- 8 Dye based inks for amazing gradients and color, 3 of which are dedicated grayscale inks for beautiful black & white prints
- The Optimum Image Generating System reproduces colors as you intend them by logically selecting the optimum ink combination and placement
- Print Studio Pro Plug-in software offers a seamless and stress free photo printing workflow for professionals
- 4800 x 2400 dpi with FINE technology for incredible detail
It was with some excitement that I was offered the Pro 100 to compare to my current models.
Printer was installed on a Win 7 64 bit based laptop with 8 GB RAM.
Setup-
Instead of using the enclosed CD for software installation, I decided to download the drivers and software directly from Canon''s website. Based on this, the installation was pretty simple. I used the printer connected directly via USB because the printers are all very close to my work PC. I have a nice USB hub that I use the two printers and other devices.
While I say setup was simple, please don''t confuse this with it being a quick process. The process is quite lengthy, much like the Pro-1. I didn''t time it completely, but it was at least an hour from start to finish, not including the unboxing. Installing the print head and cartridges just takes time you can''t get around it.
Installing the software is pretty easy -just keep hitting next mostly.
Another thing to note is that, like the Pro 1, this printer is HEAVY. It''s roughly 45 lbs and you will almost certainly want someone to help you move the boxed printer around, along with pulling the printer out of the box and placing on the desk/table.
Print Quality-
Here''s where the Pro 100 comes into it''s own.
The Pro 100 is a dye based printer. The prints from this, on Canon paper with proper paper profiles chosen, results in some vibrant and amazing results. In comparing this to the MP990, prints from the Pro 100, as expected, are better. Doing a blind comparison with family members, everyone prefers the Pro 100 results to the MP990. This isn''t unexpected, given this printer uses many more inks to provide the results.
The Pro 100 isn''t amazingly better than the MP990, but the results are much, much closer to what''s on screen. The MP990 also has some minor issues with gradients that I''m not seeing from the Pro 100 results.
The Pro 1 printer is a pigment based printer. Pigment based printers are, generally speaking, not nearly as vibrant as dye based printers. So comparing the Pro 100 results to Pro 1 results kind of leaves you with a mixed bag. Black and White from the Pro 1 are phenomenal. Great highlights, midtones and shadows. The Pro 100 is quite nice in B&W and if you didn''t have a Pro 1 result sitting next to it, you wouldn''t know any different. The differences are subtle but noticeable under scrutiny.
In terms of color, this is also a mixed bag. I like the vibrancy from the Pro 100 for some prints and the more subdued look of the pigment. For those that can afford both printers, the ink tanks for both and the large amount of space required, I can see that someone might actually make the argument to use both for different photos. No question.
I using Canon Pro Platinum paper and the cheaper Semigloss plus paper in my testing. I prefer these two papers for my prints but hope to invest in some other types to compare results there as well.
Considerations-
In terms of print cartridge costs, using less in this case, helps you save a few dollars compared to the Pro 1. Of course, the Pro 1 uses massive "tanks" of ink while the Pro 100 still uses standard cartridges. It''s too difficult to compare price per sheet, but given there are less tanks and they are smaller, you may end up breaking even between these inks and those in the Pro 1 in terms of cost.
Dye based printers, like the Pro 100, get a bad rap. Everyone claims dye based prints don''t last nearly as long as pigment. This is true or was true. The ChromaLife 100+ system from Canon claims longevity of up to 300 years for some prints on this dye based printer. I won''t be around long enough to verify that, that''s for certain. And I think pigment based printers boast the same or similar longevity. Minimum life claims seems to be 100 years on Canon paper and using Canon ink... I probably won''t be around to verify that either.
Conclusion-
The Pro 100 printer is a great printer. If you can afford the printer and not the Pro 1, don''t fret. You''re still getting a great printer that outputs stunning results. Both do amazing jobs with prints that accentuate their positives.
Recommended.
Pros:
Amazing print quality these are professional results
Easy to use
Supposedly near pigment level longevity of prints
Cons:
Expensive (relative to say, the $75 all in one, but average for a PRO quality printer)
Ink is expensive
Big and Heavy (not as big, or heavy, as the Pro 1 though)
Buy Canon PIXMA PRO-100 Color Professional Inkjet Photo Printer Now
I think what most of you will want to know is what the difference are between this Pro100 and the previous Pro 9000 Mark II. The first regrettable difference is that it uses different ink cartridges. They are the same size, but have a different number. I imagine they changed the electronic interface or something, and they also use 2 additional gray inks.The second, and what I think is the more important difference, is they added both wireless and wired network interface. This allows you to put this massive printer in a side room or somewhere out of the way if you don''t have a lot of room by your computer, and it also means all the computers in your house can easily use it to print without sharing it between computers.
Printing on the luster paper samples that were included with the printer, I couldn''t tell a difference in detail between this printer and my old Pro 9000 MkII. Even for my black and white test shot the shadows and details looked virtually identical. For my color print, my Pro 9000 MkII always had a magenta cast to it. I think that is gone, but it might be slightly green now. Both can be calibrated, but that takes a significant effort. I mainly use mine for printing contest photos, so as long as they look fine by themselves I don''t care too much if they are color matched. Again, detail wise I couldn''t identify which print came from which printer.
