Pixma Pro 100 Ink

[rpcrowe]

I have decided to stick with Canon OEM ink for my new Pixma Pro 100 printer, despite the higher cost as opposed to third party ink cartridges. I have ordered an 8-pack of OEM ink cartridges.

I wonder what colors of ink run out first for folks printing color prints with the Pixma Pro 100. Obviously, if I were to print mainly monochrome prints, the black/gray cartridges would run out first.

Rather that buy another complete 8-cartridge set, I'd like to stock up on those cartridges which run out more frequently.

[Shadowman]

Richard,

I don't have that printer but from what I've read, constant switching, based on either personal preference or paper profile chosen will use more blacks as the matte/other black cartridges switch.

[Round Tuit]

I have decided to stick with Canon OEM ink for my new Pixma Pro 100 printer, despite the higher cost as opposed to third party ink cartridges. I have ordered an 8-pack of OEM ink cartridges.

I wonder what colors of ink run out first for folks printing color prints with the Pixma Pro 100. Obviously, if I were to print mainly monochrome prints, the black/gray cartridges would run out first.

Rather that buy another complete 8-cartridge set, I'd like to stock up on those cartridges which run out more frequently.

Richard,

I have used my Pro-100 for three years. I started with a full set of replacement cartridges and only replace the individual tanks when they run out. I don't print a lot but so far haven't had to purchase the same color twice before replacing the rest of the set. So I would say that all colours wear out fairly evenly. The printer driver gives plenty of warning when a tank is running low and I keep using them until I get a warning that continuing to print with the low cartridge could damage the printer.

I recently found out that if the printer breaks down, it is more expensive to have Canon repair it than buy a new one. Canon Canada wanted a flat fee of $250 CDN plus shipping(roughly $100 round trip) to fix a printer that originally cost me $300. My original one simply refused to power up one day but I managed to convince Canon's CEO to replace it for free.

I am very pleased with the quality of the prints particularly if you use top of the line Canon paper.

André

[Manfred M]

Richard - blacks followed by the two grays seem to go fastest on my printer. Of the colours, yellow is consumed faster than the two magentas and two cyans.

[rpcrowe]

Thanks for the info...

Andre, I mostly use Canon paper but have some Red River paper also....

[DanK]

Richard,

That's the printer I now use.

The printer has only one black, not different blacks for matte and other papers, so while choice of paper will affect total consumption, I don't think it will much affect the relative consumption of different colors.

I think the bottom line is that it depends on what you print. For example, I make heavy use of black backgrounds, so I run through black ink fairly fast. Beyond that, I haven't notice any patterns striking enough to catch my attention with the mix of photos I print.

I generally keep one full set in reserve and buy them individually or in small sets as they run out. Most often, when one runs out--leaving me with no reserve for that one--I order a replacement for that and for whichever ones are nearly out at that time. I don't think I have ever bought a full set of 8. I might if I managed to run down a bunch close together and the price break is substantial, but that hasn't happened to me with this printer or with my earlier Pixma Pro 9000II.

Dan

[Shadowman]

I found this gentleman hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR8bNDMiJ0s&t=323s

[inkista]

I've gone the Precision Colors refill route instead, since I was losing so much to evaporation each month, even if I didn't use the printer much. But one of my other hobbies is collecting vintage fountain pens, and messing about with liquid ink and syringes and checking for air/water-tight seals is fun for me. Also, I'm cheap, and I don't really care that much about color fastness, since I really have a ton of fun printing stuff, I don't mind reprinting if fading calls for it.

But my experience jibes with Manfred's in terms of which colors run out faster. I tend to run through the magentas a little faster than the cyans.

I'm just ticked that the Ikea here in San Diego is either out of stock or has discontinued the 16x20 Marietorp frames, which fit 19x13 prints, and come with a matte (with a 16"x12" opening) for $8. (sigh). I'd more or less standardized on them for prints from my Pro 100. Like I said. I'm cheap.

[zen]

I cliked on the link, John, and the message is that it was removed by user.

Zen

[Shadowman]

I cliked on the link, John, and the message is that it was removed by user.

Zen

Hi Zen,

The video was from one of the YouTube experts who claimed he had a bad day when he ripped into a subscriber, he eventually removed the video and posted an apology which also seems to have disappeared.

[Shadowman]

Well confirmed at least for me that my photo black cartridge was the first to go (3 months in on 80ml cartridges) even though I spent quite a few weeks using Matte black; still have about half cartridge left. Next to be changed in LLK and LK, I'm typically a color/glossy user and have only experimented with Matte papers in 8.5" x 11" sizes so that may account for so little Matte ink being used.

