Canon Pixma Pro-100 Wireless Color Professional Inkjet Printer with Airprint and Mobile Device Printing

*** Update 4/17/2014 *** I've now had this printer for over 1 year. I have a few more updates. Some additional "cons": 1. There are a few quarks to this printer. While this is a network printer, I've noticed that there are many things that *require* you to do from USB exclusively. Examples: Printing directly to disk, printing with Canon's Print Studio Pro (required for using ICC profiles on the Mac with programs light Adobe Lightroom). This appears to be a software limitation. Since the MacBook Pro that I print from is not close enough to the printer, I have to walk it over and connect the USB. Not ideal. 2. The bundled Canon software (such as Image Garden) is not intuitive. It took me quite some time to figure out how to print directly on a disk label. I generally try to avoid using the software. There are other 3rd party programs to print disk labels, but they all cost $$. 3. I was able to successfully connect my printer to Wifi once, but it stopped working shortly after. I didn't have the patience to keep messing with it, so I gave up and ran another Ethernet cable. The Ethernet cable works OK for general printing needs. A few major "pros" to add: 1. The printer continues to do a fantastic job with prints. The printer doesn't waste much ink and I've easily printed hundreds of photos before having to change the cartridges. 2. If you find yourself doing a lot of printing, cartridges get costly. However, there is a very simple and effective way to refill the cartridges (and reset the chips). Do a search for "Precision Colors"- you will still get fantastic results for a fraction of the cost of ink. I find myself printing a lot more now that I don't have to worry about paying a fortune on cartridges all the time. The prints made by refilling have no discernable difference compared to the OEM ink. I still strongly recommend this printer. Make sure you are using a good quality paper and ICC profiles. Otherwise your prints will appear darker than what you have on your screen, and some of the colors (like the blues in the sky) may be off or washed out. ***** Original Review Below ***** The main things I shoot are church events, soccer/sports, indoor dance, landscapes, occasional weddings, home studio as well as personal/family pictures. I utilize a web site that allows me to upload and store my pictures. The web site allows me (and clients) to order prints, but it takes over a week to process and receive them. The shipping costs also tend to be significant. Local stores that do 1 hr processing don't always have the level of quality that I'm happy with and sometimes my photos get cropped in a way that I don't like. Consequently, the primary reason I purchased this printer is because I wanted to be able to print pictures and get a similar or better level of quality that I might get from a professional lab. I am typically printing 4x6 photos but also want to utilize the larger sizes for some of my landscape photography so I can print "fine art". This printer will primarily serve my personal printing needs, but I may occasionally use it to sell prints as well. In fact, prior to purchasing this printer, a profesional photographer was using this same printer "in the field" and selling prints (pictures of kids with the "easter bunny"). That helped me make my decision to go with this printer. After printing a few batches of photos, here are my general thoughts on this printer: Pros 1. The prints are very good when quality is set to "high". When quality was "standard" the pictures appeared noisy/grainy and did not meet my expectations. 2. When comparing to prints I order online, the quality is on par and possibly even better (when using high quality settings). When comparing to local 1 hr photos, the quality of prints seems more vivid. 3. The prints that I get seem to match what my MacBook Pro displays, but they are slightly darker. 4. The speed of the printer seems quite fast. I easily can batch up 20-30 4x6 prints in the tray (which probably doesn't hold much more than that) and before I know it, the prints are ready to go. I primarily use Adobe Light Room (Mac OSX - Mountain Lion) to do the printing. 5. The digital manual for how to use the printer is very helpful, organized, and well written. Kudos to the technical writers. 6. The bundled software, while not overly intuitive, works almost exactly the same way on both the Mac and PC. There is also a program included called "Creative Park" that appears to let you print things like calendars. However, it also says that if you use non-Canon ink you won't be able to use it. While I plan on using the Canon ink, I don't like that Canon is checking before I use a program. 7. I primarily use a Mac, but sometimes need to print from the PC. I have found no difference in quality or functionality when I use the PC to print (windows 8). Cons 1. The printer is quite heavy! It even had a "team lift" sticker on the box. This concern is not significant unless you plan on traveling with the printer (which I don't). 