I Finally Got a Photo Printer: Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-1000

CHAPTERS
- Why I finally bought a printer: 00:00
- What I learned from making test prints: 2:49
- Making 7 big prints: 5:32
- Final thoughts: 12:58

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VIDEO DESCRIPTION
Well look-y what we have here (in Biff’s voice). Ol’ Nicky C finally got himself a high quality photo printer. A 17” Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-1000 to be exact.

And I fear for what I’ve unleashed here, friends, because I found out pretty quick that this is going to be a new addiction for me. You know how much I love seeing my photos in print. Well now it’s at my fingertips…24 hours a day…anytime I want. Soon my house will be in disrepair, my wife will leave me, and my teeth will be rotted out of my skull because rather than repair the siding, spend time with my lady, and brush my teeth I’ll just be printing pictures. All day. All night. Nonstop.

But that’s okay. I’ll have a bunch of prints to keep me warm at night.

I’ve always left printing to a lab. I could never justify the expense of maintaining an inkjet printer. Because, you see, these things are meant to be used. The less you use them, the more they cost. But I’m finally printing enough (sometimes) to make it work. But even when I don’t have prints to make for customers…F it. I’ll just make test prints. I’ll keep the fluids flowing in this inkjet printer until it’s time to make a serious limited edition print for a real live customer. Because I’ve finally decided that it’s worth the effort of maintaining my own printer so that I can take 100% control of my workflow. From capture to scan to print…it’s all in the palm of my hands. Maximum quality, maximum control, maximum funsies.

*This video contains no paid endorsements of any kind.

[RobertKarlBerta]

I am 76 years old so have been in the photo business for a "few years". I did a lot of 2 1/4" square and 4"x5" black and white and color photography but finally switched over to mostly digital about 18 years ago. I had a few of the Epson printers like the 3800, 3380, etc. but found them to be more likely to clog and spit ink even with frequent use. I decided to switch to the Canon Pro 1000 about 1 1/2 years ago. It is a superior printer with some serious engineering in it. It does require doing some tricks to save ink and ensure consistent work. Ignore the people who say a 1000 uses a lot of ink. When it is new it draws ink from the cartridges into the feeder tubes so once they are filled the cartridges will be about 50% used.... but that doesn't mean all that ink is dumped into the dump tank. Also.... the next cartridges will not need to fill the tubes again so will show a more realistic amount of ink left. If you turn off the machine each day it will go through a full purge, etc. cycle the next day and waste ink. There is an option in the setup to NOT auto shut off after so many hours of non-use. I also got a small Uninterruptable power supply that ran about $100 that I plug the printer into. It won't handle the print operation itself although haven't tested that.... it is solely to keep the power on in the event of a power failure.

To keep the heads perfectly clean and unclogged I print a very small print every day. To ensure this when away for a few days I use QImage which has a utility to auto print a test print once a day. The QImage print can be reduced to to half of a 4"x5" print and uses a tiny amount of ink through all the nozzles. I also MUCH prefer to print using QImage which seems to yield better prints than through Photo Shop directly although Qimage can be run from within PS or externally. I am also an astrophotographer so print a lot of 16"x20" prints. That Pro 1000 yields prints that are spectacular. Most of my work from photowork but the printer is terrific with art reproduction. I love that I can switch from glossy or semi gloss to fine art paper and never have traces of the photo black polluting the matt black ink parts. That was a major issue with my Epsons.
make sure you get the latest Firmware update so you can have access to new features such as the maximum pano width now which is around 44" as I recall. I am not sure but it seems the latest firmware also improved the ink handling so wastes less than before.

If you want to get all the ink out of your cartridges I recommend getting a digital weight scale.... mine was only around $25 and very accurate. You can remove and replace any cartridge so what I do i after the low ink warning comes the tank and weigh it. I replace when it gets down to 45 grams. If it is above that you just put it back in the machine and it will show you the remaining ink left and not reset to a high number.

[Necroblob]

You've kept my absolute attention for 15 minutes on printing. You're a genius and I love the passion. Thank you.

[nicksmith]

Pro tip: roll your graphics so the print is on the outside of the roll. This allows the curl to go towards the wall or mounting surface for better adhesion rather than pulling away from it.

[timothy]

8:26 don't forget to let the print dry for at least 24 hours before you roll it! This is very important!

[mattdayphoto]

I’ve been using this printer for a little over a year now and have been super happy with it. I’m sure you’ll make great use of it!

[GrymmsPlace]

The one thing we can all be certain of, when Nick does a review, he is thorough, a perfectionist, and his endorsements are pretty much on point.
A photographer friend of mine has this Canon printer. It's used for almost exclusively B&W and are astoundingly good.

[earlspiece]

Great presentation!!! Accurately portrayed what it takes to professional take on printing your own works and maintaining quality control of your products. Its a total investment of money, time, patience, pride and a huge attention to detail to get it right!!!