[loosecanon]

The Canon Pro printers must be left connected to a power supply. if not used the printer will still flush the head with ink, so avoiding blockage. The heads are easy to replace, if not cheap.
I used to use refillable cartridges but now have sourced filled carts at 50p to £1 each in bulk. I also invested to the equipment to profile the prints.
As a result of taking this path printing is cheap, unless I am using expensive art paper! I have yet to have a problem with fading, apart from with some cheap paper.
I retain all the calibration prints as a reference for future problems. I have not noticed any problem with these when using good quality paper.
I use a pro 9000 II, a few years old now. Unless set to use gloss paper it doesn't use its red and green inks - but still empties the carts on its flush cycles. For gloss or luster papers I set the options as a gloss paper to obtain as wide a gamut as possible.

[DanK]

The Canon Pro printers must be left connected to a power supply. if not used the printer will still flush the head with ink, so avoiding blockage.

Not sure what you mean by this. I have had two, a pro 9000II and a pro-100, and when turned off, they don't flush the heads. I don't unplug it, but it seems to be truly turned fully off when turned off. They flush the head when turned back on.

[loosecanon]

The pixma pro printers have an inbuilt timer. If not used for a week or so the printer turns on and goes through a flush cycle. This is the reason why if not used for a few months you will find the ink carts are lower. I was told by a printer engineer from CRC who are the repair agents in uk for canon pro printers that this is essential to avoid head blockages.

[DanK]

The pixma pro printers have an inbuilt timer. If not used for a week or so the printer turns on and goes through a flush cycle. This is the reason why if not used for a few months you will find the ink carts are lower. I was told by a printer engineer from CRC who are the repair agents in uk for canon pro printers that this is essential to avoid head blockages.

Now you have me really puzzled. I have had 4 Canon printers that use dye-based inks, including a Pixma Pro 9000 II, and I have had two of them plugged in next to my desk for perhaps 10 years. One of them is often turned off for many weeks, sometimes months, at a time. During all that time, I have never once heard one cycle on when turned off. I've also never had to replace a head or clean one manually.

I was also unable to find any reference to this in a quick scan of the Pro-100 manual.

Have you witnessed this with yours?

I'm wondering if this is a feature of the printers that use pigment-based inks, as those are more prone to clogging.

I'm puzzled, so I will send a note to Canon to see what they say.

[Round Tuit]

Now you have me really puzzled. I have had 4 Canon printers that use dye-based inks, including a Pixma Pro 9000 II, and I have had two of them plugged in next to my desk for perhaps 10 years. One of them is often turned off for many weeks, sometimes months, at a time. During all that time, I have never once heard one cycle on when turned off. I've also never had to replace a head or clean one manually.

I was also unable to find any reference to this in a quick scan of the Pro-100 manual.

Have you witnessed this with yours?

I'm wondering if this is a feature of the printers that use pigment-based inks, as those are more prone to clogging.

I'm puzzled, so I will send a note to Canon to see what they say.

Dan, I also have a pro-100 and my printer goes through a head cleaning cycle before printing if it has not been used for a while. I don't really know how long "a while" is except that it is less than one month but more than 3 days. I find that the ink cartriges last much longuer if you batch your printing rather than print individual photos with long interval between print jobs. My printer has never gone through a cleaning cycle without me turning it on first.

[DanK]

Dan, I also have a pro-100 and my printer goes through a head cleaning cycle before printing if it has not been used for a while. I don't really know how long "a while" is except that it is less than one month but more than 3 days. I find that the ink cartriges last much longuer if you batch your printing rather than print individual photos with long interval between print jobs. My printer has never gone through a cleaning cycle without me turning it on first.

yes, mine to that, but I think loosecanon was referring to something else:

The pixma pro printers have an inbuilt timer. If not used for a week or so the printer turns on and goes through a flush cycle.

I've never seen any of mine turn themselves on; they stay off when I have turned them off (at least when I have been present) and clean the head when I turn them on. I wrote Canon asking for clarification and will post here if I get anything informative back.

[DanK]

Here's the answer from Canon support:

No, none of our dye or pigment based printers will wake without action from you to perform a cleaning. Cleanings are performed when the printer is turned on and prior to initial prints jobs. This is done automatically to ensure exceptional prints.

However, the PIXMA PRO-100 will turn on when a job is sent from a computer after enabling the Auto Power On feature through the printer driver. Disabling this feature should prevent the printer from turning on without warning. Please respond with the operating system version for steps to disable this feature.