Dennis,
1. Did you get the printer stand that goes with the iPF5000?
No I bought a $99 24" tool box w/4 drawers from Lowes then I used a bead of RTV to prevent it from sliding off. I also bought a $12 thick grill cover (matching grey!!!) to keep it covered.
2. Have you turned of the warning messages on the controller panel?
No
3. How well are the first set of inks holding up and which inks did you order first?
Very well I have printed a lot and am now 3 months later just starting to replace the inks. PM, PGY and GY were the first to go then Y and BK now C, M, R, G & B are low. IT supplies had them for $63 but now they are $71 I was thinking of buying an entire set but then thought of the expense and figured why inventory the inks?
4. How do the profiles work for Canon paper that came with the printer?
Good I have not had any of the Canon papers profiled so I cannot compare Canon profiles to custom, but the custom profiles ($40 Cathys Profiles) do seem to not only improve color accuracy but improve print quality also. Remember to print targets from the 16 bit driver not the 8 bit windows print with preview. The 16 bit plugin requires its own unique profile.
5. Does the driver remember the settings you last used, like Premium glossy in the roll feeder and letter Satin in the cassette?
I'm not sure. I have yet to experiment with the roll feed because I had missing parts (Canon was quick to replace w/o charge) and the lower cassette would feed heavy papers unreliably (even with fanning) so all I have mastered is the sheet feed (top tray) Some of the menues and sub menues have memory and some do not so I always review all 4 tabs of the plugin prior to pressing print (I have a trash can of wasted paper)
6. Did you run a head alignment when you got your printer?
Yes this is essential and the mistake many have made claimng the printer is not continuous tone. It is relatively quick and automatic. You do not have to be present to read the boxes of lines.
7. It seems that when working with 16 bit files the best way to res up to 600dpi is with Photoshop, do you agree?
Yes always feed it 600ppi files and res up to the final print size for best results. I see no difference in the output with PS bicubic smoother + smart sharpen, Genuine Fractals or Qimage (print to file) for the print sizes this printer can produce.
8. Hopefully Canon would have made some changes to the printer software by now.
The biggest issue is support for 3rd party papers, it has been months since its release, so I'm not holding my breath for any software upgrades.
Marc