New guy needs new printer

[Ernst Dinkla]

And print heads...since Canon charges about $600 per head (it takes two), depending on the the amount of printing you do, it'll cost you about $1200 to replace the heads. Just pointing that out as Michael found out after doing what he thought was not a huge amount of printing and having to replace his heads. Many people do not factor this cost in when they buy. HP charges $30-40/head (replaceable individually) and Epsons rarely need head replacements (you hope).

A friend with an iPF9000 had to replace 4 head sets meanwhile in about 20 months (+ two ribbon tube sets to the head). Paid by Canon though. That printer was running day in day out and the ink sales must have made it a good deal for Canon nevertheless.

The two channel head (6 per printer) of the Z3100/Z3200 cost in total approx. $ 330 for the 6 but can be replaced individually at $ 55 each. With the intermittent use of my Z3100 over a similar period I didn't have to change heads at all. Similar reports from other Z3100 users on the Wide Inkjet Printers list.



Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

[Ernst Dinkla]

Dear Geoff,
A good and to the point advise. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I’m leaning over to HP. In fact, I choose HP. But. Here in Holland I found a favorable deal for the Z3100. Only one small detail…. Sold out, everywhere. Now I’m back to zero, because the Z3200, nobody even knows when it will be in stock, goes for much more bananas.
I’ll keep you (all) informed how the story continues.

Bas

Quality Graphics had a deal on the Z3100. Not one left there ?


Ernst Dinkla

Try: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

[Gerryb]

I am also considering a Z3100 or Z3200. I can still get the z3100 for 1000 Euros cheaper than the Z3200, should I go for it while I can OR spend the extra on the Z3200?

Yes very expensive and I don't know why, although you can get them for a little bit less. ($1000-$1100) They are supposed to be good for around 1100 24x36 inch prints. So about $1 per print at this size.  And I figure that I am not printing such a high volume to go though the heads very quickly.  I don't know how many prints Michael got and I wonder if this was normal wear or head failure. (Reports I read showed few needed replacement but a couple failed under warranty.)   Of course this could still be the bug in the ointment, but if I end up selling so many prints, the cost of the heads won't bother me too much, or perhaps it will be so long from now that a new printer will be a better choice at that time.  I think I would have stuck with the 7600 if I had to spend $3000 - $4000 on a new printer.

[rdonson]

I am also considering a Z3100 or Z3200. I can still get the z3100 for 1000 Euros cheaper than the Z3200, should I go for it while I can OR spend the extra on the Z3200?

What do you intend to print?

[Gerryb]

What do you intend to print?

My interest is in printing large colour & mono landscapes.

gerry

[AlanG]

And print heads...since Canon charges about $600 per head (it takes two), depending on the the amount of printing you do, it'll cost you about $1200 to replace the heads. Just pointing that out as Michael found out after doing what he thought was not a huge amount of printing and having to replace his heads. Many people do not factor this cost in when they buy. HP charges $30-40/head (replaceable individually) and Epsons rarely need head replacements (you hope).

6100 update - I received the printer 3 days ago and I am very pleased with the printing quality and how it works.  The Canon site has a pdf about expected head life. They say the expected life is 14,000 16.5" x 23.4" prints.  That sounds pretty good to me as I am sure I won't make nearly that many prints. I think there must have been something wrong to cause Michaels to wear out so fast. Hoepefully mine will hold up.

[rdonson]

My interest is in printing large colour & mono landscapes.

gerry

Unless you need the new reds of the Z3200 I think the Z3100 would serve you well.  I'm guessing that you'd be printing mostly on fine art matte papers.

[Ross Murphy]

Hi, new here and have been following this, I am looking at the ipf6100 and found what looks like a deal at Shades of paper for $1800 if I buy an extra ink set at $69 per tank x 12 = $828. Can any one tell me will this printer work with CS4 and  will it work on a 64bit system also any feed back on Shades of Paper ? also it sounds like a good price, I am sure its being discounted due to the arrival of the 6200. any thoughts wouls be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[AlanG]

Hi, new here and have been following this, I am looking at the ipf6100 and found what looks like a deal at Shades of paper for $1800 if I buy an extra ink set at $69 per tank x 12 = $828. Can any one tell me will this printer work with CS4 and  will it work on a 64bit system also any feed back on Shades of Paper ? also it sounds like a good price, I am sure its being discounted due to the arrival of the 6200. any thoughts wouls be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Note: After writing this post, I just noticed a post showing how to install the Canon printer plug-in onto CS4 (MAC)  I imagine you can also place it into the Windows CS4 plug-in folder, presuming it will work. But 64 bit is another matter.

I think you better check with Canon on the driver specs. I just got the 6100 and am using it in 32 bit Windows XP.  The best way to print with it is using the export plug in driver that works in Photoshop or DPP. This takes the place of the standard Photoshop printing method and if you use 16 bit files, it will send 12 bits of data to the printer rather than 8.  A lot of other things about this driver are better too.

It comes with printing plug-ins for Photoshop 6 through CS3.  I am not sure if the CS3 one would work on CS4. If not, you and I need to find out when the CS4 plug-in will arrive, because I plan on getting CS4 soon.  I found when printing from DPP, it doesn't allow for files larger than 6,000x6,000 pixels. I was at a Canon seminar a few days ago and told this to Canon's wide format printing rep. and she was surprised. She asked for a screen shot showing the error message that I get when I try to print from larger files via DPP and the plug-in only.  I will try to get in touch with her in the next couple of days for the other questions as I need to know that too.