2. Due to the heft, this printer literally shakes the stand when printing. Make sure you have something sturdy to set it on. 3. The bundled software does not seem overly intuitive. The icon that it puts on your desktop is "in your face" and takes up a lot of screen real estate when fully expanded. I would have preferred that icon to live in the system tray. 4. The ink cartridges are expensive. However, after doing research I feel that the Pro 100 was the best fit for me- I probably won't be printing more than a few hundred photos a month and preferred the vibrant colors. If I were planning on printing more, I may have opted for the Pixma 1 or 10, which should have an overall lower price per print. Other 1. The initial set up of the printer took a bit of time. I spent about 20 minutes wondering why I was getting a yellow blinking light- it turns out I didn't have the lever (where the printer head sits) locked down fully. I wasn't able to locate a support phone number which was my first instinct. Fortunately, I went back and double checked everything, and then noticed that the lever was hitting the right hand side of the printer chassis. That prompted me to pull the lever down further. Once I did that, the blinking light went away and I was good to go. 2. It took me a bit to figure out which tray to put the paper in. I encourage you to read the manual, which was very helpful to me. The lower bottom tray on the back is for manual feed, the higher tray toward the top is for auto feed. You also need to make sure you close the feed tray. I keep forgetting to do that, but the print driver is smart enough to know that you didn't close it and will tell you that on your computer screen. 3. I need to read the manual more to figure out how to set up Wifi. I was able to get the printer working on the wired network connection just fine but WiFi configuration seems to be more difficult. Summary While I've only had the printer for a brief amount of time, I am quite happy with it so far. There is definitely a bit of a learning curve and set up time required. My main concern was print quality- and this printer delivers! The quality is on par with professional labs and seems to be better than your average "1 hr print" photography that you might find in the local grocery or superstore locations. I'm glad I made the step up to this printer. I think it will meet my needs for a long time to come. This is a fine quality product from Canon!

First of all I want to dispel some myths and answer some questions about the printer. It has two (2) paper feed sections, one that is sort of on top, you can put about ¼ of a ream of paper in there and one that folds open from the back of the printer that is single sheet feeding for products that are thicker and don’t bend well. Next it works fine with Windows 10 and the software runs just fine. It takes it a while to warm up, that is typical of all top end printers, don’t shut it off ever and you will be in good shape and it will save you some ink. Also for those that are unsuspecting this printer is massive, you should expect that with so many ink tanks and 13” wide feeding, but it is huge if you have never seen it in person. Ok, now down to the nitty gritty. Setup time from box opened to my first print was about 45 min including installing software and so forth. The profiles for canon papers are not that bad depending on the paper, I tried Luster and Platinum Pro from there line. Luster was not that great, Platinum Pro was better. I also tried some Red River papers last night, I like them better than canon paper and there profiles are better. It feeds my 250gsm Aurora Art paper from the back feed with no problems. Print quality its self was better than my local Walgreens print center so long as you set it to fine, about on par if you set it to normal. Colors where great, purples and blues popped nicely when I was printing some MLP stuff for my daughter, reds and organ look nice too. Black and white is much better than a standard inkjet, but yes the Pro-10 and Pro-1 make better black and white prints (had a friend make me a couple from his studio to compare). Print time was not bad for a high end, on fine setting I hit print and go make a cup of tea, by the time I’m back the page is done. Considering I have some friends with printers that take 5 min a page, I’m pleased with the speed. The good and bad of what is in the box. Well the power cord is a good length and the documentation is not bad. The USB cord they give you is a joke, it is short, very short, only slightly longer than the printer is wide. I have not tried the tray for printing on a CD. The packaging was good and secure. Ok let’s talk value. When I ordered I was arguing between a good price point and the all-out performance of a Pro-1. I don’t print that much, some photos for my cube at my day job, some of my semi-pro photos that I sell on line and a little here and there for family. As such I did not feel that I could justify the price of a Pro-1 and figured I would try the Pro-100 and see if it met my needs. My needs are more than met. For the price point the Pro-100 cannot be beat. I am more than pleased with the purchase and with the rebate it is even better. Word on the rebate. You need to send a full copy of the receipt (showing order number and that you paid), yes Amazon is an authorized retailer, it is a good idea to pre-register the rebate and send the whole set of bar code and SN on the outside of the box and it runs fairly smooth. DO NOT send the upc on the inner flap, DO NOT peel the label off the cardboard, send the cut out cardboard. Hope that was helpful.

