Pixma Pro 100 Economy and paper choice

[tk2000]

Hi, 

I am looking to purchase a pro 100 and shortly and I am looking for some advice on a number of issues, if anyone is able to answer it would be greatly appreciated.

I am looking to do two things with the printer. Produce a4 photo print most likely glossy on good but not overly expensive paper.  Also I am looking to produce a4 and a3 prints of my illustrations. These are vector based illustrations and ideally will not be glossy and more of an art paper feel.

So I have 3 questions.  Firstly is this a suitable printer?

Secondly what is the economy  of the printer? i.e how many a4 full colour prints would you expect from a set of inks?

Lastly, what recommendations do you suggest for the paper I require? I have looks but there seems to be too much choice and I am unclear as to what is suitable.

Any help, again is gladly received.  Sorry in advance for sounding like a total newbie.

Thanks.

[ebiggs1]

"... how many a4 full colour prints would you expect from a set of inks?"

No one can answer that question with any certainty. There is just too many variables. However each ink cartridge is replaceable by itself, so you may not need a whole set at any one time.

Also, some fine art papers, in A3, may not produce full size from a Pro-100. No problem with Canon Semi-gloss or HP Premium Photo Paper in A3.

For the price, this printer is impossible to beat.

[tk2000]

Hi,   

Thanks for replying.  I can appreciate what your saying.  I was just trying to gauge the average capablilties of the ink consumption.  If anyone has a guess say if you just printed the same picture over and over.  Its just so i can put an average figure in my mind for the cost of ink per print.

What do you mean regarding the art paper, i dont understand.

Thanks.

[ebiggs1]

Fine Art paper bleeds. So Canon puts a mandatory boarder around the edges. Thus you will not get a full 13x19 print.

Some folks get around this by using a different profile. I don't do this so I can't tell you how it works.

On your concern about ink consumption, all the available printers on the market are going to use ink. Ink is very expensive.

One benefit of the printer is you get to control the output yourself. Another is you get your print right now. These conveniences must be weighed against out sourcing to Shutterfly or some custom printer. You than have time involved, little control and shipping issues.

[ebiggs1]

The Pro-100 is not a production printer. If you want a 100 4x6's, the Pro-100 is not for you. Shutterfly is the place to go.

But if you are a seldom user, or a select user, or are someone that is critical about your work the Pro-100 it is. And if you need your print today, there is no better buy on the market than the Pro-100.

All these type printers is going to use a lot of ink. The entire set is $125 bucks or so but you can find them on sale from time to time. Canon had a fantastic sale in December.

I bought about $500 dollars worth and this will likely last me the rest of 2014.

[tk2000]

Im not looking to run off 100 prints in a single sitting, but over the course of the year i would be hoping to print a few hundred a4's and and number of a3's.  So as i say im just looking to get a feel for the cost of running this machine.

[ebiggs1]

Prices based on $14.99 per ink.

Printer	4x6	5x7	8x10	11x14	13x19
PRO-100	26¢	38¢	87.5¢	$1.68	$2.70

This is just a guess of a test where "average" prints were made. It is not etched in stone and your costs, not only may vary, certainly will vary. But it still is a ballpark educated guess.

[ebiggs1]

Check this out.

Pro-100 test

[tk2000]

Hi, 

Thanks for this information.  Looking at this page which can be found as a link at the bottom of the page you provided it would appear that (to put it very simply) that 2 sets of cartridges would provide the 200 prints from their test.  Plus various levels of inks left in some of the carts.

Again to put it simply, from your experience, if I went out and bought 2 full sets of cartridges do you believe that I could print 200 8x10 prints?

Thanks for your help

[ebiggs1]

All I can say is 'maybe' ! Sorry but it is just too content dependent. Obviously the more white on your prints, or the more lighter colors is going to yield more prints. If they were, say prints of night-time, downtown street scenes than you are not going to get as many. What is a "average" print?

I do doubt you will ever replace the entire set of cartridges at one time either. I don't in my experience.

I have and use, extensively, a HP (up to 8 1/2x11) and a Brother (up to 11x14) and a Canon Pro-9500 II, plus the Pro-100.

In my experience the Pro-100 does not seem to use any more ink than the others do.