What printer does everyone use?

[Laird Knox]

In the studio I use the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 Mk II. This is the previous generation to the Pro-100. It is a fantastic printer and works well for me for proofing.

At school they had the Pixma Pro 9500 Mk II printers. These are the previous generation of the Pro-10. I found the output of the 9000 and 9500 to be pretty comparable. The 9500 inks are a bit more water fast. (I was producing cyanotypes on top of prints and the 9500 inks held up well to the 5 minute wash cycle on uncoated Arches watercolor paper. Yes I was really holding an inkjet print under running water for five minutes.)

Now at school they have the Pixma Pro-1 printers but I have not gotten a good feel for them yet. We are not allowed to change the paper type on the ones setup in the classrooms. As a result everything is printed as semi-gloss and that doesn't always work out so well. This is due to the way the IT department has setup the computers rather than a shortcoming of the printers.

For the gallery my prints are done on a Chromira ProLab, but I don't own that myself. It does, however, produce stunning prints.

 

[tmagman]

I have a Canon Pro 100 and have been thoroughly impressed with the results. It is a dye ink printer rather than the higher end pigment ink printers that the Pro 10 and Pro 1 are, but given how far Dye ink has come in the last few years you're not going to notice very much difference and the lifespan of prints is 100 vs 150+ years... Somehow I doubt you'll be around to see either of them fade away. Op costs on the Pro 100 are also a little bit lower than the Pro 10/1 since its the dye ink and i think two less cartridges. Spend the money you save by going with the Pro 100 and buy a good display calibrator/checker. I've found that has really helped with my prints as I've set my monitors luminescence and white points closer to levels that would be output by the printer.

 

[mollyc]

Does everyone still like the Pixma Pro-100? I am in the market for a decent photo printer, but not at the $800 range.

Right now I am leaning towards the Epson 1430 because it seems like it has much better options for ink refills. I know a lot of people have the Canon Pixma Pro 100 due to rebates, but it seems like the ink is harder to find third party options for?

I am a serious amateur photographer (I shoot with a Nikon D800 & D700) and do a lot of scrapbooking. For major 12x12 pages I send them out, but I do a lot of 8.5x11 and that is an odd size for a photo lab, so they tend to cost as much or more than 12x12s. I can get good sale prices on print credits for the 12x12s, but not the letter sized prints, so I think it's more cost effective to print that size at home. Plus, invariably my kids come home from school and need some photos for a project. I am never happy with Costco or pharmacy prints.

Does anyone here use the Epson 1430?

 

[smirking]

I rarely print pictures at home. As a consequence printer inks would dry up.

Keep what glenthompson said in mind. The print heads in Inkjet photo printers easily get blocked if you don't use the printer regularly. If you're not printing regularly, you might just want to send your printing to a shop. You'll end up saving money on all the ink you'll waste just trying to get the heads unclogged and on the bad prints you'll have to toss out.

 

[MCAsan]

I have never had a Canon inkjet print block. We had Pixma 9500 II and now have Pixma Pro 1 and Pro 100. I have yet to find another desktop printer for A3 size that does as good a job on both color and B&W prints.

 

[WinterWolf90]

$130 on sale now

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/893738-REG/Canon_6228b002_Pixma_Pro_100_Photo_Inkjet.html

 

[mollyc]

$130 on sale now

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/893738-REG/Canon_6228b002_Pixma_Pro_100_Photo_Inkjet.html

Yes, I've seen this and is partly why I am now considering the Canon over the Epson; initially I was interested in the Epson due to the potential for the CIS or refillable cartridges. I don't do a lot of B&W photography, but it is nice that the Canon has more colors, including gray. I also see that there are third party inks available for the Canon if I don't mind not having a CIS (which I don't care about if I can refill).

Does anyone here with the Pro 100 use off brand inks? That's a key thing for me.

