Canon PRO-1100 Black and White fine art printing. Art paper and Canon PPL software

Printing an A3+ [13" x 19"] black and white pigment ink fine art print on a cotton rag paper. Settings and guide to using the free Canon PPL printing software and B&W print mode.
Making a basic B&W [monochrome] photo print, using the Canon B&W print mode. Software can be used with any editing software to print B&W and fine tune tonality.
Using PPL as a freestanding application [can also be used as a print plugin for Photoshop and LR]. Ideal for applications with more basic print handling capabilities, such as Affinity Photo. Works with JPEG and TIFF files
Part of a series of videos connected with my Canon PRO-1100 printer review. The PRO-1100 is the successor to the PRO-1000.
All my free test images are available via:
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#CanonPRO1100 #A3Print #PhotographyTips #PrintPlugIn #GlossyPrints #CanonPrinters #blackandwhite
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[@KeithCooper]

All my free test images [including the specialist B&W ones I created] are available via: www.northlight-images.co.uk/printer-test-images/ If you'd like to make a small donation, I have a Kofi page: "Buy me a coffee" ko-fi.com/keithcooper

[@Richardincancale]

Can’t wait to hear your anecdote on writing software to annoy users! Sounds right up my street!

[@KeithCooper]

Slowing down and obfuscating some functionality, since the back end minicomputer couldn't keep up if you sent too many commands at once from the PC via the 2400 baud serial link. Also picking key combinations so that you needed two hands... All on control software in a meat processing plant. Many careers ago ;-)

[@actionphotopassion5082]

As usual a very nice job here 😎 Eager to watch the next episode 😅

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks

[@jeffbannon1345]

Keith, thanks for this series. I’m really enjoying the videos and am already looking forward to the next one!

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - next will be end of the week [away on hols!]

[@joeguitar4548]

Love watching your videos and there is lots to learn.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - glad they are of interest!

[@brianreitenauer2697]

Hi Keith. Your review and video series has been very helpful. FYI… my Pro 1100 displays the filename being printed on the screen. I don’t recall seeing any option or setting… it did that from the start. I’ve had the printer for a month now and it is replacing a 9 year old P800 workhorse. It’s taken me a bit of time (and ink & paper) to get it dialed in just right. I am now very happy with it so far.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks. Glad it helped! My criticism was aimed at printing with PPL where it generates some random job name.

[@brianreitenauer2697]

@ Got it… I was printing from Lightroom. Thanks!

[@TravelPhotoGuy]

Another insightful video my friend. I'm just now getting to play around with different types of paper on my Canon Pro-1000. I have fallen in love with the Hahnemuhle William Tuner Fine Art Matte paper.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks glad it was of interest!

[@masonaboyne1058]

Thank you for the information and analysis Keith. I got a Pro 1100 a couple of weeks ago having updgraded from the P300. I am very impressed with the Pro 1100. The 1100 produces excellent prints with deeper blacks & more saturated prints compared to the P300. I am having to modify my existing photos in photoshop to allow for the deeper blacks and greater saturation of the 1100 prints. I would expect to have to modify my photos a bit for the P1100 as the same thing happened in the past when I upgraded from the canon pro 300, Pro 10 and more basic canon printers before that.

[@KeithCooper]

Glad it's of help!

[@112329x]

Many thanks Keith excellent as always one point you mention was the jpg in the PPL software I have experienced this issue many times and got very frustrated however now I know about the bug Thanks

[@KeithCooper]

Glad it helped - still I will keep asking Canon! ;-)

[@clissonplage]

hello thank you for your feedback i agree with you, the name on the interface is so logical especially since well, we are in 2024....and it is a so-called Pro printer thank you again for all this passionate sharing

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks

[@jamesmgreen15]

Excellent series. Thanks.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks!

[@lschiz-photography1765]

Thank you again Keith!!

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks

[@lynsmith1096]

Another good video Kieth

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks

[@jackladd-f2p]

Thanks again Keith, as someone who bought into this printer as my first serious photo printer , I found the lack of documentation that came with the printer very disappointing, your earlier video on setting up (even though yours came with ink installed) was far more use, and I now have the confidence to fire it up ,though I am holding back a little longer, as I want to have a few images sorted and ready , before I actually get going. I don't want to fully install , and find that I waste far too much ink over several weeks in maintenance etc. about the ICC profiles I have bought a few packs of Canson baritta paper , and Canson offer profiles , but would you say that this is fine , or would you recommend I create them myself , which begs the question, have you created a video that shows how to accomplish this. Thanks again , Graham

[@KeithCooper]

Glad it's helped. My suggestion would be to leave that Canson paper until you understand the printer better. It's not a paper to learn with any more than a classic car or sports car is good to learn to drive! Get an A4 pack of Canon Lustre and learn to use the printer with that, perhaps get some A3+ as well so that you can comfortably see how bigger prints work Use the Canon PPL software, try printing one of my test images? If you are getting into print, no way do you want to get into profiling... I'll do a 'so, the 1100 is your first photo printer' video in a week or so - thanks for the idea!

