Canon PRO-1100: Making long panoramic prints. Using roll paper for wide prints tutorial and review

The Canon PRO-1100 can print on long sheets of paper. How easy is it to do and what precautions do you need to take. How useful is the PRO-1100 if you want to use art papers and thicker media. Is the PRO-1100 any good.
Running through the full process of printing a wide panoramic image, including software and print settings. How useful is the Canon PRO-1100 for this sort of printing? Using the free Canon PPL print software.
The stitching software is freely downloadable
hdrmaps.com/bl...
Read the notes on that page to avoid install difficulties
Don't forget the registration email and code just below the download links...
My reviews of earlier versions
www.northlight...
www.northlight...
#panorama #stitching #AutopanoGiga #PanoramicPhotography
#canonpro1100 #tutorial #rollpaper
For a full categorised index of all my videos, see:
www.northlight...
-----------------
If you'd like to make a small donation, I have a Kofi page:
"Buy me a coffee" ko-fi.com/keit...
-----------------
My articles and videos are always free to access.
Any help with running this channel is gratefully received.
-----------------
I also have some affiliate links which earn me a commission if used.
US Amazon photo/print gear: amzn.to/3l9vJC6
B&H Photo: www.bhphotovid...
Adorama: www.adorama.co...

[@KeithCooper]

Video about the free stitching software kzbin.info/www/bejne/noPahJVnjN-sotk For a much longer 10 foot long print of mine, see kzbin.info/www/bejne/paDJhZhue7uUidk For a full categorised index of all my videos, see: www.northlight-images.co.uk/keith-cooper-photography-videos-index/ My bespoke [UK] photography and printmaking training is at: www.northlight-images.co.uk/commercial-photography/training/photography-tuition/ If you'd like to make a small donation, I have a Kofi page: "Buy me a coffee" ko-fi.com/keithcooper

[@FLMUSACanada]

Red River offers a 13" x 38" sheet option for some of its papers. It's flat and can be loaded from the top or the back. It's a good option if you print panos infrequently and hate messing with rolls on this printer. If you have room behind the printer, you can keep a roll of paper mounted on a dowel and resting on two bases, and feed it to the back of the printer. It works fine, I printed a 17" x 55" pano this way. But like Keith said, if you print panos from roll paper often, there are other printer options that will make your work a lot easier and more enjoyable.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - good to know that size is available in some areas. I've seen boxes of 'Half A2' here in the UK, but doing long prints on a printer like this does need commitment ;-)

[@dexon555]

I love Red River! 👍🏻

[@Light_Quill]

For me the only issue really is being able to print 16x24”s. If the paper manufacturers that I normally use were to sell 17x25” sheets (instead of 17x22”) I would have no need for rolls. Instead when I need to print at that size I will have to resort to pre-cutting a sheet from a 17” roll. A bit of a PITA but at least it should not be as unwieldy as a long pano…

[@dexon555]

@@FLMUSACanada By the way I absolutely love my FLM tripod. 👍🏻

[@blackcygnus3177]

A totally awesome video Keith. Thanks so much for all your hard work!

[@KeithCooper]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@simonriggs]

Great print

[@KeithCooper]

Thank you

[@itaylorm]

Thanks for sharing. Very educational. The comment about the Optimizer on Auto and having the white point at 253 was very helpful

[@KeithCooper]

Glad it was helpful - the new CO mode is not quite what I'd hoped it would be - definitely worth experimenting with if you want to use glossier papers

[@johnziarko4451]

Excellent video especially about the care that is needed to avoid troubles. The cookbook Forgotten Skills looks intriguing.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks The book has all sorts of odds and ends, like how to use every last bit of a pig. I just opened it to see where the marker was - a couple of nice chowder recipes which I'd obviously been impressed with, but never got round to making... That will be made later this week!

[@johnziarko4451]

@@KeithCooper Sounds like a great book. Yum.

