The Canon Has Landed!

Sometimes I'm reluctant to put up a new post here on TOP simply because the comments to the previous posts seem so vital and lively, and I'm learning from them and enjoying them so much that it seems a shame to move on. That's been the case in the "which is easier" post just below this one, as well as Ctein's post from Friday—in fact, in all the posts since I returned. Some very interesting comments. Thanks to all.

In the post just before this one, though, it's worthwhile to mention that I wasn't asking which was better, or faster, or gave better results, or even which sort of printing or prints people prefer, but only which was easier.

To me, color darkroom printing was relatively easy, even though it was tedious. Of course, part of the reason I think so is that I mostly used semi-professional or pro-level systems that were kept in calibration by others—two of the darkrooms I worked in had full-sized, $10,000+ Hope color processing machines, not to mention color-correct viewing booths. And I was good at judging color. I wasn't the one who had to mix the chemicals, or clean the machines, or run the test sheets. I just fed exposed paper in one end, waited a while, and a dry print came out the other end.

(The thing I hated? That the prints weren't going to last. Being lazy, I only want to have to do something once.)

I also wanted to say that I really don't think digital printing is very easy. Granted, part of what influences that opinion is that I spent two+ years in a Vulcan death-grip battle with successive HP B9180s that did everything possible to thwart me short of sneaking up on me in the night and suffocating me with pillows. But still, the journey to digital printing mastery seems long, and the opportunities for bugs and SNAFUs many.

I think "richardplondon" (that's Richard P. from London, not a guy named Rich Plondon) put it best in the Featured Comments when he said that if you expect digital printing to be easy, that's when it will bite you in the katuschka; you've got to respect it and work at it. Or words to that effect. Maybe it's relatively easy to do digital printing in a casual or cursory way, but I don't think it's very easy to do it well.

My fundamental insecurity with computers might also be coming into play here. My attitude towwards computers is that if they are doing what they're supposed to be doing, it's magic, and nobody touch anything. And if they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, it's possible to get there from here but damned if I know how. My default attitude when it comes to computers is not quiet confidence of eventual mastery—it's kneejerk, slightly neurotic pessimism.

At any rate, it's been more than a year since "my"* last B9180 was decommissioned, and, just two days ago, a large box labeled "Pixma Pro 1" arrived from Canon. I'm very excited about this, and anxious to get started, but unfortunately it's going to be at least a month before I can even open the box—and that's if I work hard. TOP needs a bigger office; the shortage of space in my office is so critical that there isn't a place to set down a plate. Setting up a printer in here is simply out of the question. And we're still working toward recarpeting the living room, which is the only place in the whole house the printer can go.

But as I (eventually) get the Pixma Pro 1 up and running, and hopefully singing and dancing and producing magnificent prints the likes of which the world has not yet seen, I'll be writing about it not from the perspective of an expert, but from the perspective of an ordinary schlub who is mildly technophobic and not natively fluent in computerese—and feeling more than a little anxious about the myriad potential pitfalls and pratfalls of the journey. If that also describes your feelings toward higher-end printers, maybe you'll be happy to come along for the ride—even if only to enjoy the occasional dose of Schadenfreude.

Mike

*They were possessed, all right, but not by me.

Send this post to a friend

Please help support TOP by patronizing our sponsors B&H Photo and Amazon

Note: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. More...
Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Timprov: "(For reference, I'm one of those code-writing know-nothings.) [This refers to something I said in the Comments section: 'There's no way to quantify or specify a person's general computer knowledge. I've heard people claim great competence who can barely open a folder, and I've known people who say they know nothing who can write code.'  —MJ.]

"I decided to pick up printing around the time of Ctein's beginners articles at the end of last year [Part I, Part II, and Part III] and partly because of them. I bought an Epson 4900 and expected I'd be spending several months getting up to speed with it. I was more than a little shocked when it took me about three days to be producing prints of reasonably comparable quality to those of Ctein's inkjets that we have around here. I didn't even have to custom profile the thing.