[synaptophysin]

To save on paper & ink when working on a satisfactory print in a shadow or highlight area, I select just that area in Photoshop's printing Print Selected Area. Then I can print several variations on the same sheet of paper by selecting adjacent areas using the Position in the printing panel. This way multiple tests can be on one sheet of paper with room for notes on printer and Photoshop settings.

[markthompsonmedia]

Printing your own work is insane isn't it :) I love it. I started with the PRO2000 and now with the PRO4100. I think the thing I like most is when you sell locally and go to the persons house to hang it and chat with them about the passion behind the photo for a moment. That is such a good feeling

[NikonF]

Great video, Nick! I've been using this printer for just over three years now and couldn't be more pleased with the output quality and reliability. It does like to print every day, so dividing out your orders throughout the week as you mentioned is a good idea. On the days you don't have a job, just print out a test pattern to keep things moving without initiating additional cleaning cycles. The Media Configuration Tool is fantastic for setting up third party papers to perform their best. Keeping the paper as flat as possible through the machine will really help to prevent nasty head strikes. For those long panos, I use a section of 3" core tube with some kraft paper to reverse roll heavier media (such as RedRiver's PaloDuro Etching) for an hour or so prior to printing. Supporting these longer sheets both on the feed side and at the exit is also very important. When not printing, keep the unit covered to minimize dust and dirt infiltration and periodically check the paper path for any bits of paper debris that has a tendency to collect over time. Like you pointed out, the printing process is very addictive and the PRO-1000 will definitely feed that addiction with results that will keep you hanging on the edge of your seat waiting for that next spectacular print! Look forward to seeing additional videos showing how you bring more of your wonderful images to life with your new Canon printer.

[dominey]

I've gone down the same rabbit hole. One thing I'd recommend experimenting with is sharpening, for I often see better results when applying more sharpening than what normally looks good on screen. You have to overdo it a bit because the printer is working with ink and paper, so some of that clarity and sharpness will be lost in the process. An effective tool I've found is the Smart Sharpen filter in PS, for you can save presets with different sharpening settings and re-use them later. Recommend giving that a try with your test prints if you haven't already!

[CWJester]

I've been doing photography as a hobby for a few years now but really starting to get serious with it. All I have now is a 4x6 printer from Canon and have learned a lot about my compositions as well as other aspects you mentioned through printing. It's a good teacher.

I hope to one day get a large printer like that if I do make a business out of it.

[billymilligan]

This video is right up my alley! I am the proud owner of an Epson SC-P900 and I feel exactly the same when I print one of my own favorite images. Best wishes for your continued success! ... and thanks for the video.

[photobobo]

Nick, it is refreshing to see that I am not the only one who wears gloves when handling prints.
I have been running a Canon printer for 10+ years with never a clogged print head and none of those costly head cleaning cycles even though I print infrequently. I connected a cheap Windows 10 mico-computer running QImage. It prints a half page test print every other day. This tells the printer not to run the wasteful purging routine and cost very little in ink. I use cheap copier paper for this and reuse the same stack of paper over and over.

[EugeneMaynard]

I have had this printer for years and totally missed that the latest firmware now gives us panorama printing possibilities!🥳 Thank you! 👏🏾👍🏾🙏🏾. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇸🇪🇹🇹

[scotterskine]

Well done, Nick. Always enjoy watching your videos. I've been using the pro1000 since 2016, and using Canon's printing utilities rather than printing from Lightroom. Lately been printing on Canson papers with their ICC profiles. I don't keep a big supply of inks on hand, just order a replacement as soon as I get the alert (!) when printing. Usually can go for several more days before actually running out. B&H or Amazon can typically deliver next day. As for feeding the curled paper into the printer, after letting it sit flat overnight, I hang the paper over a towel bar mounted on the wall behind the printer, and then feed it into the printer, as I'm pretty limited on space. But I still hover over the printer making sure it goes through the printer smoothly.

[AdrianIII]

Congrats! Be sure to print something EVERY day... even if it is only a nozzle check. This will help the printer avoid excessive "cleaning cycles" which dump much expensive ink into the maintenance tank.

[lhygema]

Great video and I am excited you are printing your own stuff now. I can't wait for all of the color management rabbit holes we are going to dive into in future videos! You may want to look into a D-Roller. It will save you the unwanted accidental creases in your papers when reverse rolling to remove curl. They are not cheap but are quite effective and will save money lost damaging paper. ItSupplies has about the best price but you can find it a lot of different places.

[danielson_]

GJ someone who finally gets it that printing feeling you get when you go from photo taking to the final product, you did it all, it's your baby.

[Wig]

Been using this printer for several years. Was wandering when you was going to take the step. Can't go wrong with this printer. Have fun.