Need printer...uhg!

[jtoolman]

Think of printing as being addicted to a legal drug. Bite the bullet and just do it. The ink cost is a small price to pay for the amount of enjoyment you will receive.

Agree 100% and no amount of rehab will likely cure me!

By the way, guess what the big ass box sitting on the middle of my print room floor ie??

Joe

 

[Gesture]

Your wife's next birthday present?

 

[jtoolman]

Your wife's next birthday present?

That's what I told her,but that won't be until next June.

I'll have plenty of time to cough up a replacement " Present "...... Or excuse!

Joe

 

[harvo]

I have the Pro 100 and love its quality. I have let it sit for a month or more and never had a clog. I try and do one print every 3 or 4 weeks and that seems to keep it going.

As far as longevity goes, i am refilling with PrecisionColor Inks and save 80% on the cost of canon ink. The color match of the OEM inks is near perfect. As far as fading goes I frame my prints and put them behind non-glare plastic glazing. The cost is 40 to 50 bucks. Locally the cost of similar sets would be 150 to 200 bucks. I buy from Frame Destination who do a very nice job. Assembly takes around 15 minutes once you get the hang of it. They also have regular sales where you can save around 10%. I have noted no fading over several years by shielding from sunlight and bad air. If needed you can reprint but i have not had to do that yet.

The detail and color output of the Pro 100 is breathtaking. You will have lots of fun. Joe has tons of info on refilling the Pro 100.

Definitely get a Color Munki and an IPS or similar monitor and you are ready to go.

Harvo.

 

[will focus]

I have the Pro 100 and love its quality. I have let it sit for a month or more and never had a clog. I try and do one print every 3 or 4 weeks and that seems to keep it going.

As far as longevity goes, i am refilling with PrecisionColor Inks and save 80% on the cost of canon ink. The color match of the OEM inks is near perfect. As far as fading goes I frame my prints and put them behind non-glare plastic glazing. The cost is 40 to 50 bucks. Locally the cost of similar sets would be 150 to 200 bucks. I buy from Frame Destination who do a very nice job. Assembly takes around 15 minutes once you get the hang of it. They also have regular sales where you can save around 10%. I have noted no fading over several years by shielding from sunlight and bad air. If needed you can reprint but i have not had to do that yet.

The detail and color output of the Pro 100 is breathtaking. You will have lots of fun. Joe has tons of info on refilling the Pro 100.

Definitely get a Color Munki and an IPS or similar monitor and you are ready to go.

Harvo.

Thank you. Great info. I am looking forward to this endeavor. Can't wait to hang the first one on the wall!

 

[JNR]

I am curious about this Canon 100 that is on sale this month for 379 with a 200 dollar rebate. I hear good things, mostly, and some bad... ie; expensive regiments of ink....

I'd like a quality printer but I don't need it to cost as much as a car. The Canon is almost too good to be true from a cost/benefit perspective, I think. I'd probably be comfortable with something up to about 500 bucks if you can suggest something other than the Canon which would produce the same quality images with less maintenance

Actually B&H at least currently offers you a Pro-100 with 50 sheets of 13x19 inch paper for $380 up front that qualifies for a $250 rebate (not just $200--the free paper actually qualifies you for the $50 higher rebate), so you pay a net of $130 and get a box of decent paper too.

As far as less maintenance than the Pro-100: no such thing! The Pro-100 is a dye-ink printer, and a Canon at that. Its only real competitor is the Epson Artisan 1430, which is more expensive ($330), probably not quite as good image-quality wise (it lacks the dark and light gray inks that the Pro-100 has), and is probably not as trouble-free (even in dye-ink printers like these two, by reputation Canon is somewhat less clog-prone than Epson). Anything 'better' than a Pro-100 will be a pigment-ink printer that will be much more prone to clogs.

So unless you want to print images larger than 13x19 inches, or you want the best results on uncoated matte and 'art' papers instead of regular glossy, semi-gloss, and luster photo papers, the Pro-100 is the clear choice at the moment.