"Now maybe I got a cherry, and maybe I'm talented at this. Probably some of each is true. But I think the largest contributing factor is that it just isn't very hard. Instead of fighting with printing, I've spent the last six months working to bring my post-processing and photography skills up to the level of my printer. In that sense, it's been the best purchase I've made in a long time.

"It didn't seem to me to require much computer skill at all, but that might be the cherry model talking. Much more key was editorial skill—being able to see what I didn't like in a print, figuring out what to do to change it, and figuring out how to implement that.  That's also a lot more fun."

Featured Comment by Graham Dew: "I like most things about working digitally; the instant feedback, the accurate metering and focussing, the ease of editing. But over the past decade nothing has been more exasperating than trying to produce decent prints at home. I have had a dedicated B&W printer and several colour printers and have been able to achieve good results, but never without a lot of effort, and never settling on a stable, reliable combination of hardware, software and process. I have neither the time nor the money to sink into any more home printers, and for the past couple of years have been sending my images off to a lab. The prints are always good, much cheaper than doing it myself, and always make me feel happy that I didn't have to go through the grief that used to come from desktop printing.

"I've blogged about this in the past in a post called 'The Misery of Printing.' It has been one of my most-read posts—we are not alone!"

Question from Dave Stewart [see the Comments Section for Dave's full comment]: "Any particular reason for choosing this printer?"

Mike replies: Not really. Just trying to guess at the best product for me. I've long been leery of Epsons because of head-clog problems with early ones, even though I have no take on whether those problems carry on down to the present day or not, and the Pro-1 has multiple B&W inks and I still continually pine for B&W, which I like better than color. I really have no idea if the Canon is any good or any better than its competitors, but you gotta start somewhere.

Comments

[Bill Mitchell]

Good (easy) color printing is just like good B&W silver printing -- the key is to have a good negative/digital image to start with. If your source material is crap, it will be a ball breaker no matter what system you are using.

[Scott]

Looking forward to detailed feedback as you work with the printer, with special attention to Epson comparisons if you are able.

[Dean Johnston]

Hi!

Small comment, and not really on topic (or even necesarily for publication).

Just wondering about your "*" marked footers. and whether it would be possible to put larger asterisks in the body of your posts? I always find the footer, but when I go back up, I often can't find the original asterisk (well truthfully, I usually can, but it seems to take ages. I've reread today's post three times and, at the risk of unveiling my stupidity to the world, have to admit I can't find it). Don't know if this is a problem for anyone else, but thought you'd like to know, from a user point of view.

Thanks.

Dean

[Stan B.]

It doesn't exactly fill me with hope or confidence when I hear people who I damn well know are a lot more computer literate than I say that their lack of computer expertise is preventing them from becoming master (ie- competent) inkjet printers.

The whole digital revolution may have made picture taking a breeze (though you wouldn't know it from the last few posts on camera menus), but the printing end of the equation still seems a far fetched afterthought.

[Patrick Dodds]

I don't know about higher end printers, but you have described perfectly my feeling towards my own low-end Pixma. Currently everything it produces is orange: no changes to the set up, it has just decided to turn the world tangerine. No idea why, of course, it is just the way it is,

[jrapdx]

Exactly. In the absence of $10,000 machinery, digital is easier, but that doesn't mean it's easy. It still requires one to know a lot about the process, have the equipment and experience to make it work well, and the sensibility to distinguish what's really good from just OK.

Actually, all those years spent in the darkroom laboring over the details of process control turn out to be excellent training for digital work. It teaches us not to be afraid to "twist the knobs" of computer software, printer settings and of course the camera itself.

So dive right in and see what happens. Hey, no toxic fumes, nothing will explode, at worst there will be a lousy print. But it's not like it didn't happen before anyway.