[@jpdj2715]

Valuable observations. Thanks. For viewers outside continental Europe, the "A" series of print paper sizes (defined by the German engineering standards bureau per DIN) has an aspect ratio of SQRT(2) (square root of two). This means that each next size larger is SQRT(2) linearly larger and consequently 2 times in area. Higher A numbers are smaller. A4 is in the 8"*10" to letter/legal size ballpark at 210mm * 297mm (8.27" * 11.69"). A3 then is 297*420, and A2 is 420*594 - my educated guesstimates. As 17" wide is 431.8mm wide, A2 is the largest A series size we can print at that. The 17" would be convenient when we print to an old photographic standard of US origin like, say, 12" * 17". In this video, I think I heard Keith say that half A2 is 2 A4 and that's correct as half A2 is also 1 A3 and 1 A3 equals 2 A4. IIRC, the DIN range starts at A00, then A0 and the rest follows. In framing in a frame, rather than behind frameless glass, you lose a bout 5mm on each side and this means an A2 printed with a 4mm white edge all around has little risk of losing image versus exposing a white edge. Note that framing with a passepartout - a generally high quality cardboard paper with bevelled edges into a central opening used to bridge between the framed image and the significantly larger frame - requires new decisions about edges or not. You could mimic the passepartout effect in printing with a border and framing frameless, or even add some fake bevel tone/shade. I would always have an aesthetically chosen wider edge at the bottom than at the top. "Even is uneven" my carpenter would say and in Japanese culture symmetry may be a sin. Well, in framing we want a wider bottom edge to remove the illusion of not being in the middle when the image is perfectly in the middle. This compares to columns in classical buildings and façades from antiquity that are slightly thicker near the middle as a way to remove the illusion of not being straight.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks for noting that

[@BruceBurke-o6x]

In the US, we follow the ANSI standard. It starts with 8.5*11 inches for size A, then doubles along the short edge after that. B is 11*17 and the largest cut sheet this printer could handle is ANSI C, which is 17*22 inches. No doubt Canon was thinking about this when they set this printer's size. (Size D would be 34*22, but no one uses it, they instead use Architectural D, which is 24*36 inches - PRO-2600 max width)

[@Light_Quill]

As always a great, informative video, Keith. Regarding print quality settings, my experience with the Pro 1100 printing on Canson paper sheets with manufacturer ICC profiles and “High” quality setting has shown that with certain papers (Canson Arches 88 and above all Baryta Prestige II) in combination with certain images I would occasionally get more or less pronounced banding. On those instances where it occurred, the issue was generally limited on Arches 88 but absolutely awful and extensive on Baryta Prestige II. By switching to the “Highest” print setting (with all other settings staying the same) the banding issue was gone. So, while I agree that in most cases printing on the “High” quality setting is enough and certainly much quicker than printing on “Highest”, there may be situations where selecting “Highest” does make a significant difference. Just my 2 cents of course :-)

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - I have created some profiles for two more papers [HM Bamboo and baryta bamboo] which I've got in 17" roll - very tricky to feed without properly de-curling, but I'll check for quality.

[@Light_Quill]

@@KeithCooper I have no direct experience with either of those HFA papers, but I would definitely suggest you make a small test print on “High” before you go ahead and print of a 17” sheet of a premium paper like those. Also, kind of unrelatedly, I am going to send you an email about the profile that you created for Epson Luster because, to your point, I have some that is a leftover from my Epson days and would love to still be able to use it somehow.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes, I do have a number of 'areas' where I'm looking for clarification from Canon... I've a pretty big collection of papers profiled and I'll see what I can find to test with ;-)

[@johnvaleanbaily246]

You've got to stop putting out these excellent videos Keith... you've just about convinced me that I should upgrade to the 1100.

[@KeithCooper]

Blame Canon Marketing ;-)

[@renestaempfli1071]

You said it all when it comes to roll paper printing. I have made several prints on the pro 1000 at 40x120cm. It is a pain, let alone 300cm possible at the pro 1100. I guess it is 3 times the pain.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes - it works well... but I'd not want to do it often.

[@Xirpzy]

Nice panorama. I should take more of those even if not for printing.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes - panoramic composition is something which needs practice!

[@hoggif]

Your earlier Autopano giga was a good tip. I've used it for some photos and it seems to work well and basic use seems pretty easy. Available on Linux too. I need to test it more for HDR mixing too. Sometimes like in the night a multiple exposure mix of panoramic shots could be so useful.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - it's been a favourite of mine for years

[@puck528co]

Thanks for your excellent insights. Very helpful!

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks

[@andreigheorghe2709]

Absolutely awesome print, and excellent video. I have one question for you regarding whether you would chose to have the print framed in a custom sized frame, or you would chose a different way to have the image mounted on a wall, and what would that be?