[@jackladd-f2p]

@@KeithCooper brilliant, Canon gave me some A3 Canon lustre with the printer , I will order some more A3 and A4 Paper from Canon , and leave the very expensive A2 Canson Baritta matt and gloss papers in their box until I have the experience. Thanks again.

[@puck528co]

Excellent Job. Thank You very much.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - glad it was of interest.

[@johnvaleanbaily246]

Writing software to annoy people... you have to expand on that one :) Thanks for to continuing 1100 videos.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - see one of my earlier replies for this video ;-)

[@ViaFerrataCH]

This is very timely as I am thinking of printing do b/w photos on my pro 200

[@KeithCooper]

See here for far more... www.northlight-images.co.uk/black-and-white-printing-with-the-pro-200/

[@Tedwill-home]

Again Keith, many thanks for an informative video. I prefer the Qimage and Lightroom to print on my Canon printers. The Canon software is very difficult to use. I use Qimage to automatically send a print test once every two days if I’m on vacation to keep the print heads from clogging. It can also load black and white tiff files.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - however, I wouldn't call PPL 'difficult' - I use it for teaching ;-) As to LR- that's one bit of software I avoid ;-) But, whatever works for you!

[@mikeabc5355]

If Canon Pro 1100 could print roles like Epson P5370 I would have purchased it already. I like the fact that it has built-in calibration and 11+1 colors which P5370 does not have yet it costs so much more.

[@KeithCooper]

I'd note that the 1100 calibration is fairly basic, unlike the 2600 As to number of inks, I'd suggest it makes relatively little difference in practice. I've a video tomorrow, looking at printing on roll paper with the 1100 Basically, if you want a roll paper printer, buy a roll paper printer ;-)

[@mikeabc5355]

@@KeithCooper Yes I think the only real choice at this time is Epson P5370 I do however wish it had internal calibration.

[@KeithCooper]

I never bothered with calibrating the P5300 - but then again I make all my own profiles...

[@mikeabc5355]

@@KeithCooper A custom profile for specific printer, paper, and ink is the best form of calibration.:)

[@Thenoblecactus]

Hey Keith, I’m looking at getting either the canon pro 200 or pro 300 maybe the pro 1100 (might be over kill for me). Not sure which one to get. I plan on using the printer to print my fashion design sketches and make my mood boards and will be using it every week or so to reduce the ink waste. I’m also an amateur photographer so I’d like to print photos to frame at home and to give to friends and family. Which one you would recommend? It would be for personal use not business as of now and I mainly print on glossy papers. Looking into maybe matte papers for the fashion sketches. Thanks!

[@KeithCooper]

Ah, I don't sell printers -) ...or usually make recommendations. But, from what you say I can't see any reason to go beyond the 200 [the every week thing is not relevant to the 200/300] However, read my actual review, not the supplementary videos and see what it does? www.northlight-images.co.uk/canon-pro-200-printer-review/

[@oriwo99]

Hello Keith, you show that you can load correction curves with the Canon software. Is it also possible (above) to use QTR-generated ICC linearization profiles with the ICC profiles? Unfortunately, some software does not allow this in black and white mode…

[@KeithCooper]

Ah yes, I have a string of articles over the years looking at aspects of this! You need to convert/assign in PS or the like - go to my B&W test image page and check all the linearisation articles. www.northlight-images.co.uk/test-image-for-black-and-white-printing/ It would be nice if QTR could output .acv curves as well as the profiles - I did mention this to Roy H a few years ago ;-) Someone did look at this, but I've no references.

[@jpdj2715]

Remember "user friendliness" means that the user has to remain friendly at all times. Not just momentarily. As per nerdy handbooks. In the 1980s I read a book on software design - may have been 1970s Shneiderman's "Software Psychology" - that reported of a research into names of commands in command shells (text UI of operating systems, text editors. etc.). The researchers gave a good description in a few sentences to people in the streets and asked them to capture their understanding in a single word or abbreviation of a few letters to go with a command. Well, between 80% and 90% of lay people came up with the same thing - all completely different from what the techies had invented. And perfectly "intuitive". Human-Machine Interaction is a serious subject, in research university too, since at least 1990. But product designers working with techies that have to make their designs and between them the other user friendliness gets lost in translation. Ultimately, product owners and managers that approve of a go-to-market have done a lousy job w.r.t. their responsibilities. If shift doesn't happen then shit keeps happening.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes, I remember that book!

[@boristahmasian9604]

Hi Keith, great video. I noticed a slight sepia look to the print. Is the original the same way or did the printer kind of added the sepia look? I have been printing for a long time and that is one thing I could not figure out about B&W images. How to make them neutral without a tonality to them. Thanks.