JRA

[Marc Gibeault]

With your thoroughness and entourage, you will probably setup the printer the "right way", creating custom profiles and by-passing the Canon driver, etc.
But it would be interesting to do a little experiment; follow the steps on the "quick setup sheet" (that is now common with all the printers I encountered in the last few years), install the programs and all, put in a sheet of the "Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II" they provide as sample and then print a picture you like that is relatively difficult to get right.
Then do all the necessary profiling, the Photoshop trickery and try to get the best print on the paper you like best with the same image as before.
Now compare the two prints and evaluate the time and efforts spent to get the second one. Was is fun? Was it worthwhile?
It's like the exercise you suggested a few weeks ago about improving our printing abilities, but for the lazies and in reverse...

[Steve Jacob]

Good choice - I spent years beating my B9180 with my fists in frustration and then when migrating to W7 the Adobe plug-in was no longer supported which made sizing and border setting almost impossible.

All the Pixma series are a doddle to set up and the interface far easier to decipher. Default profiles are also pretty good. I think you will find it a major improvement!

[David Bostedo]

Well if you had the digital equivalent of what you had for a color darkroom, you'd have a professionally managed printer with a fully and properly color calibrated and profiled computer, viewing station, and room lighting.

At that point, color printing would still be easier, because you'd just make your file look how you wanted, and click "print".

[Bruce Robbins]

Mike,

I'd like to thank you for unwittingly encouraging me to buy the HP B9180 which turned out to be as big a disaster for me as it appears to have been for you. I got it after reading your review of it in Black and White Photography magazine (it was either the B9180 or the A4 version). The reason for my gratitude is that I eventually realised that darkroom printing was much less hassle than digital printing - so went back to the darkroom! In truth, I should never have left it, especially not for one of the devil's instruments.

I've had a couple of excellent prints out of the B9180 - the kind of quality that no doubt encouraged you to give it some praise in the magazine review - but achieving consistency has been the problem. I really do hope that you get on well with the new Canon but just remember that you have a darkroom at hand should the sort of output you're looking for prove elusive. Like the snow leopard in the mountains of central Asia, it's your natural domain!

[Howard French]

This promises to be a rich topic for TOP, Mike, and I, for one, can't wait.
I bought an HP B9180 myself several years back based, in part, on stuff I read here, and haplessly followed you into disaster with it. Don't think I've ever owned a more frustrating and ultimately disappointing piece of equipment.
I'm a reasonably happy owner now of an Epson 3880, but boy does it take a lot of time to get really good at using it.
Howard French

[Earl Dunbar]

Setting a plate down, as in nourishing the body and soul in one's place of work, is more important than a place for the printer. We can wait.

But now I am curious about that printer. It looks (voice of Stuart McKenzie) "dead sexy".

[Richard Alan Fox]

The true beauty of digital printing is that an ordinary schlub can produce pretty good print without getting lost in the safelight zone.

[Paul Glover]

Digital printing has a couple of things going for it: you don't have to mess with chemicals, and you can repeatedly make identical prints.

Unfortunately you have to mess with a whole bunch of other stuff and I sort of like the idea that each individual print really is an individual, close but not completely identical.

[Mike Johnston]

Stan,
I admit I was exaggerating my computer incompetence for (hopefully) comedic effect. I'm not so bad.

It's funny, but in my experience there's no way to quantify or specify a person's general computer knowledge. I've heard people claim great competence who can barely open a folder, and I've known people who say they know nothing who can write code.

I'm kinda the same way with computers as I am with cameras or printers: I know what I want to do, and I'll generally learn enough to enable myself to do it. But I don't have very much interest in knowing things just to know them. And it doesn't come terribly easy to me.

Right now I'm just feeling sore because I arrived home to find a) no Internet, b) no AirPort, and c) no email. Had to spend what seemed like two days taking care of problems that really shouldn't have existed.

Mike

[mark Janness]

It's important to plan for printers before they arrive.

My Epson 7900 wouldn't fit down the stairs to the basement where our computer/print room is located. Fortunately I had extra room in my bedroom to set up the printer via a wireless bridge. Next I think I will move the computer upstairs too. It's not very efficient running up stairs all the time to check the prints.