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - At this size likely I'd get a frame made, and do the assembly/framing myself At larger sizes, see here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gWHGqXl_e7hnj80

[@andreigheorghe2709]

@@KeithCooper awesome, thank you so much. I have just printed a 305x1100 mm image on the Canon pro 1000 and was thinking of what would be the best way to have it hanged on my wall

[@douglasbradshaw9553]

Good tip regarding if you want to print with roll paper ... get a Canon Pro 2600. As I watched you place the cut roll sheet I could see the paper rubbing up against the wall and possibly getting a crease from handling it into place. Canvas is even harder to feed. The front edge has to be cut and fed into the printer perfectly otherwise it will run askew and end up being waste.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes, it can work like I show, but I wouldn't want to do it often...

[@dexon555]

I always choose overall on the coating setting, I find the surface of the resulting print looks more uniform in reflectivity.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes - depends on the paper type. I had hoped that the new mode [compared to the 1000] did just that for the printed area, but it's not quite there [on some papers]

[@dexon555]

@@KeithCooper I believe the chroma optimizer is only applied to papers with a glossy surface, it’s not applied to papers that use matte black ink exclusively (matte papers).

[@pmriche]

Hi Keith, Thank you for taking the time to test and share your experience with this printer. I recently acquired the PRO-1100, in addition to other Canon PRO printers I’ve used in the past. I have a quick question, if I may: have you encountered the same limitation in the PPL software that I have? It seems I’m unable to set a custom paper size above 1200mm, even though the PRO-1100 is capable of printing up to 3270mm. Could this be due to the PPL version not yet fully supporting the PRO-1100? I appreciate your insights and, once again, thank you for your helpful videos. Sincerely,

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks - I'll have a look at this. I've not tried much longer prints yet

[@pmriche]

@@KeithCooper Thank you very much in advance. It's a bit frustrating not being able to print as large as this new model can do. If I find first, I will let you know, indeed Sincerely

[@KeithCooper]

Just checked and you have to use the [long form media] media type to get access to the long sizes However - this breaks any custom profiling as far as I can see, unless someone makes a profile for your paper for this media type [there are two special long ones, matte and photo] Oops...

[@dtrg65]

your videos are so valuable, thank you. how would you go about trimming the long edge? i understand having a rotary cutter for the short edge, but in this, or the 10ft one you did, how would you go about ensuring you have the margin you want, either in the software or with a trimmer? I'm new to this so i'm not sure what the workflow looks like, or if you would pretty much never trim the long side margins. but, what if you wanted borderless pano?

[@KeithCooper]

I set it in the software If I want borderless, I'll trim after lamination etc. Or, more to the point, get the people who laminate it onto foam board do it. I do have a video showing this as a means of presentation kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIbMXpaCpK2Hgq8

[@dtrg65]

@KeithCooper love that canvas print. I saw when you set custom paper size, you can't check the borderless option; in the software, can you set the image to print at the same size as your custom print size to have it effectively print borderless out of printer? I tried downloading the software to try but software won't work without printer detected.

[@KeithCooper]

Borderless does not work with custom sizes - you will get a minimal [3mm IIRC] border whatever size. For the canvas print I made, the border is back behind the stretcher. If you want to do borderless on roll, you need a proper roll paper printer [P5300, PRO-2600 etc]

[@dtrg65]

@@KeithCooper gotcha thank you so much!

[@IAnneee26]

Hi Keith, very informative video once again. When I print an image on my Canon pro-1000, it does show the filename on the printer's display. I do print directly from the Lightroom printmodule.

[@KeithCooper]

Thanks Yes - this is with PPL though. If I print from Photoshop I get the file name - it's a 'usability issue' for PPL

[@boristahmasian9604]

Thank you Keith for this video. As usual very informative and practical application of the mysterious printing world! I am curious if you were able to print a 17" wide, long pano with the printer? In addition, how is the ink usage on this printer. Does it waste a lot of ink for cleaning cycles? Thank you.

[@KeithCooper]

Yes, 17 inch works fine, I just didn't have 10 feet of high quality paper to waste ;-) See the video I did about ink use and keeping it switched on. The less often you use the printer, the higher the proportion of ink used in maintenance For me, it's no more 'wasted' than putting oil in a car engine is waste - it is a cost of using any inkjet. Just it can get expensive for this one if you only make a print or two a month.