So my beloved 14 year old HP Photosmart P1000 finally died, and I went on a search to find something comparable. Without going through all of my experiences, suffice it to say that NO average printer, standalone or the all-in-ones that you find at Best Buy, Sams, Costco, Staples etc are anything near the quality or reliability of my old HP. I don't ask for much, just a large ink cartridge like it had and no paper jams or quirks. All current printers in the usual price range of $69-$299 are JUNK. The name of the game today is pay more for inks than you did for the printer. I mean, just toss the printer when the ink runs out and get a new one for less money - and another set of inks.. RIDICULOUS!!! ALL 3 major mfg's are the same. I could not get past all the bad reviews of printers in this category. Then I found the Pixma Pro 100. People were actually admitting the photos it prints are GOOD! And no horrible reviews of how junky it is! So, while I knew it would be a step up in size (like 3 times the size of a standard printer) I didn't realize how it would make me fall in love with my photoghraphy all over again once I saw the prints. My old HP did absolutely beautiful photo prints, but seeing the ones from the Pro 100 blew me away - they have a "pop" that I am just not used to. Better than photo lab created enlargements like from Adoramapix. Good inkjet is truly different, and being able to print larger that 8-1/2 x 11 is something I think I deserved after all these years! I shoot full frame Canon cameras and the Pixma 100 and my cameras are a match made in heaven. And yes, it will still print out a nice document if you need that! The only warning I want to give is the wifi setup is a little difficult if you choose the wrong route. Save yourself a hernia and choose to set it up using the USB cable (temporarily) as trying to do it wirelessly is a nightmare, trust me. The printer has no screen, so it doesn't walk you through nicely the way the cheaper printers do. So just plug it in to USB, put in the driver disc and follow the instructions. It is very easy this way. Only strange thing was that it found my network, but never asked me for the password. It worked fine without it. Carefully follow the head installation instructions and in the ink installation - VERY IMPORTANT to remove the orange cello strip at the top of each cartridge BEFORE twisting off the orange protective tabs on each. If you don't uncover this air-hole, ink will spray all over as you remove the orange tab because you are squeezing the sides and air forces ink out. Let's just say, I have black fingers right now! This video shows how to install the print head and cartridges fairly well - start at 13:00 for this part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlV7cqqladQ I got a good price on Amazon, and I couldn't be happier. Well, I'd be happier if it were smaller, so just make sure you have a HUGE area cleared for it before it arrives. I'm still looking for a permanent home in my office that has no room!

I think for a lot of people purchasing this printer it's similar to buying exercise equipment. They are excited to buy it and plan on using it on a regular basis but it soon just ends up collecting dust and is destined for storage. Canon has taken a wonderful product that would open up all kinds of possibilities to the photographer and ruined it by greedily overpricing the ink cartridges to the point that is renders this printer useless to anyone on a budget. Ironically by overpricing everything needed to make a printed photo Canon is just accelerating the demise of the photograph. Why pay all these bloated prices to make a printed photograph when you can view your photos on cell phones, notebooks, laptops and electronic photo frames? After all it's more convenient and free. I have drifted off course a bit but it's sad to see the printed photograph reduced to a far inferior point and shoot image on a monitor. Now back to the review, : ) After you factor in the cost of mistakes, photo paper and the ink lost by not using the printer on a regular basis it becomes cheaper just to have your prints made at somewhere like Staples or Costco. This printer is mainly for those people who want the convenience of printing their photos at anytime and for the flexibility to experiment with different types of paper. For those who love photography this is a great piece of equipment and will bring you a load of fun and stimulate your creativity. I have found this printer to be very easy to use with excellent results. A couple of things to keep in mind. One is that the printer will not print if any of the 8 ink cartridges are too low and you should also be aware that this printer is very large and heavy. 5 stars for the printer and minus 4 stars for Canon's decision to overprice the ink thus encourages inferior digital viewing of photographs.