 

[carestudio]

Epson C88+ is a working horse. Get an ink CISS, http://www.inkrepublic.com/ProductDetail.asp?item=C88 and it will serve you many years.

 

[mollyc]

Epson C88+ is a working horse. Get an ink CISS, http://www.inkrepublic.com/ProductDetail.asp?item=C88 and it will serve you many years.

Thanks, but I am interested in a larger format printer at this point.

 

[carestudio]

what about epson P600?

 

[mollyc]

what about epson P600?

too expensive! The Epson 1430 is $279 or I can get the Canon Pixma Pro 100 for $129 after rebate.

 

[carestudio]

1430 should be almost end of life cycle, wait a bit and perhaps you can see a newer model. I am not big fan of Canon though.

 

[Michael Anthony]

I agree with MCAsan. The Canon Pixma printers are outstanding. I have the Pro-10, and it's awesome. The Pro-100 would be a good one for you to look at and possibly purchase. It's usually discounted and the prints it makes are fantastic.

I've got two Pixmas and they're both great, don't know the model number off by heart though, but they weren't that expensive and do outstanding prints, even if they are quite slow... painfully slow at times.

 

[mollyc]

Thanks, I just got the Pixma Pro 100 yesterday!

Does anyone know how to get the setup software, though? My iMac does not have an optical drive, so I went to the Canon website and downloaded the driver but cannot find the software anywhere. Or if it's included in the driver download, does anyone know what it is called? I was able to download the driver and online manual, but not of the software programs, and I understand that there are LR and PS plugin type of things that I'd like to use (or at least be able to see). But I cannot find it anywhere on the Canon site.

I was able to get some stuff through the printer utility, and the two prints I've done so far look fantastic. I don't care about speed per print as I typically mail order prints anyway, so even slow printing is faster than 2-5 days!

Edit: I emailed Canon and apparently I just don't know how to read, and they were very helpful to point me in the right direction, which was great for 5:30 on a Saturday night.

 

[AZhappyjack]

I have two, both connected to the home network allowing for all computers to print wirelessly, and have installed a utility called HandyPrint to enable all iOS devices to print, as well.

• HP LaserJet M1536dnf MPF combination printer, scanner, FAX - used for everyday printing, scanning and as the home FAX machine.
• HP Photosmart 6520 inkjet photo printer.

 

[carestudio]

too expensive! The Epson 1430 is $279 or I can get the Canon Pixma Pro 100 for $129 after rebate.

Just to tell you that I got an Epson P400 and absolutely love it. Price tag is higher but works very well.

 

[mollyc]

I got the Canon Pro 100 about a month and a half ago and love it!

 

[0970373]

I recently purchased the Epson ET-2550. It's a multifunction because U needed it for the home office but it prints small photos quite nicely. I haven't tried anything bigger than 5x7 yet on real photo paper.

 

[faarbuc]

Last year I replaced my old Canon Pixma MP640 with a Canon Pixma MG7520. The MG7520 allows me to connect via USB, ethernet, or wirelessly. It has a touch screen menu, card slot, NFC, and CD/DVD printing. So far I really like it. On my previous printer it didn't exactly give me borderless printing. The MG7520 however does an awesome job printing borderless photos even when printing from Lightroom or Preview. My clients love the images I print. Very high quality.

I like that Canon removed the back tray and put it in the front. Before my back tray I used to house my photo paper. Now it sits nicely in the top tray in which I can switch out easily. I stuck with the Pixma cause the images are really nice and so far the images that I've printed have lasted a long time.

I'm shooting Nikon D750 and D90 and image quality is basically what I see on the Mac after editing in LR.

Down side is that the ink cost $$. It uses a 6 ink system. That's not a huge problem because I use the recycle ink program at the office stores. The MG7520 has been discountiued. The MG7720 is it replacement.

I bought the same Pixma and after hours on the phone with Canon trying to get this beast to hold on the a WIFI signal they told me "tough Sh...". Only buy it if you can directly connect it to your computer!!!! via USB