EXCLUSIVE: Canon ups the IQ of digital print
In an exclusive report for Print 21, Angus Paterson looks at the new ImagePROGRAF range of wide-format printers, which promise to make lives of printers a whole lot easier with its hefty range of productivity enhancements, speed upgrades and image quality improvements.
Canon's mission statement with the W6400 and W8400 machines is to offer an improvement in image quality without a sacrifice in speed, and to this effect the latest models feature a sweeping range of changes over its predecessors.
The new ImagePROGRAF machines contain a one-inch-wide, high-density printhead, featuring microscopic 4-picoliter droplets that allow for high-quality images free from graininess. To ensure these image improvements do not result in a speed bottleneck, the printhead employs 7,680 tiny ink nozzles, or 1280 for each of the six colours. This allows the W8400 (pictured right) to maintain a print speed of around 2.2 minutes per page in A0 size output, while both models can produce A1 output at around 1.3 minutes per page.
Steven Brown (pictured right), market manager of graphic arts at Canon Australia, claims the productivity upgrades promised by the machines may be an even bigger source of interest for local print operators. “Canon has really thought hard during the development of its new printers,” he says. “The machines are definitely much smarter about the way they do things now.”
The automatic print head alignment is an example of the smart technology deployed in the machines, ensuring both that the print quality is maintained as well as easing the strain on the printers themselves. The monitor-matching mode ensures the colours remain the same on the monitor and the printed material, with the software comparing the two profiles and adjusting the colours displayed to align it with what is being printed.
The ImagePROGRAF range has the ability to print on a wide new range substrates, as well as media used by operators in the CAD market. The new software solutions that come with the machines are also tailored towards ease of use, with the printer driver enabling high-impact borderless prints in a wide range of formats and the new PosterArtist software streamlining the process of poster creation.
(Right: Canon's new W6400 wide-format printer)
For an in-depth look at Canon's new ImagePROGRAF machines, keep an eye out for the technology profile in the next issue of Print 21 Magazine.
Canon's mission statement with the W6400 and W8400 machines is to offer an improvement in image quality without a sacrifice in speed, and to this effect the latest models feature a sweeping range of changes over its predecessors.
Steven Brown (pictured right), market manager of graphic arts at Canon Australia, claims the productivity upgrades promised by the machines may be an even bigger source of interest for local print operators. “Canon has really thought hard during the development of its new printers,” he says. “The machines are definitely much smarter about the way they do things now.”
The ImagePROGRAF range has the ability to print on a wide new range substrates, as well as media used by operators in the CAD market. The new software solutions that come with the machines are also tailored towards ease of use, with the printer driver enabling high-impact borderless prints in a wide range of formats and the new PosterArtist software streamlining the process of poster creation.