Canon Pixma Pro-100 review

The Canon Pixma Pro-100 is the entry-level model in Canon’s Pro range of A3+ printers, aimed at semi-professional and professional photographers and printers. It uses the same ChromaLife 100 inks as many of Canon’s smaller A4 inkjet printers and MFPs, which have always done well in our photo quality assessments. The Pro-100 uses eight ink cartridges, including Grey, Light Grey, Photo Cyan and Photo Magenta in addition to the usual cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks. The ‘Photo’ colours are paler versions of the standard inks, allowing for more subtle shading, accurate tones and a wider colour gamut.

ChromaLife inks are dye-based, as opposed to the pigment inks used by most serious A3+ printers such as Canon’s Pro-10 and Pro-1 or Epson’s R2000. Although dye-based ink, for a long time the default option for inkjet photo printing, lacks the longevity and anti-bleeding properties of pigment, it has its benefits. Dye-based ink, which soaks into the paper rather than leaving solid particles of pigment on top of it, tends to look brighter, smoother and glossier than pigment. This is definitely the case here, with the Pro-100’s photos immediately popping with vibrant colour at even default print settings.

While the level of fine detail and subtle shading isn’t quite as accurate as that produced by high-end pigment ink printers, our photos looked fantastic, with a glossy finish that highlighted delicate areas of contrast and really grabbed the eye. Skin tones look great and dark areas in particular appear rich and intense. The reflectiveness of the gloss finish won’t be to everyone’s taste, but our sample panel preferred it to the semi-lustre effect of the pigment-based Canon Pro-10 on the same glossy Canon Platinum Pro paper. Fine art photos, particularly in black and white, often benefit from the semi-gloss finish that goes hand in hand with pigmented ink, but if you’re looking to print bright and exciting personal snaps and posters, this printer does a brilliant job without requiring any editing or tweaking to optimise your image’s colour.

In common with the rest of the Pixma Pro range, the printer feeds paper from a rear tray. A rear support folds out to help feed even large A3+ paper sizes. While we had no trouble with large sheets of photo paper, paper feeding was a little less reliable when it came to printing 4x6in photos. If we had only a few sheets in the rear tray, the printer would at times pick up two sheets at once. It’d then stop printing while we removed the extra 4x6in sheet. This isn’t a problem if you’ve got a healthy stack of paper in the tray, but is worth bearing in mind if you plan to leave the Pro-100 carrying out a large print job while you go away and do something else.

For similar reasons, you won’t want to use this printer for plain A4 documents on lightweight copier paper. Not only is it a waste of expensive ink, but the printer constantly fed multiple pages at once when we used 75gsm photocopier paper. They didn’t get stuck in the printer’s workings, but the resulting prints were unusable. Thicker 100gsm inkjet paper fared better, but mono text print speeds are poor, with even a single page taking 40 seconds.

Photo print speeds, on the other hand, are rather good. Our reference A3 print completed in three minutes and 25 seconds, while two 10x8in photos printed in three minutes, 48 seconds and six 6x4in photos in seven minutes and 23 seconds.

As well as being one of the cheapest A3+ photo printers you can buy, at £374, the Pixma Pro-100 is also one of the cheapest to run. Even including the cost of Canon’s most expensive Platinum Pro glossy photo paper, a 6x4in print costs 32p. Only 3p of that is down to the cost of the ink and less expensive papers are available both from Canon and third-party manufacturers such as Illford. If you use a third-party paper, make sure it’s a good one with an ICC profile available for this particular printer, to make sure you get optimal quality. Even using Canon’s most expensive paper, the printer is massively good value for A4 and A3 posters, which come in at 82p and £1.96 respectively.

We love the Pixma Pro-100, despite its occasionally flaky paper handling. It’s the best choice for amateur photographers who want hassle-free printing, but its support for colour profiles and a wide range of professional papers makes it a great choice for a professional on a budget, too. It’s our Best Buy.