FWIW, I have an older, smaller Epson R280 at home, but it uses the same inkset at the Artisan 1430, and we have a Pro-100 at work. The R280 is nice and I'm sure that 1430 would be nice; but if you have the space for a larger printer, the Pro-100 is the deal to get.

Good assessment, in my experience. I should mention, as a matte devotee, I've tested and custom profiled most of the leading matte papers. The Premium Matte PM-101 is the best I found with the Pro-100, and is very economical compared to the heavier rag papers available. Clearly a great match for D-max, and the fade testing is more than adequate (thanks, as always, to Mark). Matte is a challenge for dye, but unless you want full-bore art paper (which begs for pigment), PM-101 gives you superb results.

 

[JNR]

Many Precision Color advocates here, and you can't deny the quality. At the same time, Canon did a lot of work (far more than Epson) on fade resistance using dye inks matched with the Canon papers. Most of my work is sold, so Precision Color isn't an ideal option due to somewhat inferior permanence (but still considerably better than other third party options).

If you print less than regularly and need permanence for a good share of your prints, going OEM for both paper and inks is still a fairly economical option. The carts are decent capacity compared to all-in-ones, and the cleaning process does not waste an unreasonable amount of ink - which is a major failing of most Canon all-in-ones, and even the higher end pigment units.

 

[NAwlins Contrarian]

I've tested and custom profiled most of the leading matte papers. The Premium Matte PM-101 is the best I found with the Pro-100, and is very economical compared to the heavier rag papers available. Clearly a great match for D-max, and the fade testing is more than adequate (thanks, as always, to Mark). Matte is a challenge for dye, but unless you want full-bore art paper (which begs for pigment), PM-101 gives you superb results.

Interesting to hear, especially about your custom profile. I have used some PM-101 with the Pro-100. The results were decent to good, but surprisingly (IMO) less good than what I get with my R280 and Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte, using the Epson profile for this paper in the Epson 1400. I know the Pro-100 can achieve plenty of density and saturation on PM-101 because I've seen it once or twice, when I've accidentally double-profile printed (converted the file to the Canon profile but forgotten to turn off color management in the printer driver), and the results are ... dramatic. Can you get deep blacks but still decent shadow detail / tonal gradations with the Pro-100, your profile, and PM-101? Thanks!

 

[NAwlins Contrarian]

[G]uess what the big ass box sitting on the middle of my print room floor i?

You couldn't resist one of those Pro-10s for $290 delivered, could you? That was quite a deal.

 

[jtoolman]

[G]uess what the big ass box sitting on the middle of my print room floor i?

You couldn't resist one of those Pro-10s for $290 delivered, could you? That was quite a deal.

Not quite.

A lot bigger and heavier

Hint. The Name contains a lot more zeros!

Joe

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[David Pavlich]

If you'll be an infrequent printer, then the Pro 100 will serve you well. However, when it comes to ink costs, the best way to determine the cost is what is the cost per ML. While the cartridge cost for the Pro 100 is low, the cost per ML of ink is quite high, around $1.30 per ML. You can reduce that cost by going with Precision Colors and refill your cartridges.

I have an Epson P800 and its per ML cost is around $.69. The per cart cost is much higher at about $55, but the carts are 80 ML as compared to 13 ML for the Pro 100. And the P800 uses pigment ink.

In the end, I'm an advocate of home printing. It gives you much better control over the finished product AND it's fun!!

David

 

[ChicagoRob]

NAwlins Contrarian wrote:Can you get deep blacks but still decent shadow detail / tonal gradations with the Pro-100, your profile, and PM-101? Thanks!

I, too, have found Pemium Matte to be a great match. With regard to D-Max, I find it to be superior to the Epson and RR matte papers. My Color Munki profile for PM-101 does a great job. It's surprising how good the black levels are for dye a printer.

 

[NAwlins Contrarian]

A lot bigger and heavier [than a Pro-10]

Hint. The Name contains a lot more zeros!

First I was thinking a Pro-1000, but that's not really what I'd call a lot bigger: surprisingly only 5% wider, 12% deeper, and 32% taller. So did you get something like a Pro-2000? Or a SureColor P7000?

