Welcome back to the blog guys!
I’ve been waiting to share these news with you for quite a while now and I’m super stoked to let you know, that Canon Deutschland and me teamed up to share some detailed insights about the process of printing and why this still is a relevant topic in this digital age.
I had this idea in my mind for quite a while now and always thought about how we often forget about the real value of our photographs and why we took them in the first place. Especially these days, where social media plays an ever-growing role in our daily life, we tend to consume digital content faster and faster. During the next months I’ll focus on the importance of printing and how it can help you to appreciate your art from a completely new perspective. I’ll break this down into several blog posts, where will I not only focus on the process itself but also will share my thoughts on why I think, this almost forgotten topic will bring your creative mindset to the next level.
First test prints on the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000
I’m super thankful for the constant support from Canon throughout my career and after some time of clarifying the details, they were kind enough to send over one of their Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 printers, including a nice selection of their premium photo papers.
So for now let me share some details on the printer and papers I’ll exclusively be using for this project, before I’ll get into more detail in the upcoming posts.
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 & Canon photo papers Pro Platinum and Pro Premium Matte
I got to say that the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 truly is a beautiful piece of equipment. Right after unboxing, I was amazed by its solid, high-quality construction. You can immediately feel that this is a tool created to last for a long time and to support the workflow of a professional creative. Not only does it look good and match perfectly with Canon’s professional lineup of lenses and camera bodies, it also promises a very easy and straight forward setup and maintenance process.
The printer itself can print sizes all the way up to A2 formats. It offers an advanced 12-ink system, including Canon's Chroma Optimizer ink technology, to offer stunning image quality and extraordinary print results on a professional level.
New York City
Spectacular color rendering thanks to the advanced 12-ink system
New York City on Canon Photo Paper Pro Platinum
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV & EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM
Lisbon on Canon Photo Paper Pro Platinum
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000
Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000
Shanghai
Impressive amount of details in the prints
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV & EF 24-70 2.8L II USM
Most of you guys know that I shoot exclusively on Canon Equipment for quite a while now. That’s I was immediately in love with the idea of integrating one of their printers, which results in a seamless workflow from capturing the image out in the field to bringing it to life, when printing it back home in the office. All of it supported from a single, highly professional brand: Canon.
The setup routine was a breeze and mostly self-explaining. The printer can be connected via LAN, WLAN and USB and after a few clicks it was up and running. After that, you only have to download and install the drivers on your computer of choice and you can start right away. Next to the usual connections with a desktop computer or laptop, you can also connect via your iOS or Android device by using the Canon PRINT App or directly print from PictBridge compatible cameras, like the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV.
Installing Canon’s printer drivers is super easy
Canon also offers several other packages of software to support a variety of printing workflows, based on your personal needs. The Print Studio Pro plug-in for example, is the perfect workflow link between your images and the finished print. Once installed, you’ll be able to open it right within Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, without interrupting your existing post-processing workflow. The plug-in's new 'Contrast reproduction' feature delivers images with high detail to be printed with incredible sharpness and clarity.
Canon Print Studio Pro Plug-in within Adobe Lightroom
The plug-in offers access to all important parameters, layout options and also includes instant availability of Canon’s ICC profiles for their own professional photo papers. Of course you’ll be able to customise every detail to your personal needs and third-party ICC profiles can also be included with no hassle at all.
The Print Studio Pro plug-in is very well implemented and a joy to use. As mentioned before, I’ll go into more details of it in one of the upcoming posts.
Canon’s Premium Photo Papers
Last but not least, let me talk a bit about Canon’s very own photo papers. They offer a great variety of papers, but for now I decided to test out two of their premium papers, one of them being a glossy version, the other one having a matte finish to it. In terms of sizes I’ll focus on A3 and A2 prints, because I think these are the most ideal ones for the majority of print jobs.
Canon Premium Photo Papers
Canon Photo Paper Pro Platinum PT-101
The Canon Pro Platinum is a glossy, heavyweight studio finish photo paper, offering a wide color reproduction and excellent fade resistance. It weighs 300g/m² and has a thickness of 0.33mm, which makes it a perfect choice to show your work at its best, like for example on a professional gallery event.
Pro Platinum PT-101 A3
Pro Platinum PT-101 A2
Canon Photo Paper Pro Premium Matte PM-101
Canon’s Pro Premium Matte paper, on the other hand, offers a very smooth texture without the reflective sheen of a Pro Platinum. It’s a great choice to highlight pictures having warm colours or lots of grey tones in it. This heavyweight paper has a high-quality rigid feel with excellent flatness and comes with a weight of 210g/m² and 0.31mm of thickness.
Pro Premium Matte PM-101
Pro Premium Matte PM-101
There you go guys, this will be my future printing setup for the upcoming months and I’m super excited to share more of my thoughts and details along the way.
Next to this, I’m currently in the process of setting up an own online print shop and soon will be able to offer each of my shots in a variety of sizes and materials. Definitely stay tuned for the next post and in case you’re interested in getting a print or you have additional questions, feel free to reach out to me at any time.
Thanks for reading and following along!
Talk soon,
Chris