New Printer

[rpcrowe]

I have always had problems connecting my Canon Pixma 8720 printer via my Wi-Fi Connection and have used it hardwired to my desktop computer. The printer does an excellent job printing photos but, lately it had become somewhat cranky handling paper.

My wife wanted a good photo printer that she could access from Wi-Fi and we decided on the Canon Pixma Pro-200 inkjet printer.

Our Canon selection was based on multiple parameters: first - I have always preferred Canon inks because they do not clog up the printer heads if they are not used for a while; second - I have a large amount of different sizes and types of Canon papers available; third: we found a new Pixma Pro-200 printer for sale on a one-day Black Friday listing. A friend who is a professional pet photographer uses the Pro-200 for all of his printing and highly recommended it.

I also like this printer because it has an LCD which informs me of the printing progress,

This printer set up vary easily and we can control the printing from both of our printers via Wi-Fi.

The resulting prints are excellent and we are quite happy with the selection.

I am going to donate my 8720 (which still works) to someone who needs a photo printer.

[DanK]

Enjoy! I had Pro-100 for several years and loved it. The 200 is supposed to be an improvement; I think better grays. I switched to a much more expensive Prograf 1000 pigment printer when I started selling prints, but the fact is that in an A/B comparison, the Pro 100 and Prograf 1000 prints were extremely similar.

It's not Canon inks as such that don't clog much; it's Canon's dye-based inks, which the Pro 100 and Pro 200 use. Canon's pigment inks are more vulnerable to clogging, as all pigment inks are.

[whited3]

....we decided on the Canon Pixma Pro-200 inkjet printer.

Richard, did you consider the Pro-300 by chance? The only difference I see is the ink system?

[DanK]

The 200 uses dye inks, while the 300 uses pigment inks.

I think Richard, the OP, already made his purchase. But for others considering this: I've printed a lot from both the Pro-100 (the predecessor to the 200) and the Prograf Pro 1000 (the big brother to the 300, but with 3 additional inks). IMHO, the most important decision point is whether you want or need archival prints. If not, I would suggest the 200: it's cheaper, and in my experience (half a dozen Canon dye-ink printers), Canon dye ink printers virtually never have clogged heads, even if not used for months. That isn't true of pigment ink printers, even with modern improvements. I recently had a time-consuming scare with my 1000. I print periodically just to keep the head from clogging, but I rarely print on matte paper, and I simply didn't think to do periodic prints with matte black ink. The matte black nozzles clogged, and a replacement head is nearly as expensive as the printer, even not taking into account the expensive ink that's lost in replacing the head. Canon has three levels of head cleaning: normal, deep, and the misnamed "system cleaning". You can only do two of anything but the lowest level in a day because the heat can warp the head. After days of trying, ending with two system cleanings, I was finally able to clean the head. That has never happened to me with dye inks.

On the other hand, if you have reason to need archival prints, there's no option: you have to use pigment inks. That was one of two reasons I switched to the 1000: I needed the bigger size, and at that time I was exhibiting and selling prints.

Just my two cents.

[Chataignier]

Thanks for these insights Richard and Dan, very useful. I'm half way to the decision to start printing at home...

[DanK]

Thanks for these insights Richard and Dan, very useful. I'm half way to the decision to start printing at home...

Everyone has different paths for enjoying photography, but for me, printing is very important. Quite apart from wanting to see images in print, I find it very gratifying to be able to create the print myself and to tailor it to what I want.

I'll offer four considerations, none to discourage you:

--the first is the issue above, dye vs. pigment. If you opt for pigment, there are two principal options, Canon and Epson. If you opt for dye and want a serious dedicated photo printer, Canon offers just one, and I'm not sure whether Epson offers any.
--The next decision is size. In English measures, the smaller dedicated printers max out at 13 x 19. The next step up is 17 x 22. At that second size, I'm not aware of any dye-based printers.
--Printing is initially frustrating because there are a lot of details to learn. However, once you have the drill set for your combination of printer, printing software, and operating system, the actual printing (as opposed to preparing the file) is easy.
--Papers make a huge difference. I use a relatively small number, but even with that, once you factor in stock in different sizes, I have hundreds of $$ of paper in boxes piled next to me. My suggestion is to get sampler packs from a few of the major brands. that's a relatively inexpensive way to figure out which you'd like to use most.