I had a rough few go arounds with this printer before finally getting a satisfactory unit so we'll start off with the problems. First copy of the Pixma Pro 100 I received had an issue that would not allow the print carriage to leave the parking zone out of the box. I was able to tweak the piece of the carriage that was catching towards the output side so as to allow it to travel the width of the printer but the print head could not be satisfactorily be aligned to prevent banding in print. So I created the first RMA. Second printer came in and its print carriage was capable of full travel from the get-go. Sweet. After running 150 prints, mostly @ 13x19 I noticed a couple of quirks with the second unit. First and perhaps most annoyingly it had a paper feeding misalignment problem with where it thought the paper was fed relative to the sides. It seemed the printer was internally misaligned by about a 1/8th inch to the left when looking at the printer from the front (or the alignment could be said offset 1/8th away inch from the parking area). When not printing full bleed this offset was repeatable and measurable in everything I sent through it. When printing full bleed it required me to set the "borderless Amount of Extension" to maximum resulting in a huge amount of ink sprayed into the bottom tray at the far side and on the near side of the carriage park the paper often showed a fading and nearly as often a white border. Making things worse, the printer would feed too much in upon loading and infrequently have a white border/stripe at the leading edge. Through the 150 prints, it was very consistent in the aforementioned so in that sense I think this printer is built extremely solidly. I was about to just settle and live with the alignment issue since it was manageable but then I decided I wanted to use wired Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi. My microwave, although at the other end of the house, is the most RF interfering device on planet earth and although it was not anywhere between the printer and the router/access point, when it was used while running prints it would always cause print data loss resulting in lost sheets of media. The microwave is so bad (but it's ability to do pizza crust perfectly leaves me willing to deal) it causes FM reception to go to crap, AM to be indiscernible, and all wireless connections to drop out. I do not fault the wifi functionality of this printer in the slightest. IT works wonderfully but the wired Ethernet port on Copy #2 was found to be DOA. I uninstalled the print driver, changed the wireless network name and passwords, re-ran the driver installation, selected connect printer through wired network, connected the printer via USB cable, and then connected the printer to the Ethernet cable and... Nothing. I tried the setup using a laptop and got the same result. I then tested the network cable and found it to be in good working order and just had to conclude the wired Ethernet port itself was shot. So RMA #2 was issued and copy #3 of the Pixma Pro 100 was sent to my house. This last copy has all the ports fully functional, is perfectly aligned, and the results are just as clean and lovely as I came to expect from copy #2's output. The internal alignment is so good I can and do set the "amount of Extension" setting for borderless printing to minimum (far left on the Windows slider) and get perfectly centered output with minimal amounts of overspray side to side and when applicable, front and back. The pritner is reasonably mizerly with ink and quick. It takes about 5 minutes on high quality to render a borderless 13x19 print. Astonishing. Unlike the epsons I have owned this thing has yet to show a blocked or clogged nozzle, despite me being in the Epson habit of checking the nozzles before each print session, something you must do with any Epson lest you waste ink and paper but Canon seemingly has eliminated from the end user's overhead. If copy #3 of the Pixma Pro-100 was what I got first, I'd go out of my way to sing the praises of this printer. It is an amazing compliment to my camera and my home printing needs. The print resolution, gamut, consistency has shown me that a whole helluva lot of ground has been covered in the 10 years since I last bought a new color inkjet. The Pixma Pro- 100 is truly a wonder in terms of its output quality. The initial quality of the units gives me some pause when it comes to recommending it but if you buy from Amazon directly, should you have my run of luck, you will be taken care of in Amazon fashion until satisfied. The experience I had with this printer has made me an Amazon customer before anyone else and I hope the problems I had are more a problem with Fedex destroying each packaging container in the process of transporting them to me than Canon's manufacturing ability.

After significant research and consideration I ordered the PRO-100 due to its compelling rebate and wide format capability. I deliberately waited until I had printed a variety of prints and configurations before writing this review, and I have been pleased in almost every aspect. First things first, the build quality and design of this printer are a cut above what you will find from other printers on most retail shelves. If you are like me you have seen the dozens of "do it all" printers that dominate retail shelves that feel like they are going to fall apart just by opening the paper tray or accessing the ink cartridges. Not this unit. The trays, hinges, etc. are all built of a high quality plastic and the printer feels very solid when operating it. The design is simple and clean; it goes without saying that this printer is considerably large but I think that its clean lines and neutral colors make it less dominating. The printer comes with software/driver discs and a basic instruction sheet. I have an iMac which does not have a CD drive, so I found this to be a bit of an obstacle and perhaps something Canon should consider when writing