I am not sure why there are such deals on the 6100 but I am told that the 6200 is the same printer with a hard disk.  That will allow you to store and easily re-print photos. But Canon's printing plug in also stores the job information from each print on your computer, so you can access it and easily re-print anyway as long as your images are still on the computer.

[Ross Murphy]

Allan, thanks for the info, I'm looking forward to doing my own prints, I'm not sure why but its harder for me to pull the trigger on this than on a 5D MkII, its a little scary buying your first real printer, can you make any recomendations on paper for color landscapes for gallery and sale ? also where you able to print larger using the CS3 plugin ? is there an ipf 6100 wiki ?

Thanks again, Ross.

[AlanG]

Allan, thanks for the info, I'm looking forward to doing my own prints, I'm not sure why but its harder for me to pull the trigger on this than on a 5D MkII, its a little scary buying your first real printer, can you make any recomendations on paper for color landscapes for gallery and sale ? also where you able to print larger using the CS3 plugin ? is there an ipf 6100 wiki ?

Thanks again, Ross.

I don't presently use any version of Photoshop.  (I used to use it and I expect to get CS4 before long.)  I've been printing large files from the standard print function in several programs using the regular Canon driver. (Not the 16 bit plug in.)  I print images that are smaller than 6,000 pixels with the 16bit plug in.  

Keep in mind that I've only had this printer for a week, although I have years of experience using an Epson 7600 large format printer.  I looked at a book of sample images printed on various Canon papers. They all looked very nice to me and had good profiles.  Canon Polished Rag 300gsm is a very nice fine art matte paper but is expensive.  It has a very nice surface texture.  If the surface is not important to you the Canon Premium Matte paper 210 gsm looks very nice and is inexpensive for a matte finished paper.

I was given a roll of canvas from the place where I bought the printer. I like the prints on the canvas very much. (For the right subjects.)  It was from a place called proimagingsupplies.com and is called: Digipros Premium PC19 Matte Canvas, 24" x 40' Roll, 19 mil.

When I bought my printer there was a rebate for $500 in Canon paper.  So I have little choice but to try out some Canon paper first.  I ordered Heavyweight Satin photo paper 300gsm and RC Photo Matte - both to be used for commercial work along with the Premium Matte. I also ordered some Canon Graphic Matte Canvas to try out.  I am sure there are others here that have much more experience with papers than I have.

For detailed info. about the drivers, you might want to contact Diana Bowe.  She is Canon's wide format printer rep. for the East Coast - dbowe@cusa.canon.com

There is a Canon ipf wiki that explains the various drivers, software and pretty much everything else about the printer.  http://canonipf.wikispaces.com/

I learned a lot from the wiki site. For instance, the printer has an internal calibration system.  Unfortunately there is nothing about this in the manual or installation instructions. I assumed that it would perform the calibration as part of the initial setup. But I found out on the wiki that you have to go to the printer's control panel and perform the calibration from there.  I have no idea why they went through all of the trouble to design and implement such a sophisticated calibration system and then didn't mention it in the manual.

[AlanG]

Correction. Diane Bowe's email at Canon is dbowe@cusa.canon.com (I updated this in the post above too.)

[plunkettphoto]

Note: After writing this post, I just noticed a post showing how to install the Canon printer plug-in onto CS4 (MAC) I imagine you can also place it into the Windows CS4 plug-in folder, presuming it will work. But 64 bit is another matter.

 
would you kindly post where you found the info to install the plug-in into CS4???

many thanks

bill

[AlanG]

would you kindly post where you found the info to install the plug-in into CS4???

many thanks

bill

Here it is from another thread.  (It is also covered in the Canon ipf wiki.)  It sounds a bit complicated, but I think you can also just drag the plugin from the CS3 plug-in folder to the CS4 plugin folder.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone! I've been waiting to register on LL for a very long time now, it looks like registration is open again for new members. I have posted this on GetDPI's forum and wanted to post this here too. Here's a quick solution to get the CS3 IPF5100 printer plug-in to work Photoshop CS4.


Open up the IPF5100/6100 CS3 Print Plug-In, instead of allowing the installer to automatically install into Photoshop CS3's directory, click on Choose Destination. The installer will then close all applications, so make sure that you've saved your tabs in Firefox, Photoshop images, etc. A destination finder will pop up to choose the target location, go to Applications/Adobe Photoshop CS4/Plug-ins and click on the Choose button. After that, the installation will proceed just like normal and will pop up in the Export tab under the File menu in Photoshop CS4.

If you have any profiles that you would like to transfer over to Photoshop CS4-
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles.

ColorSync Folder Path-
Macintosh HD/Library/ColorSync/Profiles.


Make sure you run Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities to repair your permissions on your OS X partition. Then you're done.
__________________________

[karrphoto]

Dear Geoff,
A good and to the point advise. Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I’m leaning over to HP. In fact, I choose HP. But. Here in Holland I found a favorable deal for the Z3100. Only one small detail…. Sold out, everywhere. Now I’m back to zero, because the Z3200, nobody even knows when it will be in stock, goes for much more bananas.
I’ll keep you (all) informed how the story continues.

Bas

Try where I bought mine from, they always have things in stock.. or it seems.

www.itsupplies.com

I love my 3100.  The only thing I kickmyself in the a$$ for is not buying the bigger 44".  But I couldn't afford it at the time.  I've had mine now since June and have run more paper through it than I ran through my 9180 in the time I had it.. and that was a LOT of paper.

QImage is my absolute fave for printing with the 3100 as well.   I don't know if the Chromogenic red of the 3200 makes that much difference, but as I said.. the 3100 rocks.