 

[bobkoure]

will focus wrote: ...which would produce the same quality images with less maintenance.

The Pro-100 uses dye-based inks. I was looking for a dye printer because, unlike a lot of pros, I expected my printer to go for moderately long periods of time without being used. I'd read that long periods of disuse can be a maintenance headache with pigment based printers.
So I bought one. I've been quite pleased with it.

 

[jtoolman]

A lot bigger and heavier [than a Pro-10]

Hint. The Name contains a lot more zeros!

First I was thinking a Pro-1000, but that's not really what I'd call a lot bigger: surprisingly only 5% wider, 12% deeper, and 32% taller. So did you get something like a Pro-2000? Or a SureColor P7000?

No. Just the PRO1000. The reference to bigger is the box it came in.

A friend got herself a 2000 and she said it's fabulous.

Joe

 

[JNR]

I've tested and custom profiled most of the leading matte papers. The Premium Matte PM-101 is the best I found with the Pro-100, and is very economical compared to the heavier rag papers available. Clearly a great match for D-max, and the fade testing is more than adequate (thanks, as always, to Mark). Matte is a challenge for dye, but unless you want full-bore art paper (which begs for pigment), PM-101 gives you superb results.

Interesting to hear, especially about your custom profile. I have used some PM-101 with the Pro-100. The results were decent to good, but surprisingly (IMO) less good than what I get with my R280 and Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte, using the Epson profile for this paper in the Epson 1400. I know the Pro-100 can achieve plenty of density and saturation on PM-101 because I've seen it once or twice, when I've accidentally double-profile printed (converted the file to the Canon profile but forgotten to turn off color management in the printer driver), and the results are ... dramatic. Can you get deep blacks but still decent shadow detail / tonal gradations with the Pro-100, your profile, and PM-101? Thanks!

Back when Epson Premium Presentation matte was heavier, it was my favorite on the HP printer. I was less satisfied when they moved to a second class and the new Ultra version was not quite as heavy, more expensive, and difficult to find in 13x19. D-max seemed to suffer a bit. Still good, but not quite as good as previously. The lower class Epson matte was quite disappointing, and feels especially light.

The newer versions of Epson matte (older version was long gone) didn't seem to print as true to color (especially in the darker tones) on the Pro-100, but that might have been before I got to know the printer fully; user inexperience could be some of the reason. The paper went away with the HP printer sold with remaining consumables.

As for the PM-101 on the Pro-100, I find that a manual profile with these values matches the screen nicely: +1 cyan, -5 magenta, -5 yellow, -12 intensity, +6 contrast. The matte paper is used mostly for greeting card sales (excellent for that purpose, IMHO); my preference is toward neutral saturation and relatively low contrast; others might want more pop. My glossier papers (primarily SG and Luster) have very different profiles with higher saturation and contrast.

 

[David Pavlich]

I was in a bookstore the other day and picked up a copy of "Shutterbug" magazine. This month's edition is about photography and fine art. There's a good article about different papers that is quite interesting. For the people that are considering printing at home or for those that have just started, you might want to pick up a copy.

David

 

[tko]

I threw my Epsons in the trash. Too much time cleaning and prepping. Now I use online services, such as my local Costco. Something like $5 for 12X18 on a beautiful Fuji laser printer system, smooth,glossy, and tough like a real photo.

Printers are not fun, unless you're a pro who uses them day in and day out.

 

[Vernon D Rainwater]

I threw my Epsons in the trash. Too much time cleaning and prepping. Now I use online services, such as my local Costco. Something like $5 for 12X18 on a beautiful Fuji laser printer system, smooth,glossy, and tough like a real photo.

Printers are not fun, unless you're a pro who uses them day in and day out.

The above comment is a matter of individual opinion.

 

[Mud123]

[G]uess what the big ass box sitting on the middle of my print room floor i?

You couldn't resist one of those Pro-10s for $290 delivered, could you? That was quite a deal.

Not quite.

A lot bigger and heavier

Hint. The Name contains a lot more zeros!

Joe