Canon Pixma Pro-10 printer review

The Pixma Pro-10 pigment inkjet printer falls squarely in the middle of Canon’s professional printer offering, strengthening what appears to be a sustained challenge to Epson's dominance in the fine art desktop printer market. Sitting below the top of the line Pixma Pro-1 and above the dye-based Pro-100, the Pro-10 is well positioned as an attractive option for any photographer looking to produce high quality A3+ (13”x19”) prints. Like its larger and more expensive sibling, the Pro-10 uses Canon's LUCIA pigment ink set, which provides greater print longevity than dye-based inks like the ones found in the more affordable Pro-100.

In our earlier in-depth review of the Pixma Pro-1 we found Canon's flagship desktop model to be very  impressive performer that stands up quite well against the rival Epson 3880, although at a list price of $999, it is also the most expensive desktop A3+ inkjet printer on the market.

By contrast, while the Pro-10 features its bigger sibling's resolution and printhead technology, its much lower list price of $699 nestles it between Epson's R2880 ($599 list price) and the R3000 ($799 list price) printers. The question then is whether the Pro-10 can deliver results on the order of what we saw with the Pro-1. And that's exactly what we aim to answer with this hands-on review.

Pixma Pro-10 specification highlights

• Maximum 13 x 19 inch paper size
• 10 color LUCIA pigment inkset includes 3 monochrome inks and a chroma optimizer
• 14ml ink cartridges
• 4800 x 2400dpi print head resolution
• 4 picoliter ink droplet size
  
• Wireless print capability
• Built-in Ethernet port

The Pro-10 prints to a maximum paper width of 13 inches and uses pigment inks. Pigment inks are capable of greater print longevity than dye inks and are therefore now commonplace in the fine art professional printer arena. Technological advancements in the past decade such as smaller droplet sizes and a greater number of ink channels have allowed for both fine image detail and a wide color gamut. The Pro-10 is certainly up to par in these areas, delivering 10 colors in droplets as small as four picoliters from individually replaceable cartridges.

Key differences compared to the Pixma Pro-1

• 3 monochrome inks (vs. 5)
• Smaller capacity ink cartridges (14ml vs. 36ml)
• Built-in wireless connectivity

Looking at the specifications the Pro-10 has a smaller footprint than the Pro-1, one inch less in height, three inches less in depth and virtually the same width. Though substantially lighter by 17 pounds, at 43.9 pounds, it has the same solid feel of the Pro-1.

What's in the box?

• Pixma Pro-10 printer
• CD/DVD printing tray
• PGI-72 ink cartridges (10)
• Power cable
• Print head
• Installation CD
• USB cable