[Manfred M]

Just to add to Dan's comments; Epson makes two types of dye ink based photo printers; the ones with standard cartridges and the ones with "tanks" that you fill with ink. A quick check on the Epson website shows four different dye based photo printers. As Dan has noted, the widest paper that they take is between 11" and 13 inches, depending on the specific model.

Any Epson printer that has "Claria" inks are dye based and any printers that use "Ultrachroome" inks are pigment based. Inks are very specific to the printer make and model and are not interchangeable. In general, the more colours your printer uses, the wider the range of colours it can reproduce. When it comes to photo printers, Epson is a much larger player in the market than Canon.

In term of costs, your consumables (ink and paper) are going to be the biggest cost, after the cost of the printer itself. When first starting out, I suggest that you stick with the papers sold by the printer manufacturer, as those printer profiles will be built into the printer firmware and using these to start removes some complications (and variables) from consideration. Something else to consider is that the cost per ml of ink tends to go down as cartridge sizes go up. That was one of the key considerations I had when I bought my first photo printer.

In terms of clogged nozzles, I've had my current printer (Epson P800 pigment ink) for 7+ years and only had one minor clog in that period. While I do print regularly, there have been times where I have not printed for 4 - 5 months in a row. I live in a harsher (dry winter) environment than Dan does and both Epson and Canon have done a good job with their ink seals on the pigment ink desktop models to prevent clogged print heads.

Dan has already covered off the carriage width considerations, as well as the paper types. I tend to print on both fine art matte (cotton rag) and lustre papers. I generally stick to about 7 papers in my usual workflow (four rag and three lustre papers).

Good luck! As a print maker, I far prefer the look of a well made print to a digital image that I can view on a screen, but that's just me.

[DanK]

Manfred is a far more experienced and more skilled printer than I am, but I do disagree with one thing he wrote. I don't think it's necessary to stick with the printer company's papers, even to start, although as he wrote, it's easier because the ICC profiles are included when you install the printer. Most paper companies provide downloadable ICC profiles for all dedicated Epson and Canon photo printers, and installing them is trivially easy in Windows. I've had 4 Canon photo printers, and I've rarely used Canon papers.

[Manfred M]

Manfred is a far more experienced and more skilled printer than I am, but I do disagree with one thing he wrote. I don't think it's necessary to stick with the printer company's papers, even to start, although as he wrote, it's easier because the ICC profiles are included when you install the printer. Most paper companies provide downloadable ICC profiles for all dedicated Epson and Canon photo printers, and installing them is trivially easy in Windows. I've had 4 Canon photo printers, and I've rarely used Canon papers.

The main reason I give that advice is that I have had to help people who got confused in trying to implement paper manufacturer's profiles. Once basic printing is mastered, I agree, it is (usually) fairly easy. Unfortunately, not all paper manufacturer's websites are created equal.

[DanK]

I don't know about the Mac, but in the case of Windows, it's now trivially easy because the operating system automatically places the ICC into the correct directory. You just download the profile from the vendor's website for the particular printer and paper to any location you want, right click on it, and choose "install." That's it.

However, unless you are printing from the printer manufacturer's software, you have to get your printing software to recognize the profile(s), and this is the same issue regardless of whether you are using the manufacturer's papers. For example, in Lightroom, this is done via the color management drop down at the bottom right. It will by default say "managed by printer". If you click on that, it will show all of the profiles you have told LR to recognize. Clicking on "other" brings up a dialog with every ICC installed into the operating system. You just put a check mark by any that you want to use, and they will then show up as options in Lightroom.

[billtils]

An enjoyable thread!

I have a now rather aged Canon Pro 100S dye-based printer which has never given me any trouble in the several years of hard work ("hard" mainly in the sense that it lies idle between printing for my local and country-wide competitions but then gets a severe work out, conditions that a pigment based ink - as in my earlier Epson - struggles with).

I am a long-time Mac user and don't know if they have simplified adding ICC profiles to the extent that Dan describes but it is really quite simple and both the paper manufactures I mainly use - Permajet and Paper Spectrum - provide profiles for their papers and simple instructions on how to load them. I occasionally use Hahnemuhle and it's the same re profiles. Colour management in the printing routine of whatever software is also simple (read the manual!) as long as you remember to change the settings if printing B&W.