There are two paper paths available for the Pro-1. Both are located at the top of the printer, the front being for standard photo papers and able to hold multiple sheets, and a manual feed path designed for single sheets of heavy weight fine art papers. Technically this is a 13x19 printer, but the manual patch can actually handle paper up to 14” wide. This is a benefit since there is a very wide margin required for fine art papers.

Color accuracy was excellent using the provided profiles with Canon's own luster photo paper as well as their fine art media. I also did a number of prints with my preferred media - Moab Entrada and Lasal Exhibition Luster (profiles for these and many other companies are available at their respective companies websites).

Blues and reds look very good with no color shift as is common for inkjet photos. There's a bit of a learning curve involved with Canon's profiles though. Names don't always match with what you are using. For example, with semi-gloss or luster papers, there are two options available - a 1/2 and a 3. I could find no indication of which profile was which, and finally gave in with a call to Canon support. As it turns out, the 1/2 profiles are higher quality (think Best) than the 3 (think Normal).  I found that printing through the Canon Easy-PhotoPrint Pro plug-in in Photoshop gave me the best results when using Canon media, but when printing to Moab papers I used Photoshop managed color with the Moab created profiles.

I was very anxious to try black and white prints to see how the new 5 monochrome system worked. Along with the normal matte black, photo black, gray, and light gray, there is a dark gray. Tonal gradations were the best I've seen on a ink jet print. Typically I will spend quite a bit of time fine tuning my workflow for monochrome printing to get the best possible tones, but out of the box, the Pro-1 was excellent.

I ran the same print through a Epson R3000, and while the coated papers were very similar, I found that on fine art papers the Epson had a clear edge in reproducing deep blacks with the matte black ink. I was unable to match these deep blacks with the Canon on any fine art media. Without a side by side comparison you likely wouldn't notice this difference and I wouldn't call it a problem - just a difference in density.

There was a bit of an issue for me at first when switching from the front to the rear feed paths. You must have the other feed cover closed or nothing prints - you'll just have a blinking light to figure out what needs to be corrected. After a few prints it becomes second nature though.

Ink use was very good, as I've come to expect from Canon printers. The larger tanks are clearly an advantage in a studio that prints a high volume of photos. Matte black seems to be the quickest color to go even though I printed approximately the same number of prints on both fine art and photo papers.

Conclusion

As a completely new model, the PIXMA PRO-1 is an outstanding addition to the 13x19 market for anyone looking for a printer that can handle higher volumes. At $999 it's not targeted at the casual user - the new PIXMA PRO-10 (a replacement for the 9500 Mark II) is more likely to appeal to this user. If you need to print panoramas or on roll media, the Epson R3000 is also a good option.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	4

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