02/09/2004, 1:10pm, EST
Monday, February 9th
Canon offers desktop photo inkjet with 8-colors
The i9900 photo printer is the first in its class to offer eight individual ink tanks. Canon's exclusive ChromaPLUS 8-color ink system adds individual red and green ink tanks to the cyan, magenta, yellow, black, photo cyan and photo magenta inks that are commonly found on six-color printers. The red ink tank allows for an approximately 60% increase in the orange/red gamut over six-color printing and provides for previously unobtainable orange hues and well as richer reds. The green ink adds about 30% increase in green gamut as compared to six-color printing and creates more accurate and deeper greens in grass and foliage. Canon says the resulting finished print more closely matches the color characteristics of positive photographic film.
Canon's dye inks produce higher levels of glossiness, more vivid colors, reduced graininess and better contrast photo quality when compared with traditional flat and lack luster pigment-based inks used in conventional printers.
In addition to the two new colors, Canon has further increased the printer's photo quality by doubling the maximum color resolution to 4800 x 2400 dpi(a) from the earlier generation i9100 photo printer. The i9900 photo printer features the world's longest and highest nozzle-density print head in a consumer product and has 6,144 nozzles, capable of ejecting a 122 million droplets per second. The print head uses Canon's exclusive advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology, which ejects consistent prescribed-volume ink droplets for smooth gradations, accurate skin tones and rich, vibrant colors. To match the look of minilab prints, the i9900 photo printer supports edge-to-edge borderless printing in 4x6, 5x7, 8.5x11 and 13x19 inch sizes.
Canon's printer also boasts better photo printing speeds than the competition. According to the Canon, users can print a 4 x 6-inch borderless photo in about 38 seconds, a 5 x 7-inch borderless photo in approximately 47 seconds, an 8.5 x 11-inch borderless photo in about 84 seconds and a full 13 x 19-inch borderless photograph in under three minutes. For printing text, websites and other documents, the i9900 model features print speeds of up to 16 pages per minute (ppm) in black and up to 12 ppm in color printing.
24-inch wide-format pigment inkjet printer
Canon is also showcasing the industry's fastest 24-inch pigment ink printer: imagePROGRAF W6200 uses Canon's singular bi-directional head, offers MicroFine Droplet Technology and pigment ink solution to produce photo-quality archival prints and proofs up to 24 inches wide. The printer can deliver A1-sized prints in less than five minutes in standard (600 x 1200 dpi) mode and featurs PS-level 3 compatible raster image processor (RIP) software. It features draft (300 x 1200 dpi), standard (600 x 1200 dpi), and high (1200 x 1200 dpi) modes via a user-replaceable print head. It supports Mac OS 8/9/X and most popular network protocols (including TCP/IP, AppleTalk and IPX/SPX) and ships with a 10/100 BASE-T/TX Ethernet network interface and a USB 2.0 high-speed interface. An optional Firewire/IEEE1394 board is available. It will ship in mid-February for $3,500.
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Where did it come from?
Apparently, things can be ripe to be something, so long as that something is quantified in 10-15 units. Or something.
Whatever, it's funny. Makes me chuckle, especially when other members freak out.
Sorry.
Meanwhile, the word, RIPE, is meaningless now.
Finally the brain dead morons at Canon have included ICC support under OSX???. NONE of the previous or current Canon inkjet printers have supported custom ICC profiles. Espon does this, because they are a 'real' photo orientated company. You could use custom ICC profiles with Canon printers, however you had to boot into OS9. Canon is pretty much not very serious about supporting the Mac platform, or they would have at least tried to come up with decent software under OSX, that has the functionality of their OS9 drivers. Epson is still the benchmark. The Epson 2200 with very stable, long lasting Ultrachrome pigmented inks, will still produce images of comparable in quailty to the i9900, but it priced $150-200 more. Canon prints will fade over time, depending on how much light and humidity they are exposed to.
For serious ametuers and pros alike, the Epson 2200 is still the printer of choice. You can even get RIP software for this printer.
Custom profiles will get you better blues, reds, greens, etc. with the right paper/ink combinations.
Well, that is an interesting comment. Are you insinuating that Canon is not a photo oriented company?
Agreed, Canon has been slow to adopt several significant elements to their digital products (ICC, Abobe RGB to name a couple). However, as a photographer and Canon customer, I'm happy to say that they are one of the few large companies that actually listen to their patrons and take user suggestions seriously.
As for Canon's lack of OS X support, Epson is right there with them. I seem to recall several features of the 2200 (borderless printing, paper roll support for example) that were only recently addressed.
Cheers.