So bottom line is I don''t see much reason to upgrade from the Pro 9000 MkII unless you want wireless/wired network printing. Also be aware that this printer is about 1" larger in every dimension than the old 9000 MkII which was very large.
As far as home printing is concerned, I have won several contests with my old Pro 9000 MkII so it does a good enough job for prints. You really can''t tell them from a pro shop for the most part. Longevity wise, my prints look fine after a year from the 9000 (similar Dye based) and are supposed to last 100 years. Although I don''t believe that, as long as you buy genuine inks you should get pretty good life out of them. If you really need archival prints you should probably look at a pigment based printer.
Read Best Reviews of Canon PIXMA PRO-100 Color Professional Inkjet Photo Printer Here
I''m lucky and excited at having the opportunity to use the "Canon Pixma Pro-100". I''ve a strong interest in black and white photography and was considering an upgrade to a printer with increased b&w capabilities. I''ve been using, and have been very pleased with, the Pixma pro-9500 mkII which uses pigment inks, and I''ve been concerned with switching to a dye based printer which the ''Pro-100'' is.Upon delivery I unpacked it, set it up, started the accompanied CD, and the installation completed without any difficulty. Right off, I printed b&w and color photos on both printers for comparative purposes using the ''Pro Luster'' paper that was included with the delivery. I noted on the back of each photo which printer was responsible, and then shuffled them. I''ve expected and gotten great photos from my Canon printer, however, bottom line is both color and contrast are noticeably improved with the ''Pro-100''.
The ''pro-100'' produces impressive and brilliant photos, and its Wifi ability is an appreciated plus. I do, however, have concerns regarding the longevity of the dye based inks and I''ve been unable to find any credible, up to date, information. I''ve subsequently submitted a query to Canon regarding this and if and when I receive an answer I''ll update this review.
10/24/12 Update, from Canon: Canon uses ChromaLife 100+ for the ink tanks. This is a test of light and other daily effects that will cause the picture to fade. If stored properly it will last over 100 years. I am sorry for any issue this might cause you.
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I''ve tried the Pixma Pro-1 and the Pixma Pro9000, basically two ends of the Canon Pixma Pro spectrum, and with both of them I''ve lamented the lack of Wifi. Finally I got my hands on this Pixma Pro-100. WiFi...woohoo...woot woot! Now I can print from both my mac and my pc and put the printer anywhere within the feeble range of my clearwire router.I had some trouble hooking up the wifi, I was trying to use WPS to network the printer to the router using my Windows 7 pc to help. Since there is no control panel on the printer (it''s kind of funny you can get a cheap all-in-one printer with a zillion buttons, a full keypad and a display screen, but these more expensive printers are so much more basic in that area) you need some way to input the PIN from the printer. I followed the instructions as best I could but I ended up connecting the Windows 7 PC to the SnowLeopard Mac using bluetooth, which I was kind of excited about but in the end simply meant that whenever I played music on the Mac it would come out the PC speakers and I had to figure out how to undo it. Finally I tried WCN, and THAT let me fairly easily connect to the network with the Pixma Pro-100 printer.
The printer comes with a separate cd for both the mac and pc os and I installed all the software available for both platforms. It is basically the same as the software that comes with the Pro-1 and the Pro9000 and the one for the mac is harder to navigate through than the pc version when it comes to the printing from Photoshop dialogues. At first I couldn''t even find all the options.
I was hoping that the quality of print would be the same on this Pro-100 as it is on the Pro-1, but the Pro-1 does have 12 ink cartridges to the Pro-100s 8, and those extra cartridges are an extra black (one for matte and one for photo), a few extra shades of gray and a chroma optimizer. I printed out a 13x19 collage I''d made of pictures from Casa Batlló in Barcelona with both printers. At first glance both prints looked gorgeous. At second glance, the shadows are lacking with this Pixma-100. Images just don''t have as much depth, and the less color in a photograph the more noticable it is.
If you are a professional photographer, an art photographer, a perfectionist...comparing them side by side I don''t think you are going to be satisfied with this Pixma Pro-100. It simply is not as good as the Pro-1. Unless you HAVE TO HAVE the WiFi, if you can''t afford the Pro-1 or can''t justify the cost you are probably better off with the Pro9000, which has 8 ink cartridges as well but they are currently much cheaper to replace than the Pro-100 cartridges and it prints pictures equally as well as the Pro-100.
There is one other option I haven''t tried: the Pro-10. It has ten ink cartridges including the two blacks and the chroma optimizer. It only has one shade of gray ink, but I think it''s likely to have most if not all of the POP and the subtle shading of the Pro-1 while being significantly cheaper.
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Admittedly, professional studio level black and white reproduction was never within my range of expectations from this dye-based printer. Nevertheless, the pronounced brownish/sepia tinting was truly shocking. In fact, the black and white tonality is decidedly inferior to what I have achieved in the past using far less sophisticated and much less expensive Canon printers with rudimentary photo editing software. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon on the phone with a ten-year veteran Canon tech assistant who led me through myriad software tweaks and settings. There was no improvement. He concluded with the observation that he is not aware of a single positive review with regard to the black and white printing capabilities of the PRO-100.On the other hand, my [thus far] limited color printing has produced excellent results and there is much which commends the PRO-100 if your output consists almost entirely of color photos. But unless the rep and I both overlooked the "solution", this device is not the answer for quality black and white reproduction.
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