Does anybody have any experience with, or at least an opinion about, whether the Canon Pro-1000 or the Epson P800 does a better job of automatically feeding a stack of 13x19 or 17x22" cut sheets? I am mostly interested in using up my stock of boxes of Canson Baryta, Platine, and Rag Photographique sheet paper and rather than feeding each page individually on my iPF8400 I would be willing to buy a new printer if it handled that task well. The research I've done so far seems to suggest that the Epson may force you to use a manual feed rear slot if the paper is over 300 GSM as all the papers I want to use are. The Canon doesn't seem to make any mention of that kind of limitation but Canon has handled "fine art" paper differently in the Pro-100/10 series.
I have a Canon Pro-1000 and an Epson P600 which feeds thicker stock essentially the same way as the Epson P800. Both the Canon Pro-1000 and the Epson P600/800 require thicker papers like the ones you mention to go through a dedicated paper path. The Pro-1000 feeds only one sheet at a time through the rear tray that is dedicated to those thicker papers. The P600/800 feed only one sheet at a time through the front tray dedicated to these thicker papers. However, the front tray on P600/800 has to be opened with a spring loaded mechanism, so you have to press it in order to extend that tray for use, them align the paper in the slot, then led it feed the paper, and lastly you have to push that forward spring loaded tray back in before the printer is ready to print. Thus, you have to tend to the P600/P800 through the entire loading sequence for fine art media. With the Canon Pro-1000, you insert the paper into the rear tray just like the older Epson 3800/3880 printers, and once inserted you can walk away from the printer (just like the older Epson 3800/3880 printers). Nothing else required except to hit the print button on your computer. Thus, although the Epson tray for fine art media does work well enough, it lands. IMHO, in the "what were Epson Engineers thinking?" category of inconvenience to the enduser.
On the other hand, there is yet another rear feed method on P600/P800 for accommodating even thicker card stock than approximately 350gsm fine art media, whereas the Pro-1000 really doesn't support any other thicker media than typical 300-350gsm paper. Pick your poison. Both printers you mention are arguably easier to load cut sheet than typical 24 or 44 inch roll printers, but neither is going to feed a stack of thicker fine art stock faster than a "one sheet at a time" method.
The Epson P5000 has a cassette tray which will indeed handle a stack of media, but I don't know whether it is restricted to thinner RC photo papers (that both the P600/800 and Pro-1000 model can batch feed reasonably from the main top tray), or whether one can put thicker fine art media in the P5000 tray. Maybe some P5000 owners can weigh in on that issue for you. Your goal might be better accomplished with the Epson P5000.
kind regards,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