There is something to be said about not having to deal with a spouse when it comes to making priorities for our hobbies.

[Jeffrey Lee]

Congrats on the upgrade. I had to purchase a Pro 1 after discovering that the used B9180 for which I had patiently acquired the ink for was actually DOA, although so far past the date of purchase that return to B&H was impossible.

I've enjoyed using the Pro 1, although I've not found it quite as easy to get right as the Epson 3880. Prints darker and redder, IMHO. I feel like I've not learned how to control it well, particularly in how it prints black and white. Anyway, have fun!

[GH]

I may not be Ctein, or have his standards, but I do visit galleries often in Los Angeles, own quite a few photo books, and have outsourced prints to high end print shops. I still maintain that digital color printing is relatively easy these days. Maybe I'm taking my 5+ years of extensive Lightroom experience for granted, or maybe I've lucked out with my profiles, printer, and computer combination, but I find LR4 a very capable resource for "developing" pictures and preparing them for print, especially now that the program has a soft proofing functionality.

Now, several years ago, when Photoshop was in the mix for me, I did often get frustrated, but staying in Lightroom all the way to print almost feels like I'm cheating. Unless I was doing really dramatic photo editing, I can't imagine adding Photoshop back into my workflow.

Is anyone else printing straight from LR, or any other raw converter, these days?

[Jim Covello]

The only B9180 was the only real photo printer I ever owned, and it convinced me that it is not worth the trouble or the ink. What an unmitigated disaster. It did convince me never to do my own printing again, however. I can't see ever doing it enough to be worth it. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Richard Tugwell]

Regarding computer competence. I've always thought it's a bit like cars. There was a time with personal computing you had to be a bit of a mechanic, as well as holding a driving license. Now it's more about how good a driver you are. I've always been involved in the nuts and bolts side of computing, but all I really want now is to use the damn things to get from A to B. Knowing where B is has become the important thing

[Bryce Lee]

As I recall Mike, you started to construct a dark room, before it became a wet room.

Given the heat of a Wisconsin summer, would it be best to reconsider perhaps using said alloted space that was to be the "dark & dank"
room for you office?

If you think it's going to get damp, simply get some pontoons and mount your office on them. Then everything will float, and you can still print and work in the dark, sorry office! Simple eh?

[Kurt Shoens]

A friend told me long ago that owning a printer is too much trouble. I thought he was crazy, but still I refrained from buying a good photo printer despite really wanting one. As so many do, I prepare files and have them printed. I let someone else purchase, profile, and maintain the printers.

After reading so many disheartening comments about the difficulty of keeping a printer in shape, my friend doesn't seem so crazy after all.

[Rodolfo Canet]

Technical difficulties about getting the print right aside, what is driving me crazy when digital printing are all the hassles that shouldn't be there: paper transport issues, roll marks on the surface, defective quality control in paper manufacturing (spots in half the sheets of Hahnemuhle different papers), and so on... I guess I'm not the only one.

Very interested on how your Canon behaves...

[richardplondon]

I was being rather more flippant in my earlier comment than you imply, but... OK. And sorry again about the confusing screenname. Incidentally, I've just taken delivery of an Epson R3000, after a printing hiatus of my own, so I'll just have to see how much of an "adventure" that turns out to be. So far so undramatic - from Lightroom, onto lovely Harman Baryta paper.

[Ed Grossman]

If you'd like, I'll be glad to hold the printer for you. I've got plenty of room. In fact, I'll even take it out of the box, set it up, and run test prints through it (just to make sure the print head is properly aligned and the nozzles stay clean).

All you have to do is ship it to me. Sure, I'm a complete stranger somewhere on the internet. Like all those kind people from my inbox looking out for my reproductive health and selling those beautiful replica watches, I'm completely honest. Really!

[Kelvin Skewes]

@ Patrick Dodds it sounds like you might be double color managing ie the Photoshop print dialog is set to 'Photoshop manages colors' and the color management is on in the Printer driver settings. You can have either Photoshop or the print driver manage the color but not both, otherwise you end up with something very red or orange.

