imagePROGRAF PRO-1100: 17” Professional Wireless Inkjet Photo Printer

Excellent printer. I have a lot of experience with higher end photo oriented inkjets - both Canon and Epson. The 1100 is very, very good. The set up is straight forward, if not a little time consuming. The print quality is just about as good as it gets from any contemporary printer from any brand, with a very broad color gamut. Paper handling is excellent. The Canon drivers and print software is also easy to muse and give great results for anyone who cares to learn just a little about how to use them properly. Keith Cooper at Northlight is a great source for more detailed information. The so-called "banding issue that some buyers have had with the 1100 was totally absent from any prints that I have so far made that should have revealed it; the issue has obviously been resolved with either on going hardware changes in production or firmware changes, or both, so the current supply of 1100's should not have this issue. The only downside to the 1100, besides having the room to use this rather large printer, is that it tends to use a lot of ink - expensive stuff - in regular maintenance. This is true for all high-end photo inkjets, but this latest series of Canon's pro inkjets does seem to use more ink for maintenance than its competitors, and it's something to consider. There are some work-arounds for this readily available to discover on various internet sites, but there is no absolute "cure." However, if you are looking to print frequently, there will be no cost increase for ink as frequent printing does most of this the type of maintenance itself. If you print infrequently, like once a month or every two or three weeks, you should be prepared for incurring the slight extra cost. One the positive side of costs, the 1100 has a replaceable thermal ink head which could theoretically save you a huge amount of money compared to having a clogged head using the non-replaceable piezo inkjet heads in Epson and other brand printers. Regardless, the ink maintenance issue is not that big a deal, and if you follow the best practices with the 1100, it is a quite small added cost. In short, I highly recommend this printer; it's easy to make great photo and graphic arts prints with this machine, the prints will last at least a human lifetime if kept properly, and it will make prints from 4x6 inches, up to 17x25 inches, that you will be proud to display.

This puts other inkjet printers to shame. First it makes beautiful gallery quality prints in your own studio. A little slow for anything other than low volume, but quality is what it is about, not speed. Makes a bit of noise, so maybe you do not want to put it within arms reach. The other thing this printer excels at, is begging for money. Cost per square inch is lower than smaller printers of similar capability, but it makes bigger prints too. Excellent gallery grade paper is expensive, and the Ink is more expensive. Doesn't matter, creating is an addiction. Skip one meal a day to help cover the costs. Nice printer.

Setup was easy enough, and the Canon software for printing made printing easy. First prints looked ok, but some landscape photos looked darker than what showed on my monitors (I have Dell U3223QE monitors). This was no fault of the printer. I figured my monitors needed calibration, so I also purchased the Calibrite Display Pro HL calibrator. After calibrating monitors, prints match what I edit on screen and look great ( I use mix of Adobe Photoshop and Canon editing software). The printer is somewhat heavy, I have it on the floor now and am looking for a desk or stand sturdy enough to hold it. When the printer is printing, it does make some modest noise but nothing that would disturb a quiet office. I’m using the Canon papers for now and they look good for my needs. I don’t sell my prints but just wanted a really great printer that would let me print large. For reference, the last printer I purchased was a Canon i9900 years ago when I did wedding photography. The camera I have is an older EOS 6D. Still takes great photos. But it’s been giving me some error messages lately. May be time for some new gear in the new year? 😊

My husband purchased this and we have been using it for ~ 9 months. The photo quality is excellent. Definitely worth the money. We were concerned when the low ink indicators came on soon after purchasing but we have printed multiple large prints since with no issue. Setup up was easy if you have any computer skills at all. The window type menu is easy to navigate. The full color prints take a few minutes but are worth waiting for and the richness of the colors and the vibrancy are fabulous. It is heavy so get help to bring it inside. It weighs about 75-80 pounds and once you place it somewhere you will want to keep it in that place. We have printed 13 x 19 but it will print up to 17 x 22. By far the best paper to use is the Canon pro platinum, that metallic finish makes all the difference in landscape and architectural photos. Hubble tries to print something every few days as recommended by other owners to prevent ink wastage. He has a huge collection of beautiful photos that I need a larger place to display!

I must say, I truly love this printer. I wish I had purchased this sooner. I am actually saving myself some from outsourcing the printing, which I haven't been happy with my third party printer. Also I have total control over the quality of my prints. Yes, there is a learning curve, but well worth the time spent learning and understanding what you can do. There is more you can do than you can't do with this Printer.

So far happy with the quality of the images being printed. Experimenting with papers. Learning curve is somewhat challenging. Printed from Lightroom and set up Canon software. Now figuring out drivers for paper and uploading them. Got one uploaded to printer itself. Watching youtube and calling friends for help.

Amazing quality pictures.