Canon is looking to extend its role among professional photographers and advanced amateurs with the introduction of two new professional photo printers: the 10-colour PIXMA Pro9500 and the 8-color PIXMA Pro9000 models.

The first Canon PIXMA printers to earn the Pro designation, both the PIXMA Pro9500 printer - which utilises long-lasting, pigment-based inks - and the PIXMA Pro9000 printer - which uses long-lasting, dye-based inks - promise brilliant, gallery-quality prints up to 13x19-inches on a variety of specialty media and fine art papers.

What’s particularly interesting about the releases is that Canon has not simply reformulated inks, but has re-examined the selection of inks needed to create some of the finest, long-lasting prints possible.

Wilhelm Imaging Research is currently testing the ChromaLife100 system and Lucia pigment-based inks. It says a review of preliminary test data indicates that prints made with the Lucia pigmented inks and select Canon photo and fine art papers will have WIR Display Permanence Ratings in excess of 100 years for colour images and significantly beyond that for monochrome. The pigmented inks also provide excellent short-term colour drift behaviour, according to the research firm, which is critically important for colour managed workflows and for proofing applications.

The PIXMA Pro9500 was designed and developed to accommodate professional photographers and imaging professionals that wish to present the highest possible quality portfolios of their work as well as those who generate gallery-standard prints for sale (and understandably need them to last).

Ten individual tanks of Canon’s long lasting, Lucia-branded pigment-based inks and Canon’s 7680 nozzle print head and Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) technology are at the core of this top-performance photo printer. These Lucia inks (photo black, matte black and gray as well as cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, red and green) are precisely placed by the PIXMA Pro9500 Photo Printer in 3-picolitre droplets to create photographs and other works of art that are rich in detail, texture and tone, claims Canon.

Still, this printer delivers remarkable results when printing gallery-grade monochromatic photos, says Canon. For these ‘black and whites,’ the inks are key. The Matte Black ink provides high density true black renditions on fine art papers; the Photo Black ink provides high contrast and, most telling of all, the gray ink reduces graininess and lines and stabilises the grey balance in the print (by using less colour in the grey image areas).

The grey ink also reduces the photo phenomenon known as metamerism where composite grey inks (achieved with combinations of cyan, magenta and yellow ink) make image areas look different under different lighting conditions (such as sunlight, fluorescent light, and incandescent light). This aberration is due to the differences in spectral reflectance properties of each of the composite colours.

To further increase productivity, efficiency, and value, Canon designed the PIXMA Pro9500 model so that all 10 individual ink tanks can reside in the print head at all times, saving time (and ink) by eliminating the need to swap out tanks before printing. Now, those who may have been inconvenienced by swapping ink tanks can simply load all the tanks in this new PIXMA Pro model and never worry about which ink goes with which project.

The PIXMA Pro9000 Photo Printer uses Canon's high-performance, high-density 6144 nozzle print head to deposit precise and constant 2-picolitre ink droplets - delivering approximately 11-million droplets per square inch - to produce impressively detailed prints with remarkable quality and speed.

This 8-ink printer features a wide colour space that rivals positive film and delivers vivid coloration and high glossiness. Indeed, the combination of these new individually packaged inks (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Photo Cyan, Photo Magenta, Black, Red, and Green) and Canon Photo Paper Pro glossy stock creates beautiful finished images, says Canon.

While the PIXMA Pro9500 and PIXMA Pro9000 printers borrow design elements from Canon’s digital SLR line, curved edges reminiscent of the lines on Canon digital SLRs and ‘pro-black’ pebble finish, the Canon-to-Canon synergy is not limited to style, colour, and curves. Indeed, that connection is closest with Canon’s new EOS 30D professional digital SLR.

The EOS 30D Digital SLR connects directly with these two printers via a PictBridge connection powering its advanced camera direct capabilities. This feature permits manual adjustment of colour or black-and-white images from the camera’s LCD screen all without the need of a computer connection or additional image management software. Professional users can now adjust contrast, colour tone, saturation, colour balance, and even add shooting information directly on to their prints. The Canon-to-Canon direct connection simplifies the professional photographers' workflow.

Both the PIXMA Pro9500 Photo Printer and the PIXMA Pro9000 Photo Printer are bundled with Canon’s Easy-PhotoPrint Pro software. Easy-PhotoPrint Pro is a plug-in software program for Adobe applications Photoshop CS and Photoshop CS2, and Canon Digital Photo Pro (DPP) version 2.1, which permits one-click image transfer; offers simple settings for colour management and allows you to configure printer settings once for images on multiple sheets. Among its myriad other features, the Easy-PhotoPrint Pro software facilitates the printing of RAW images (as a high quality TIFF or JPEG) without having to save from DPP software.

The Easy-PhotoPrint Pro software also creates pattern prints that demonstrate different colour balance, brightness, and contrast than the original image and prints them on a sheet of paper for easy comparison. This pattern print can present 48 possible image variations allowing users to see what their prints will look like without wasting vast quantities of paper, ink, and of course, time. You can even configure the colour settings for different types of papers and adjustment values can be stored for later use.

Coinciding with the debut of these two new professional photo printers, Canon is adding two new fine art printing papers to the company’s already extensive line of available media: The 100 per cent cotton, Fine Art Paper ‘Photo Rag’ (ideal for printing photo art as well as copies of water colours, oil paintings, woodblock prints, and illustrations); and Fine Art Paper Premium Matte (heavy 210g/m2 paper with a smooth matte finish that conveys an artistic, gallery-grade look to photographs and other art content). Both new papers are offered in 8.5x11-inch and 13x19-inch sizes.

Additionally, Canon has extended its quality media lineup with a new 8x10-inch size of its popular Photo Paper Pro and Photo Paper Plus Semi Gloss media, as well as a new 13x19-inch size for its Photo Paper Plus paper, making it easier than ever to go directly from printer to frame.

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BIOS, Feb 27, 06 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Printer