Canon Introduces iPF6000S

Canon introduced the imageProGraf iPF6000s, and the 12-color imageProGraf iPF6200.

The company's new 24-inch imageProGraf iPF6000S printer, which was officially introduced at SGIA (but such a small footprint is easily lost among the behemoth printers at that show), is an 8-color printer (CMYK + photo cyan + photo magenta + matte black + gray). The 6000S uses Canon's Lucia pigment inks and is specifically targeted to print-for-pay establishments as well as graphic-arts professionals.

The printer, which can print on roll and cut sheet, employs two high-density print heads, totaling 30,720 nozzles (5120 nozzles per color, 4-picoliter droplets), and also has a built-in color calibration feature. Its top resolution is 2400 x 1200 dpi, and it can hit a speed of 294 ft/hr (that's 30 percent faster than its iPF6100 12-color sibling printer, Canon reports).

The iPF6000S is the first printer to ship with Canon's newly reformulated internal color and ICC profiles, designed to improve color rendition and fidelity (particularly shadow details and highlights, as well as better color saturation). The new color profiles are also being made available for all other current imageProGraf printers that use the Lucia inkset.

Other features include:

* An Economy Color Mode, which minimizes the use of light-density inks such as photo cyan and photo magenta, reducing the overall ink usage while retaining color density.

* A new Monitor Matching mode, which enables prints to match calibrated sRGB or Adobe RGB monitors under nearly any lighting condition.

* An internal 80GB hard drive, allowing the reprinting of jobs directly from the hard drive; the content of the hard drive can be accessed remotely via a built-in Web server using a browser, or through a dedicated print monitor utility.

* A Print Plug-in for Microsoft Office, which provides the ability to add a large format printing menu to the Microsoft Office suite toolbar. The printer also comes with a Print Plug-in for Photoshop.

* PosterArtist 2008 Lite, a poster creation program that comes with a variety of poster templates and hundreds of stock images. The full version of PosterArtist 2008 (which includes an automated design feature, image correction, variable data printing and more) is optional.

MSRP on the iPF6000S: $3295, including stand and basket; add $799 for the full PosterArtist option.

Canon also introduced its imageProGraf iPF6200. A 24-inch printer as well, the iPF6200 boasts a 12-color Lucia pigment inkset (CMYKRGB + photo cyan + photo magenta + matte black + gray + photo gray) and Canon's L-COA (Large Format Printer Common Architecture) controller, allowing for increased speed and a broad color gamut. With its four monochrome shades, the printer is designed to produce a greater black-to-white tonal range for more dramatic light-to-dark contrast and better mid-tone clarity.

The iPF6200 also is equipped with a built-in 80GB hard drive to provide extra data capacity for high-volume production situations, and an EFI Colorproof eXpress RIP (standard) with a simple user interface including an easy-to-use set-up wizard. This ICC-compliant software includes pre-defined modes for proofing, photo, and monochrome output and supports remote job processing and printing.

Capable of achieving a top resolution of 2400 x 1200 dpi, it can print on cut sheets as well as roll (borderless printing). It can output a 23.6 x 33.1-inch image on photo luster paper in approximately 6 minutes at its high image quality setting, Canon reports.

MSRP: $3495, including EFI Colorproof eXpress, Print Plug-in for Photoshop and Microsoft Office, PosterArtist 2008 Lite (PosterArtist 2008 full version is optional), stand, and basket.

CANON
www.usa.canon.com