strutzj]

I bought an iP8720 a couple of months ago and it printed beautiful photos right out of the box. It sat unused until yesterday when I tried printing again and the photo quality was unbelievably poor, looked like an Impressionist painting effect with splotchy ink distribution and fuzzy details. Original image and photo print images below, sorry they're small. Everything is Canon: semigloss paper, original ink that came with the printer, and even my camera. Nothing different with Win XP computer. Tried running the cartridge cleaning utility and the test print looked good. Photo prints remain HORRIBLE. Please help.

[Michael]

Hello.

If the printer has been unused for an extended period of time, performing 1-2 cleanings may help with this issue.  Try performing the cleanings from the Maintenance options on your computer.

If you continue to have difficulties, contact our support group using the Contact Us link below.

This didn't answer your question or issue? Find more help at Contact Us.

[strutzj]

I've also been in contact with Canon tech support and by the result of some testing we've determined that the issue is with the photo paper I'm using: Canon Pixma semi-gloss. I don't know if there're storage issues, humidity issues, etc. but hopefully we'll resolve this soon. Thanks for the suggestion. 

[ariash61210]

I'm having the same problem.  I've already changed ink cartridges "Canon" and ran the deep cleaning four times, nozzle check four times, and the print head alignment three times as well.  It does not print completely on regular paper and on photo paper plus glossy II the color are faded.  What's up with that???

It seems that if you don't use the printer regularly the printer quality decreases which a printer this expensive should not have this issue.  I've had other printers and never had this issue.

[strutzj]

It was my bad. I had the paper in backwards. Try it and let us know if this works for you.