Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Despite Canon ’s ascendency in the professional digital camera grocery store , the company has not replicated that success with its pro printers . It ’s not for lack of strain : canyon has bring out at least four high - end printing machine over the preceding two twelvemonth , but they generally come up suddenly when put up against like printers from Epson or Hewlett - Packard . With the release of the imagePROGRAF iPF6100 , however , Canon is at long last closing in on its match with a printer that offers fantabulous print timber and dependable mark speed at a competitive price .
The $ 3,495 iPF6100 is one of two new encompassing - format printers from Canon , both of which utilize the same 12 - ink printing architecture . The iPF6100 prints on roster paper up to 24 inches wide , although like many ringlet - fed units it can take sheets one at a fourth dimension , from 8 by 10 column inch up to post horse paper at 20 by 30 in in size . Its sibling , the $ 1,995 imagePROGRAF iPF5100 , which just commence merchant marine , has a maximal print breadth of 17 inches , and includes both curl supporting and a paper tray for freight sheets . Both pressman can handle paper up to 1.5 mm duncical .
Basics
imagePROGRAF iPF6100
The iPF6100 use 12 individual , paint - base ink cartridges : cyan , photo cyan , magenta , pic magenta , yellow , calamitous , matte black , reddened , green , gentle , gray , and picture gray . It use 11 of the ink when printing , prefer for either the matte or the bloodline disastrous ink ( often referred to asphoto black ) establish upon your select paper type . If you ’re publish on glossy or semi - gloss photo newspaper , the iPF6100 uses the photo dim ink ; it use the matt black when print on smooth - finale , matte , and fine - art paper . The grizzly and photo gray are designed to produce heighten black - and - bloodless image , as those similar inks discover in Epson ’s Stylus Photo R2400 and Stylus Pro 3800 ( ) printers do .
As is the cause with most wide - formatting printers , the iPF6100 is a large , heavy unit , but it is quite promiscuous to set up up . You ’ll need two people to get it out of the massive boxwood and onto its stand , but you could be up and go in a fiddling over an time of day , thanks to the printer ’s percipient quick - apparatus guides and its large LCD screen , which offers helpful , step - by - stride program line for freight newspaper and ink .
imagePROGRAF iPF6100
Canon ship a cud - in with the iPF6100 that have you print directly from within Photoshop — and it works with everything from Photoshop 7 through the CS3 going . With it , you’re able to print 16 - act images to the printer , which Canon says offers better color faithfulness and quality .
The printing machine has both USB 2.0 and Ethernet interfaces , and once you get it up and running , it ’s largely punch - and - print . The discs add up with a print machine driver , on-line manual , and a well - designed plug - in for print directly from within Adobe Photoshop ( versions 7 through CS3 ) . The plug - in bypasses the Mac photographic print driver , and support the impression of 16 - bit image directly to the printing machine . ( Prior to Mac OS X 10.5 , Apple ’s print architecture only plump for the printing of 8 - spot images . )
Consistent color, better images
Last twelvemonth , when I looked at Canon ’s first professional - level 17 - inch printer , the imagePROGRAF iPF5000 ( ) , I felt that its prints were not as sharp and genuine as those print on the top - point Epson printers , such as the Stylus Pro 4800 . This was largely an issuing with the profiles that Canon shipped with the printer . You need to tweak them , or create your own profiles , to get the dear potential prints , but there were still some issues , such as bronze , that caused some multitude to dismiss the iPF5000 .
Since that time , Canon has been knockout at work . The company tell that it has improved a turn of trouble areas in the iPF6100 print railway locomotive , and all of those tweaks have been designed to improve mark lineament . For case , the black and grey inks have been redevelop to provide better insurance coverage and lucre impedance ; the print head has been redesigned , producing a tiny 4 - picoliter droplet ; and improve screening subroutine resolve detail much more finely than the iPF5000 ’s print heading .
This all means significantly improved mark timber . Last twelvemonth , iPF5000 prints on a regular basis came in at the bottom in our panel examination , but this yr , prints from the iPF6100 often tied or beat prints from the top Epson and HP printer . Color fidelity was excellent , and fine detail , especially in the phantasma , was reproduce exceptionally well . bleak - and - whitened image were inert , and await good on every paper type I impress them on .
Canon ships a plug-in with the iPF6100 that lets you print directly from within Photoshop—and it works with everything from Photoshop 7 through the CS3 releases. With it, you can print 16-bit images to the printer, which Canon says offers better color fidelity and quality.
Going beyond the quality of the photos , the iPF6100 ’s mark speed is quite good as well . Using the mid - level quality background , which was more than adequate for most images , the iPF6100 printed an 8 - by-10 - inch mental image in 1 arcminute , 30 seconds ; a 16 - by-20 - in image took 3 minute of arc , 36 seconds ; and a 24 - column inch straight photograph took 5 minutes , 36 seconds to print . ( In demarcation , the 24 - inch square image took 7 minutes , 57 seconds to print with comparable quality on standardised paper on my HP Designjet Z3100 Photo . )
Minor annoyances
While the iPF6100 makes some meaning strides over former Canon printer , there is still way for improvement . The biggest topic is that many of the iPF6100 ’s ICC profile do n’t jibe the names of the papers that Canon sells , which mean that you have to infer which paper go with which profile . For example , the pealing of Heavyweight Satin Photographic Paper sent to me by Canon was list in the printer ’s options when I loaded it , but not in the photographic print driver . Instead , there were three different types of semi - gloss photo report to choose from , and I had to print sample images with each visibility to figure out which one come out closest to my image , and then put a line on my proctor to remember which profile was for which paper .
In addition , the corroboration , while much better than that of the iPF5000 , could still be well organized and presented . There are also a few places where the iPF6100 ’s plastics feel flimsy and cheap , which is something we detest to see in a printing machine of this class .
Fitting into the market
In the wide - format market , the iPF6100 is up against Epson ’s $ 2,995 Stylus Pro 7800 — whose replacement , the 7880 is just starting to transport — and HP ’s Designjet Z2100 Photo ( $ 3,395 ) and Z3100 Photo ( $ 4,095 ) printers . The iPF6100 ’s mark quality and speed are comparable to all of these printers , although Epson says that the 7880 has a wider colour gamut than its competitors ( we have n’t yet tested this model ) . With the Epson pressman , however , you have to physically swap the photograph and matte black inks when you need to deepen paper eccentric .
HP ’s Designjets , while more expensive than the iPF6100 , produce arresting images and have a much stronger set of features , including integrated profiling , thanks to their built - in X - Rite i1 colorimeters . The Z3100 , with 12 ink , is the best wide format we ’ve tested under $ 5,000 , and would be our first choice ; but the reality is that , in this promptly interchange marketplace , you could get a printing machine from Canon , Epson , or HP that will bring out first-class , long - lasting print .
Macworld’s buying advice
The imagePROGRAF iPF6100 should put an end to talk that Canon ca n’t compete in the professional photo printer market place . With a better ink conceptualization and an improved print head , this 12 - ink printer produces fantabulous images on both glossy and hunky-dory - art media . canyon needs to clean up its profile direction , but overall , the iPF6100 is a very good printer that fit in well in a competitive marketplace .
[ Rick LePage isMacworld ’s editor program - at - large . ]
