Canon Pixma Pro 200 Review: The powerful printer produces stunning photos
The Canon Pixma Pro-200 is by some distance the largest printer I’ve ever had in my home. This printer is intended for amateur photographers as well as professionals. However, after using it for several weeks I can say that there is very little entry-level about it.
Creative Bloq has already featured the Pro-200 as one the most popular art printers (Opens in new tab To test the printer and verify that it was still on the list, I borrowed a unit from the manufacturer. I was able to print matte artwork, glossy photos, and complex, natural scenes as well as abstract geometric shapes. It is easy to use, and it can be used for regular documents such as forms, text documents, and more.
Design & setup
Like many printers, the Canon Pixma Pro-200 has a thick block of plastic around its printer mechanism. To make it appear a bit more elegant than the other printers in my home, the front has rounded corners. It looks heavy, but it is light. I was able to lift it from the packaging and place it on the side table.
A menu screen is available on the printer. This LCD screen measures 3 inches. You can use it to set up the printer by following the instructions. The menu screen is designed to be viewed at eye level and allows you to select the type of paper that you want to feed to it. The printer setup was simple and free from any problems, dropped connections, or emotional pain, which is something I have experienced over a 30-year-long relationship with printers.
There are two feed trays in the back: an automatic feed tray at top and back and one hidden behind the manual. Both are easily reachable, have high enough back supports to hold A3+ paper, so I don’t have to push it along like a toddler riding a bike. They both can be held onto the paper with no fuss.
A third tray is hidden beneath the front. You can place a’multipurpose” tray underneath the front. This tray can be used to store printable nail stickers (NL-101) as well as printable disks.
It was easy to replace the eight dye-based cartridges. The large front lid opens wide enough to allow for easy access to the innards.
Features
The Pro-200 is a professional photo printer that can produce stunning photos, images, or art on many types of paper. There are about a dozen paper presets that can be programmed into this printer. They range from plain paper through different glossy and matte photo and artwork papers to fabric transfers. You can change the ink type and amount to match the paper you are using.
The wireless printer works over your WiFi network (not Bluetooth), however, a wired USB B connection is also possible. It works with Windows, Mac, and Chrome operating systems. You can also connect to it using Airprint or the Android Canon Print Service App.
This ink is dye-based and gives you better colour saturation than the pigment inks. But, it also has a higher chance of photos fading over time. I guess that depends on your outlook on results now vs. long-term longevity.
Print performance
I was blown away by the quality of the photos, even the first images I printed to verify that the Canon Pixma Pro-200 was functioning properly.
It took me a while to get the paper selections right on the printer and on the computer. I also had to make sure that the paper was in the correct tray.
The glossy A3 and A3+ landscape and nature photos had an amazing shine, lustre, and depth of colour. They dried extremely quickly, too. Matte art, which included a portrait set in a variety of geometric shapes and a classic film poster, also had a tangible texture. It was easy to see how the different print profiles influenced the final result. This is an asset that anyone who uses the Pro-200 can benefit from.
Its maximum printing resolution is 4800x2400dpi. This printout shows it well. There’s little graining when you have large prints. I also noticed how well it mixed colours to create different hues of green. Sharpness of lines for shapes with very different colours was impressive. The colour accuracy was excellent from screen to print on glossy prints. However, matte prints were a bit darker than the preview. It’s a fairly common issue for photo printers. This can be easily corrected when printing.
It is slow to print regular text documents. This is the only downside I have found. This is not a major problem for an art printer but it’s something you should keep in mind if you have only one printer at your office or home.
Due to the small size of the ink cartridges, which are estimated to yield between 54 and 139 A3+ pages per colour, it will need to be replaced quite often.
Prices
The Canon Pixma Pro-200 costs around £459.99 / $549.99, but discounts pop up periodically, along with incentives like student cashback on Canon’s UK website, so do make sure you shop around for the best price.
It sits in the mid-range of comparable printers when it comes to price, about £200 cheaper than the Epson EcoTank ET-8550, but almost double the price of the Canon PIXMA iP8750, which has a higher print resolution but lower colour range as it has five dye-based ink cartridges as opposed to the Pro-200’s eight.
You will need to consider that ink cartridges can add an additional cost to the printer’s operation.
Should I Buy the Canon Pixma Pro-200
The Canon Pixma Pro-200 produces amazing images. It has a particularly good range of colours and detail in glossy photos. There are cheaper options for hobbyist photographers. However, for pros who need high-quality images for commercial purposes, the Pro-200 is the best choice.