[@KeithCooper]

Nothing you noticed is real - this is a video ;-) :-) What you are seeing is the variability of lighting in my kitchen, a big lamp and ceiling lights, mixed with variable daylight coming in through windows... and my video editing. See any of my written printer reviews for far more about B&W

[@boristahmasian9604]

@@KeithCooper Thank you Keith.

[@Brangustx]

I don't need/want the large format. 8x10 printing is all I need. Does Canon have a scaled down version of thr same quality? Smaller foot print desired.

[@KeithCooper]

No, there is nothing like this at smaller sizes. Not even close I'm afraid. There are no A4/Letter sized pigment ink printers like this. Best A4 printer I've tested would be the ET-8500, but not like a PRO-1100. Smallest pigment ink printer would be the P700 - still 13" width though

[@nachnamevorname5917]

Hi Keith. Just a short question: Canon Pro printers do use Photo Magenta and Photo Cyan for black & white images - even if the image file is in grayscale, and even if "monochrome" is ticked in the Canon print driver. Epson SC-P do not. How to adjust the Canons in a way that they stop this behaviour? On the Canon website they say it is not possible. Thanks!

[@KeithCooper]

Yes, because the black/grey inks are not neutral Epson printers do use colours in the ABW mode as well, for the same reason If you want just 'black+grey' then you'd better be a fan of sepia [which I'm very definitely not] If you use the MCT you can install two special greyscale media types - I'll be looking at these in due course - warm though...

[@nachnamevorname5917]

@@KeithCooper I have Epson prints here with no coloured spots at all. I believe it was ABW mode? What is MCT? 😎

[@KeithCooper]

My microscope testing of Epson prints suggests otherwise [as does talking to people at Epson]. Media Configuration Tool

[@nachnamevorname5917]

@@KeithCooper Thx. Well yeah, I only used a 4x loupe on both Canon and Epson prints of the same file. With that loupe on Epson no coloured specks are visible at all, on the Canon print everywhere and easily visible. Conclusion of that is that Epson might be using it, too, but if so the dimension is 1/10th or even less, thus neglectable. On the Canon print my short-sighted eye even without loupe does see some staining in different shades of gray, mainly in the middle tones, while on the Epson none, whatsoever. That is why I am asking if there is any possibility to switch the use of colour inks off on the Canon (reducing it to the microscopic level would be fine with me, too). Because, as it is, I really find it a no-go with the Canons.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes - Canon has fixed ink droplet size, whilst Epson has variable droplet sizes, that means that it's easier to 'hide' the small dots of colours. Fine detail is handled better on Epsons if you want to get close - I have a number of written articles looking at detail for some printers.

[@Breadnought]

Two questions about black and white: first, is this the way the PPL software behaved with the Pro-1000? That is, did it not accept an ICC profile when using the Black and White print mode? I usually print from Photoshop and in the Pro-1000 driver you were able to check or uncheck the B+W mode check box regardless of whether Photoshop or the driver was managing color. Is this a change to an Epson ABW style toggle where it's only available with the printer doing color management? And second, what sort of results are you getting for linearity and neutrality from this mode (without adding a color tint)? Would be really curious to see your results when you post your full review!

[@KeithCooper]

I don't recall any difference between this and PPL back when I tested it with the 300 and long before that, in my pro-1000 review [when it first came out] However, I'll have much more b&w stuff in the full review. This video really was only intended as a basic intro to B&W with the 1100.

[@fredwestinghouse2945]

Is there another method than moist finger test? Sometimes, I cannot tell which side has the coating as the tackiness is very slight.

[@KeithCooper]

Not really - I've used this one for over 20 years ;-) The supplier should indicate which - then just keep the paper the right way up or write on the packet.

[@alannorsworthy7702]

Do you see any ‘bronzing’ with this printer? I use an Epson 3880 and a P700 and I have to switch to matte paper for my B&W work.

[@KeithCooper]

Only tested a few papers so far, but it is less on lustre papers than the P700/900/5300 [which is why I would never use the highest print quality settings for B&W with PK ink on these printers (see written reviews)]

[@AlanNorsworthy]

Thank you Keith. I will try lowering the print quality and see if it helps.

[@KeithCooper]

See also the specific article about B&W for the 700/900 www.northlight-images.co.uk/black-and-white-printing-with-the-p700/

[@russellmm]

I just wish they developed a printer that does not need prints run through it constantly to work. I would love to get a nice photo printer but I just don't have the need to be doing weekly/daily prints.

[@KeithCooper]

They have - but they are office/consumer printers :-(

[@hubertcole1645]

Sorry but looks much complex to print compare to my Epson r2880.

[@KeithCooper]

It's no more complex than using Epson Print Layout on any modern Epson Pigment ink printer IMHO. I'm minded to suggest that 'Looks complex' likely means just 'different' - My old Ford Cortina was easy to drive at the time - My current car 'looks' much more complex, but is a whole lot easier to drive ;-) As ever YMMV ;-)