PIXMA PRO-100

Is your husband really deep into photography? If so, scrounge FB marketplace for a working used Canon Pro 100. I bought one basically brand new in box with 2 sets of ink for around $200. One of the best things I could’ve purchased because seeing your work printed out is so nice in this digital era. You can print small 4x6s with cheap photo paper or fine art prints up to 13x19.

Buy a used Canon pixma pro 100 or 9000. Yes they use cartridges but you can refill them relatively easily. More inconvenient than a new epson 6 color but Will fit your budget and have just as good if not better quality.

Operating costs on the Pro-100 are definitely higher. Learned that the hard way.

I have four printers in my home printing lab.  Epson Sure Color P900 - this is my workhorse printer for black-and-white and some color, depending on the tonal range and the paper.  Canon Pixma Pro 100 - much cheaper ink, but I am less happy with the black-and-white results, though I think it does extremely well with images that are predominantly, red or green.  Epson XP7100 - my day to day home office printer that does extremely high-quality 4 x 6 glossy prints with minimal fuss.  Epson Stylus Pro 3880 - much more expensive to run on Epson inks than the P900, but much more flexible in terms of utilizing third-party in including a wide gamut set of dedicated gray scale ink.  I do my own exhibition printing and have access to a 48 inch wide format Eason roll printer.  I share all of us because this is doable, if you are serious about high-quality printing and want the precise control over what paper and output you achieve, but be prepared for a significant financial investment in ink and paper.  I also have the benefit of being taught digital printing by a highly accomplished photographer who, like me, was a skilled dark printer before moving to digital. He also just happens to have work in multiple famous museums and collections, so his printing skills are indisputable. But even with that knowledge, sometimes it takes me two or three prints to completely dial in an image. 

I upgraded from the Pro 100 (early ancestor to the Pro 200) to the Pro 1100. Both produce beautiful color prints, but I never really liked the B&W from the dye-based 100--maybe the 200 has improved on that? Love the B&W out of the pigment-based 1100. Of course, the biggest difference is max print size. I've done a bunch of 16x24 (1/2" border all the way around) prints, and they are awesome. I've had the 1100 for just under a year and have so far pumped out the equivalent of 275 A4 prints. If the Canon accounting software is to be believed (more on that later), I've spent $US 1.80 worth of ink per A4 equivalent print. That number includes 2 major cleaning cycles which used \~100mL each. However, I think the costs are significantly less than that as the accounting manager thinks I'm using 20-30% more ink than the carts actually hold. Remember, the ink isn't really "wasted". With any inkjet printer, the ink does double duty as a lubricant to keep the printer in good working order. I love being able to print at home for the same reasons you describe, and for large prints, it's proving to be very economical--ink and paper for a 16x24 is costing me about 1/3 what a lab would. Note that the pro 1100 comes with a full set of ink. That accounts for nearly 60% of the initial cost. I'm not sure if the 200 and 300 do the same or if they just have "starter" inks.

My dye based printer ran cleaning cycles, too. I didn’t bother tracking how much. Make sure you have some extra cartridges on hand. I had several instances where after not using the Pro 100 for some time it would empty whatever was left in some of the low volume carts. I estimate my pro 1100 burns $75 every time it deep cleans. I’ve seen some reports that this can happen every 3 months. I’ve had 2 in about 11 months. Perhaps I’m seeing fewer cleans because it gets used fairly regularly. Anyway, you’ll love the 200. I had my 100 for about 10 years, and it was still pumping out beautiful prints when I donated to my church.

I have a pixma pro 100 that I bought like a decade ago and still use it to print black and whites on that same paper you're talking about, they look amazing.

I've got a Canon PIXMA Pro 100 that I've been using for over a decade. It puts anything from Shutterfly to absolute shame. I get all of my printing paper from Red River, which also makes a big difference when comparing to the online print places.

I've got a Canon Pixma Pro 100 that is going on 12 years old. It does absolutely fantastic prints, up to 13x19