[Dave Stewart]

Any particular reason for choosing this printer? Or did I miss that in a previous post? Only asking, as I may have a go at printing in the future.

Dean Johnston Problems finding the " * ":

If you're using a Windows PC, try the "Find..." command, by holding down the "Ctrl" key and pressing "F". Next type in what you're looking for. Useful time-saver when trying to locate things in lengthy documents. Can't comment on other operating systems, though I'm sure they'll have something similar.

Mark Janness's comment:
"There is something to be said about not having to deal with a spouse when it comes to making priorities for our hobbies."

That may have led to a pertinent question for the respondents in the high number categories of the poll that asked, "How many cameras do you own?"!
I laughed as I thought back to the motorcycle in the living room, for a couple of years (until the marriage). Numerous electronic repairs lying around the house, and the 17ft long sea kayak in the living room, after the marriage (ended).

[Mike Plews]

I suspect a lot of TOP readers are looking to upgrade their printers and something like the Pro 1 looks about right.
My biggest frustration with digital printing has been struggling to get the monitor to match the printer output.
Any insight you gain in this area as you put the Canon though it's paces would be welcome.

[Hugh Look]

I'm one of the people who bought a B9180 and have aged considerably as a result. A small but distinct part of my decision was that you liked it (then.) Like you, I've been in equal parts in love and in hate with it, and before I read this had just about decided to buy a Pro-1. Now I'm in two minds. Will I have more luck following this particular star this time? So I'm going to wait now until I hear what you make of it--maybe for just a couple of years or so!

[Roger Botting]

Mike, about your lack of space at the TOP office, you need to get a 'closet fairy'. My wife has one working for her.
How it works. I take my motorcycle helmet or pair of boot, or coat or whatever from the closet so that I can go to work.
My wife goes to the closet, sees the 'new' space and puts something there.
I come home and find a new occupant for the space I vacated, its usually my wife's, in place of what I removed. It then becomes my problem to find space.
You can follow the same model, it does work for my wife. She has a similar fairy who lives in the basement. She keeps dumping junk there hoping it just goes away at the next ' never happens' yard sale.

[Dean Johnston]

Hello Dave Stewart!

Not sure if I should love you for showing me something new & useful (Cmd + F on a Mac - for some reason, I only ever thought of this as something for documents I was writing), or hate you for highlighting my ignorance in public (but to be fair, I did start it) ;-)

Anyway, thanks for that.

[patrick]

Thanks Kelvin, I will look into that.

[Patrick Perez]

Well, Dave beat me to the punch of suggesting using the Find command (I could add another method, just hit F3 to bring up the search box. A 50% more efficient method (g)).

For Mike, I would point out that the Canon Pixma Pro 1 supports connectivity via Ethernet. You could run a CAT5/6 cable to another room. It isn't like one needs to be next to a color printer insofar as it takes a bit to print, and more to let the inks cure to a reasonable state for critical judgment.

Patrick

[Stan B.]

Mike- I can understand that computer expertise is relative. I think what may not be relative however is that even if one is fortunate enough to get everything functioning and coordinated to their satisfaction, the smallest change in either software or hardware means they often have to recalibrate or reconfigure the whole ball of wax. Home printing then becomes a question of how much money one has to continually update the subsequent learning curve. That said, I most sertainly can understand the allure of making your own prints and controlling the process from start to finish.

[Rob]

I have been printing digitally (with an Epson 3880) for slightly more than 2 1/2 years. I have no experience with darkroom printing. As I see it,the hardest part of producing a great digital print is producing a great image on the monitor. From that point onward, it's simply a matter of having a properly calibrated display and the correct profile for the printer/paper combination that you are using.

