Do Pro-100 C & M carts get exercised when printing photos?

[PalaDolphin]

@jtoolman , or anyone, on the Pro-100 printer, since there are the PC (Photo Cyan) and PM (Photo Magenta) cartridges that are used for (I assume) photos, do the C (Cyan) and M (Magenta) cartridges and ink jets get exercises when you print a 4x6 photos every 60 hours to avoid the cleaning cycle?

Or, should I error on the side of safety and buy Qimage Ultimate to periodically run its Unclog Tool to print a Perch Sheet?

Or just run Nozzle Check since I can't immediately afford both Qimage Ultimate and a refilling kit this month after the Pro-100 purchase?

 

[kdsdata]

@jtoolman , or anyone, on the Pro-100 printer, since there are the PC (Photo Cyan) and PM (Photo Magenta) cartridges that are used for (I assume) photos, do the C (Cyan) and M (Magenta) cartridges and ink jets get exercises when you print a 4x6 photos every 60 hours to avoid the cleaning cycle?

When you print any photos it is more than just the "Photo.." inks that "may" get exercised. It is really the color spread of the graphic image that the Pro-100 interpreters and calculates "it's" appropriate ink. The same goes for the black or gray, the best choice is decided by the printer. I tried to request specific data from Canon to create my own graphic image but received no help from Canon. I was told that the algorithm was proprietary.

However, when I spoke to the Canon Techy I was told that "all" nozzles are exercised with the Nozzle Check. That's really the reason for the check. If any nozzles don't work then the printed image has void lines in the pattern. I understand that ink use is minimizes, but I can't confirm that. When you print the page it does look like a low density print. That's probably a good thing because it likely prints the smallest dots possible.

Regarding the 60 hours, it prevents the self-initiated cleaning cycle, but does not guarantee what colors or nozzles get exercised. Personally I set a "Task" in Outlook, that reminds me every 2 days to "Exercise the Printer". Then I just simply run the Nozzle Check. Long ago I tried to be (very) cheap, i.e. minimum ink use, but following dried-up Printhead issues (forced replacement), I decided on a proper maintenance program. Have had no issues for a long time.

 

[PalaDolphin]

@kdsdata thanks.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Canon calls some of their inks 'Photo-', Epson uses the name 'Light-' which may explain it better, these inks are actually somewhat diluted C and M inks, and it is the driver defining its use - based on driver settings - quality level - paper selection. The driver would not recognize whether you are printing a 'photo' or printing colored text. Why such inks - every image pixel has a color which needs to be rendered, mixed by using color dots of different sizes to create the color from light to dark, from high color saturation to low saturation. Canon uses various ink drop sizes , the printhead has a separate row of nozzles for each of these drop sizes - typically 2 or 3 for M and C. When you want to create a lighter/less saturated color tone the driver prints less and smaller drops than for a darker more saturated color, and using inks with less saturation makes those drops less visible as individual drops, so the driver somewhere phases over from using the photo/light inks to the regular inks depending on the actual color/saturation needed. And it is possible that the photo/light inks are not used for lower quality settings e.g. on normal paper when speed is more relevant to the user than for photo prints. Since you are supplying your picture data as RGB data to the driver you don't have any control over these driver internal things how the RGB data are split up for the additional inks - photo/light inks and as well gray inks on some printer models, or even more inks like green, blue, red, orange on higher end printers.

 

[PalaDolphin]

@Ink stained Fingers, thanks for that explanation.

 

[kdsdata]

Regarding Features

One of the reasons why I like using the Pro-100 printer. When a job is printing, and you find that something is wrong, wrong job, wrong density, etc., simply press the Cancel below the power button . The job simply stops, right where it's at , and the paper ejects. Now that is a well behaved printer. This behavior can save a lot of ink when printing a page, especially a large page. No insisting on printing the complete page (like most laser printers). Just for that I forgive them the enforced cleaning cycle. Note, NEVER use the Power Button to cancel a job.

And while we are discussing features, I would like to point out that in the untimely eventual case of the dreaded blinking orange alarm lights, the PDF User Manual has a very good detailed list of the error codes. The Internet and even the Canon website has been less than satisfactory in getting answers for those codes. So keep the PDF User Manual.

 

[The Hat]

Here is a print mode list that tells which inks are been use on any particular paper and media quality ...
click to enlarge.
Also, this is what the bottom of your print head looks like, this composition example is of an i9950, but they are pretty much the same layout...

 

[kdsdata]

Here is a print mode list that tells which inks are been use on any particular paper and media quality ...

Also, this is what the bottom of your print head looks like, this composition example is of an i9950, but they are pretty much the same layout...

There are similarities between printer. A such the Pro-100 has 2 sets of 4 columns of nozzles, one column for each of the 8 colors. Each column has about 768 nozzles.

@The Hat: Could you please let us know where the table originates? Is this something available for a particular job? I have for ever been trying to find a method for identifying how much ink I used for a particular job. Or at least what percentages of colors are used for a job.

 

[kdsdata]

Canon calls some of their inks ...

@Ink stained Fingers Now there is truth in a name. Haven't we all been there?

 

[Roy Sletcher]

@The Hat: Could you please let us know where the table originates? Is this something available for a particular job? I have for ever been trying to find a method for identifying how much ink I used for a particular job. Or at least what percentages of colors are used for a job.

I am guessing a digital gram scale would serve the purpose. If calibrated to two or more decimal places.

1. Weigh the carts before printing.
2. Print n copies depending on degree of accuracy required.
3. Reweigh the carts after printing.'
4. 1-3/n should give the ink used. By colour if necessary.

Dare I say easy peasy '

rs

Later edit:
Red-faced edit to correct equation.
Easy Peasy idiot me'sy.