Canon iPF5100 - some thoughts

[keith_cooper]

It seems that the price of the iPF5100 has dropped to under £1k (ex vat) here in the UK.

Canon lent me one to have a look at, and I've written up some usage notes, if they are of help to anyone.

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/printer/canon_ipf_5100.html

Obviously, the 5100 has been around a while, and missed the x100 -> x300 step, so I was interested to see how it compared directly to our iPF8300 here.

On glossy papers, the inks of the x300 are noticeably smoother and show less variation in shininess. I'd also miss the ability to make custom media configurations that appeared in the later printers.

With the updated drivers and printing plugin, I'd be quite happy to use it ... indeed, a collection of 16x26 sample prints I made on it, just helped get me a big sale of A1 sized prints, and a new architectural photography client :-)

The question has to be, when will it get replaced?  Either by an expansion of the 'Pro-1' line upwards, or in an x300 -> x4/500 line of LF printers.

Looking at the competition, I'm supposing that we'll finally get so see an inbuilt spectro option in Canon LF printers next year. Fespa in February might be a good time to make the announcement - who knows, we might even see an update to the venerable HP z3200 as well ;-)

[pchong]

With the updated drivers and printing plugin, I'd be quite happy to use it ... indeed, a collection of 16x26 sample prints I made on it, just helped get me a big sale of A1 sized prints, and a new architectural photography client :-)

May I ask, how did you managed to print a1 with the 5100?

[keith_cooper]

Ah - the sample prints were on a roll of 17" paper from the 5100 (actually the rather thin Canon Satin 190gsm ), but the prints the client wanted for their office are near to A1, and will be printed on our iPF8300 on a somewhat less delicate paper.

One of the benefits of printer testing is that thy tend to arrive with lots of paper and spare ink - I end up with an awful lot of samples, but it is a great way to experiment and refine my printmaking skills ;-)

[pchong]

Ah - the sample prints were on a roll of 17" paper from the 5100 (actually the rather thin Canon Satin 190gsm ), but the prints the client wanted for their office are near to A1, and will be printed on our iPF8300 on a somewhat less delicate paper.

One of the benefits of printer testing is that thy tend to arrive with lots of paper and spare ink - I end up with an awful lot of samples, but it is a great way to experiment and refine my printmaking skills ;-)

Ah, that explains it.