poor quality of pixma pro prints

[sonicraf]

hello, 

i've had the pixma pro 100 for a few months, and can't figure out how to make it print nice, sharp, images.  this is getting me so frustrated, i am ready to smash it into a million pieces. 

i've tried changing all the settings in illustrated & whateber photo print utility mac preview has, include size, paper type (glossy, glossy II, luster), but none of this matters. 

any photos on glossy paper come out with too much ink, wich makes them not very shar, and often times they get blurry while drying. 

furthermore, the heads now appears to have black in on them, so there are black smudges in random areas of my print (on glossy, or regular print paper) 

i am not new to computers or graphics or printing. and it's furstrating how hard it is to get this printer to print REGULAR quality photos (not even great quality, just regular!) 

[PLee]

Exactly what paper are you printing on?

[sonicraf]

canon pixma photo glossy II 

i just did a cleaning (via the printer wizard) and printed a pattern check on regular paper, and there is still black smudges in the middle of the page 😞 

[sonicraf]

i also cleaned the plate twice.. smudges are lesser now, but they're still there.. 

i am guessing this happened because i printed a picture on the wrong side of paper, and the ink got all over the place. 

just now it's not going anywhere. 

[ebiggs1]

I can sympathize with your frustrations but I can tell you with all certainty the Pixma Pro-100 can produce stunning prints.

It will rival any printer on the market and best most of them. So it is NOT the printer's fault. Not a very sugar coated way of putting it but it is so.

How about some more info from you? OS, post software, connection, materials, etc?

Obviously, right now your printer is fouled and must be thoroughly cleaned. This task can be daunting on the Pro-100. It may require Canon service to put it right.

The most important rule is to make sure you are using Canon branded inks and nothing else. Second your monitor must show you what the printer is going to print. These two things are mandatory for good prints in the fewest amount of time and consumables.

[sonicraf]

thanks ebiggs1

yeah it's a new printer so just using the inks that came with it. 

i cleaned the plate a few more times, and it seems like the smudges are very subtle now.. will it just go away over time? i'd hate to have to carry this beast to some facility.. 

and what do you mean by monitor showing what the printer is gonig to print? like print preview? can you elaborate? 

thanks again. 

[ebiggs1]

"... what do you mean by monitor showing what the printer is gonig to print? ..."

OK, you need to be seeing on your monitor exactly what the printer is "seeing". If you set options in PSE and the printer thinks it is something else, well you can see the obvious miscommunication here! So the printer and the monitor have to be as close to being alike as possible. What you see is what you get.

The ink takes a while for it too dry. Overnight is not unreasonable. So you have time to get as much of it out of the paper path inside the printer as you can, Once it is dry, it will be next to impossible to remove. Use denatured alcohol.

Also knowing the dry time, your prints can not be judged for at least an hour after printing. Longer is better.