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Canon Pixma Pro-100 review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £374
inc VAT

Cheaper to buy and run than other A3+ inkjets, with great print quality to boot

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.

Canon Pixma Pro-100

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.

Canon Pixma Pro-100

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.

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Basic Specifications

Rating*****
Maximum native print resolution4,800×2,400dpi

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A4N/A
Quoted speed, colour A4N/A

Tested Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.03m 48s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.07m 23s

Print Quality

Number of ink colours8
Number of ink cartridges8
Maximum number of ink colours8
Maximum number of cartridges8
Quoted photo durability30 years
Quoted photo durability sourceCanon

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfacesUSB, 10/100 Ethernet, 801.11n wireless
Optional printer interfacesnone
Size215x689x385mm
Weight19.7kg
Noise (in normal use)38.5dB(A)

Paper Handling

Maximum paper sizeA3+
Maximum paper weight350gsm
Standard paper inputs1
Standard paper input capacity150
Maximum paper inputs1
Maximum paper input capacity150
Duplex (code, cost if option)No

Photo Features

PictBridge supportYes
Borderless printingA3+
Direct (PC-less) printingYes
Supported memory cardsnone
CD printingYes

General

Printer technologythermal inkjet
Supported operating systemsWindows XP/Vista/7/8, MacOS X 10.5.8 – 10.8
Other inkjet featuresautomatic print head alignment, print via Android/iOS app
Other inkjet optionsnone

Buying Information

Price£374
Consumable parts and prices£13 each
Quoted life of supplied photo cartridge(s)Black: 900 photos, Grey: 492 photos, Light Grey: 835 photos, Cyan: 600 photos, Magenta: 416 photos, Yellow: 284 photos, Photo Cyan: 292 photos, Photo Magenta: 169 photos
Price per colour A4 pageN/A
Price per mono A4 pageN/A
Warrantyone year RTB
Supplierhttp://www.printerbase.co.uk
Detailswww.canon.co.uk

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.03m 48s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.07m 23s