their instructions. With a bit of hunting I located their software online; and I just connected the printer via USB initially so that OS X could locate the drivers and install them. The wireless connectivity is a huge bonus, and the printer connected flawlessly via WPS. I just hit the button on my router and then the printer, and the two found each other without issue. It was a smooth process and a pleasant surprise. I have done all of my printing from Photoshop and have found that Canon's paper and color profiles have been accurate and easy to integrate with Photoshop's print options. I have found using "Photoshop to manage colors" has been more successful than using "Printer manages colors" and then selecting my paper from the next drop down option. You can also click on "printer settings" access all of your standard choices (paper size, etc). In regards to the actual printing there is a lot to be said. The print quality is superior to your local pharmacy lab. The colors are reproduced accurately and the pictures are unbelievably crisp. Canon makes great paper that pairs well with this machine; I used the luster paper included as a sample and I am impressed by it. A great alternative to the traditional matte/gloss options. One observation made during printing is that the print time is notably slower than some home photo printers that it may be compared to. Even a 4x6 is not a quick print in comparison, but I believe that the quality difference is enough to make up for this. At first I was skeptical of the "top load" design where the paper feeds in from the back. I have had printers of this style in the past with mixed results and typically associate this design with paper jams and misfeeds. Not the case with this unit; the adjustments for varying paper sizes are spring loaded and well designed; I have yet to experience a jam or issue with the paper feed system and have been relieved by the ease of use. I have not printed enough to give a true "cartridge yield", but will say that after printing approximately 20 4x6 prints, 5 8x10 prints, and 1 13x19 print my ink levels still display as "full." I am relieved to see this based on the price tag of an ink set, but if they last as long as they are forecasted to I see no trouble. Overall I am thrilled with this unit and for the price of the system after rebate it is a no-brainer for those who enjoy the convenience of printing their photos from home.

I have had this printer for ten years and it works as great as it did when new. It recently sat for 3 years with no use and I was expecting problems with the ink being so old, but the very first print came out great, with no clogging. That impressed me. If you have Lightroom or Photoshop you can use Canon's free Print Shop Pro software which allows in depth control of all aspects of printing. I had to use the USB connection to set it up for wireless, but it was pretty painless. Ten years ago the Pro-100 cost almost half of what it does now, but at the current price I would still purchase it. This was a low resolution jpeg image printed on standard setting at 11x8.5 so don't judge the printer by it.

First, some background: I am a digital artist. I judge a printer on two main criteria: how well does the printer match the picture on my monitor and the color gamut of the printer. I have spent a lot of effort to figure out how to match screen to print. For a monitor, I use an NEC PA271W calibrated using NEC's X-Rite based sensor. I calibrate the monitor to a color balance of 4000K. I view the print next to the monitor under a 4000K Solux lamp (50W low voltage halogen). Using my old printer, a Canon iP6700D, I can get excellent screen to print match using Canon glossy papers (Photo Paper Plus Glossy) and standard Canon printer profiles for those papers. I use 4000K color temperature because I have found (using the X-Rite sensor) that my house is around 4000K on the interior during the day and is in the 3200-3300K range at night (artificial light). I find the 4000K screen color balance makes the screen look like the prints when hung on the wall. This all has taken me years to figure out. I also demand a high level of quality and I am very sensitive to color shifts. Now for the Canon PRO-100 printer. I first printed on stock Canon papers using standard Canon profiles: Platinum Pro, Semi-Gloss, Luster, and Photo Paper Plus Glossy. I was somewhat disappointed with the results--they were OK. I found the screen match wasn't as good as with my older Canon iP6700D printer. So, I started to print grey scales (neutral, warm, cool, 21 points each). I found that for all the papers, the results were similar: highlights were significantly too dark, midtones were light and dark tones were light. I found that overall prints felt dark. I speculate this is because of the compressed contrast and especially missing highlights. I now was thinking I would need to make custom profiles for these papers---I assumed that the issue was with the stock Canon profiles, but couldn't be sure it wasn't a general printer issue. (I found these problems surprising given my past experience with Canon papers and profiles). So, I tried some 3rd party papers. I tried 11 Hahnemuehle and Canson Infinity papers. What a difference! I got outstanding screen matches and color gamuts with the following papers: Hahnemuehle: Fine Art Pearl (my personal favourite), Photo Rag Satin, Photo Rag Pearl, Fine Art Baryta. Canson Infinity: BFK Rives, Platine Fibre Rag (very nice), Photo Satin Premium PC, PhotoArt HD Canvas. In each case I use the stock paper profiles for the PRO-100 supplied by Hahnemuehle and Canson Infinity. The PRO-100 definitely produced lovely prints with better screen matching and color gamut than my old Canon iP6700D. The general color tone was a significant improvement also. So, in summary, the PRO-100 is an excellent printer when used with high quality profiles. For Canon paper, the stock Canon profiles are subpar and I would not recommend them.