Canon iPF6100 - First Printer

[Radtech1]

I posted a couple of questions in the "Beginners Questions" Forum, and it was recommended that I post here for greater visibility.

I am nearly ready to purchase my first high quality printer. I have no experience with high-end printer like this, and need some handholding.  I have searched the various forums and WIKIs and still find myself unsure of what I'm reading.

The most common complaint that I find is a difficulty in getting the image quality dialed in. I went to the site for the product called ImagePrint, which was mentioned here. I was floored at the pricing. Though the iPF6100 is not listed, the price for the comparable Epson 7xxx series is $1,495 - fifteen hundred dollars!

I am already stretched pretty thin ponying up $2,495 for the printer itself. Another 60% on top of that would unfortunately be a deal breaker.

So, put bluntly, is it possible to get quality prints from this printer "out-of-the-box"?  If not what cost effective solutions exist?  I will be using the printer for personal use - to print photographs to hang on my own walls and to enter in local photography contests. I doubt that I would find it necessary to ever use more than a half dozen different paper types.

Thank you very much for your help.

Rad

[jpgentry]

If you don't need this type of printer my suggestion would be not to buy it.  If you need it then you will know the specific questions you need answered when the time comes.  

That said, yes you can get decent pictures out of the box.  Buy Canon media.

[John Hollenberg]

You don't need Imageprint (which isn't available for the iPF6100 anyway).  I would suggest joining the Canon iPF Wiki:

http://canonipf.wikispaces.com

You can get a lot more specific feedback there.

If you are only going to use a few papers, buy the generic ones for $4.00 each from Booksmart Studio (if they have one available for your printer/paper), or use a Canon paper and their generic profiles, or have a few custom profiles built by someone like Booksmart Studio ($40-50 each as I recall, but check with them).

--John

[kaelaria]

Save your money and have your prints made.

[Tony B.]

Rad, how much printing have you done?  If you have had home printers (letter size, 13x19) and have been printing do not think of it as a high end printer but a large format printer.  To me, except for size, there is not much difference in print quality between a $100 printer and my iPF5000.  I have prints between a Canon i960 and iPF5000 that most people would not be able to tell what printer they came from.

If you have been printing then I do not think there will be much of a learning curve for printing.  The learning curve is sharpening for larger prints.  If you have printed using profiles and Photoshop or Qimage all you really have to do is know how to turn off color management in the printer.

I started printing in 2002 with a letter size printer, I stayed with letter sized printers until the end of 2006, where I bought an iPF5000.  I went from dye ink to pigment.  If you are going from dye to pigment there will be a little difference in the look of the prints.  Mainly gloss differential if using glossy papers.

If you have been printing and you have liked your results I am sure you would like the results out of the iPF6100 (or Epson or HP).  Start with Canon paper with the canned profiles.  Then try some other papers and generic profiles.  Because the 6100 is supposed to calibrate to a standard that means the generic profiles should work better than with a printer that does not self calibrate.

You stated "I doubt that I would find it necessary to ever use more than a half dozen different paper types."  But, it will take you 50 different paper types to find those 6 you like  

Tony B.