[@boristahmasian9604]

@@KeithCooper Thank you Keith. Is head drying due to infrequent use an issue?

[@KeithCooper]

@@boristahmasian9604 It is for any inkjet printer - not as much as it was a few years ago. Just make sure you print something, even a nozzle check, every few weeks at least. If you didn't see, it, I did a video about a 10 foot print on 10" paper

[@boristahmasian9604]

@@KeithCooper Thank you Keith. Yes I saw that video.

[@jamesgannon4799]

Thanks for this video Keith! Enjoyed every minute. Could you answer this question about your thoughts on editioning? "Limited Edition" does have a cache with buyers/collectors. Let's pretend you intend to offer 10 of the image you just printed. But you don't want to print them all at once. Is it okay to number the one just printed as 1/10. And print the next 9 on client demand? Also, what if you want to print the same image at a different size? Even a slightly different size? Can one make a separate limited edition? Thanks in advance.

[@KeithCooper]

I do have several videos related to aspects of this in my business related stuff. In general [from my POV] it's mainly a marketing tactic, so depends entirely on the market you are in. Does the market expect it for example? It does make the big assumption that there are people will actually care about getting the prints as part of an edition ;-) Re-printing or new sizes will nudge the ethical boundaries for some - but not others.

[@ShootingAndReloading]

Looking forward to a comparison of ultimate print quality with the Pro-1000 :)

[@KeithCooper]

Not unless you have a spare pro-1000 to send me I'm afraid Differences will be minimal in many areas

[@ShootingAndReloading]

@@KeithCooper Ah! I'd falsely assumed you would still have prints from previous Pro-1000 tests to compare.

[@KeithCooper]

@@ShootingAndReloading None left... I reviewed it over 8 years ago

Love your videos Keith! I'm planning to print a panorama on a backlit film(pigmented). Any suggestions ?

[@KeithCooper]

Tricky to get the right density - all dependent on the actual media and the inks used. Profiling is also difficult without specialist kit

[@jpdj2715]

Keith your remarks about the gloss-something-layer and how to deal with it, its effects or issues, reminded me that 40..50 years ago I might spray large photos with a lacquer that (a) filtered out UV - but I have no idea which UV and to what % extent, (b) added some image protection in more than UV/ageing way, and (c) would be available e.g. in matte, so I could use high gloss baryta paper for ultimate image quality and later decide to apply a matte lacquer that only took the reflections down. I probably still have an Agfa branded spray bottle somewhere in the old film-photographic attic. Have you come across something like that for today's giclée [1] prints? Yes, I could Google for it, but if you have experience already then that would be more valuable to me. [1] in everyday French, this "giclée" (gee clay) word means "squirted" - and we mean "inkjet" in plain common English.

[@KeithCooper]

It's something I avoid because of the solvents [headache in minutes] Giclee is purely a marketing term these days - any use of the word in a non ironic context fires my marketing BS detectors ;-) :-)

[@elnitram4313]

Could you measure the top and bottom margins? To me, the bottom one looks wider and I don’t really want to trim paper along the long side.

[@KeithCooper]

well spotted... 13mm and 16.4mm However, I didn't measure the exact width of the paper when creating the custom size Some measurement and experimentation will be needed if those numbers matter. I'd note you often get this exact same issue with roll paper printers - this was how I discovered variance in paper physical sizes

[@elnitram4313]

@KeithCooper What is a usual tolerance? It doesn't have to be perfect, but I don't want it to be the first thing I notice about a print. It would be great if you could measure the paper before you do the next panorama. Or is trimming the paper something you just have to do? Part of me wants to buy the pro2600 for the cheaper ink.

[@KeithCooper]

@@elnitram4313 I don't know, but I've seen a mm or two variation in some.

[@elnitram4313]

@@KeithCooper Thanks, that's probably not too visible.

[@jpdj2715]

If the printer requires decurling at the paper's left side for the first 2..3 inches (~5..~7.5cm) then my thinking goes to "vacuum tech to hold paper flat not good enough". Or am I missing something?

[@KeithCooper]

The vacuum is simply not powerful enough to do what you want with a really stiff paper - not on any printer I've ever tested. Remember that the vacuum has to allow the paper to move as well as hold it down.

[@ViaFerrataCH]

Highest seems unbearably slow

[@KeithCooper]

Yes - over 5 mins for an A4 - this was just at 'high'