I never cease to be amazed that a non-artist, such as myself, who is well into his sixties, has managed to become reasonably proficient at producing prints that some people might consider excellent. The technology for accomplishing this feat is readily available and relatively affordable. I'm quite certain that if this were still the analog age, I never would have taken up photography as a serious hobby at this stage of my life. I consider myself very lucky that the digital age came along when it did. For the record, I am probably no more technically savvy than Mike is, and possibly a good deal less.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

"Computer skills" is now such a big category that nobody is good at all of them. I've been writing software professionally since 1969, but that doesn't make me an expert at setting up a USB device on a Windows box, or at figuring out why I can't get an app on a tablet to navigate to the filesystem root.

Plus there's always the Dunning-Kruger effect to keep in mind.

[James Gaston]

My house is full of framed prints from my HP b9180. I've had no trouble with it since day one. Don't know if my standards are a bit low, but I've been pleased with the machine's performance and am sorry HP has abandoned that market.

HP cannot decide what kind of company to be, which is discouraging from the consumer's point of view (to say nothing of the suffering by rank-and-file HP employees). A printer plus ink is a size-able expense to this amateur so I want to hook my wagon to a company that will support and upgrade their products.

[John Camp]

One really fast way to deal with printing problems is to have low standards. With about 99% of my photos, I don't care if there's a small blocked-up shadow area in the background, or if there's a burned-out highlight somewhere, as long as most of the print looks pretty okay. I will concede that the other 1% can be a problem.

I had three darkrooms of varying quality over the years, but never was a good printer. My problem was basically mental -- I like to consider things, rather than simply react, and, as with cooking, darkrooms require decisiveness and reaction. Once you've got a chemical reaction going, it's gonna go. You can stop it, or not, but you really don't have a lot of time for consideration. And sometimes, of course, there's no consideration at all, as when you've got the film in the tank. If you've messed something up, there's no going back.

For me, the best part of the digital lightroom is the ability to simply stop the developmental process, or even step backward. And, once you do press the print button, of course, you can look at a print and even then, go all the way back to the beginning of the process and re-do everything. I'd have to say that of the ten best prints I've ever made, all ten were digital prints...and I'm really not all that good a digital printer.

However, I have owned a lot of printers of all kinds, and I find Canon to be pretty good. (I've sworn a blood oath never again to buy anything from HP. I have had fairly good luck with Epson.) I think you'll be happy with your Canon.

[c. lund]

I would find it interesting, if you ordered prints from an online commercial printer. You could then use them as baseline. Just an idea.

[Softie]

As an ex-dyer who had the pleasure of computer spectrophotometry when it was expensive and difficult, and calibrating your spectrophotometer was required once per day, I look upon color digital printing with fear and loathing. Metamerism, gamut fluctuating with substrate, color space fun, oh my.

I have TOP to thank, however, for my new printing methodology: digital capture, edit on computer, and outsource B&W printing to Digital Silver Imaging. It makes black and white digital possible without the enduring nightmare of dye/pigment printing (see first paragraph above).

[Mahn England]

I've been printing on my Canon Pro9500 II for over 12 months now. I mostly use Canon's Hahnemulle Photo Rag and sometimes the Platinum for both colour and B&W prints.

Nothing gives me a sense of achievement more than closing that long loop from capture through post processing to holding that piece of paper and saying "wow did I do that?"... then I have to do the sanity check because I should and could do better next time around.

Mike, I hope you get that buzz when the first good print emerges from the front of that box.

[patrick]

Thanks Kelvin will try that.

[Rich]

I've never found it that difficult to make a reasonable digital print. I orignally owned an Epson 1290S and that gave good quality prints once it had been custom profiled. I now own an Epson R3000 and that produced great looking prints straight out of the box just using a "canned" profile on Ilford paper. I only needed a custom profile once I moved on to using less generic paper. It's good at mono work too, having the benefit of several shades of grey in addition to black inks.

The 1290S suffered a clog but that was only after an ill advised experiment with third party inks. The R3000 (Epson inks only!) just works.

I believe climate can play a factor in head clogs. Here in the UK the summers are generally not as hot compared to the USA (especially this summer!) and the humidity rarely falls below 60% so maybe the printer heads don't dry out as quickly.