Digital BW, The Print

I’ve been looking for a reasonably simple way back into B+W inkjet printing.  Based on my unscientific sense of how dye and pigment inks look on papers, I decided to go with a dye-ink printer.  Okay, they will not last 200 years, but neither will I.  

After exchanging emails with Paul Roark, I bought a Canon Pixma Pro-100 printer, which runs a 3k dye-based inkset that is supposed to have better longevity.  My initial experiences were not good — my prints all had a significant purple cast.

In desperation I called Canon tech support.  They are saints.  Within 10 minutes I was printing gorgeous B+W prints.  My mistake (I blame the installation instructions) was that I connected the printer wirelessly to my Mac using the AirPrint/Bonjour communications protocol, whereas I should have chosen the “Canon IJ” protocol when setting it up.  My bad.

Now that I know how to make it work, the B+W prints out of this machine are just spectacular.  For the past week I’ve been printing onto two papers, Ilford Prestige Gold Mono Silk and Canson Platine Fibre Rag.  For most prints I am preferring the Canson but the Ilford paper is lovely as well.  I have a sampler pack of Hahnemuhle papers but I’m so pleased with the Canson and Ilford papers that I might not get around to testing the Hahnemuhle paper for a very long time.  I don’t have other recent inkjet prints to use as comparisons, but the Pixma-100 prints on the Ilford and Canson papers hold their own next to my darkroom prints on Adox MCC-110 baryta paper.

If any other list members are printing with the Pro-100, I am eager to hear of your experiences with B+W printing, and which papers are (or aren’t) working for you.

Best regards,

Sanders McNew
www.flickr.com/sandersnyc