Canon, leader in photographic and imaging technology, today releases its new 8-ink flagship professional photo printer: the 4800 x 2400 dpi PIXMA iP8500. Canon’s ChromaPLUS technology adds additional red and green inks for vibrant, highly saturated colours. Combined with a FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) technology print head, which generates permanent 2 picolitre ink droplets, this new PIXMA printer produces the ultimate professional photo prints. It also does so in record time – an A4 photo prints in just 34 seconds.

The iP8500 features advanced media handling and Canon’s ‘Transparent’ single ink system, as well as direct photo printing from most contemporary digital cameras and digital video cameras supporting the PictBridge standard.

“The PIXMA range of printers continues Canon’s commitment to superb quality, unfailing reliability and purity of design. The iP8500 perfectly embodies this philosophy,” said Head of Canon Consumer Imaging UK and Ireland, Malcolm Hills. “With industry leading professional photo print quality and speed, the iP8500 is the ultimate A4 photo printer.”

Ultimate photo quality

In a process called FINE, Canon has adapted its own silicon chip manufacturing technology to produce print heads with a tolerance and precision similar to that of integrated circuits. FINE print heads now feature in all PIXMA printers and deliver microscopic droplets with unrivalled speed, reliability, consistency and accuracy that cannot be achieved with traditional ink jet print heads that are assembled from multiple parts.

The iP8500 FINE print head has 6144 micro nozzles, capable of ejecting a staggering 147 million 2 picolitre droplets per second [1]. This gets more ink on the page in less time and with greater accuracy for grain-free prints of unsurpassed clarity, contrast, colour range and smoothness of tone.

Canon's ChromaPLUS technology utilises 8 colour inks: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Black, Red and Green. Canon's dye inks produce more vivid colours, reduced graininess and better contrast photo quality when compared with the flat and lack-lustre pigment-based inks used in some photo printers. Introduction of highly saturated red and green inks expands the colour gamut in the yellow to red and yellow to green areas. Colour saturation in the high chrome red area has been increased by up to 60% (compared to the 6 ink photo system) to more closely match the colour characteristics of positive photographic film.

The ultimate personal photo lab

PIXMA’s ultimate personal photo lab delivers professional-quality borderless photo printing at blistering speeds with convenient connectivity. An A4 photo print only takes 34 seconds, a 4” x 6” borderless photo will print in just 21 seconds; borderless photo print formats also include credit card, 5” x 7” and A4. Even conventional document printing is fast at 17 ppm (mono) and 15 ppm (colour).

The vendor independent PictBridge standard is supported for direct cable connection photo printing with compatible digital cameras and digital video cameras, without the need for a PC. The iP8500 is the only A4 inkjet printer on the market to feature a USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection, necessary for transferring large high-resolution colour image files at a rate fast enough to keep up with printer's engine speed.

Powerful software completes the printers photo lab capabilities – EasyPhotoPrint and PhotoRecord give the iP8500 user a fast route to creating individual prints, albums and more.

Designer printing

The new PIXMA printer range is defined by radical, futuristic looking design, reflecting Canon's recognition of the increasing importance amongst consumers of products that excel in both aesthetics and functionality. The iP8500's lustrous finish completes a clean, integrated shell in a clear departure from the traditional 'beige box' design of conventional printers.

Versatile installation

One of the key design objectives of PIXMA is to maximise flexibility of location. As well as being furnished with a style and finish appropriate for the home environment, PIXMA printers are the only devices on the market to include both the traditional 'J' pass paper path and a 'U' turn path. This allows the printer to be stored and operated on a shelf or in other areas where space is at a premium. Dual paper trays, auto duplex printing and CD-R/DVD printing functions are now completely integrated without compromising the printer’s clean lines – a first in printer design.

Single Ink technology

The printer features Canon’s ‘Transparent’ single ink system, where each ink is stored in an individually replaceable tank. To minimize waste, only the ink that is exhausted needs to be replaced. A pop up window on their computer warns users when a particular colour is running low and the printer will not start to print a page if there is insufficient ink to finish.

New photo media

Canon’s new media extends the creative and practical applications of the iP8500:

• Double sided photo paper (Photo Paper Plus Double Sided PP-101D) in A4 and 5” x 7” sizes. As well as standard packs, this media is available as a kit (Photo Album Kit PAK-101) which includes a high quality hardback album cover to make photo albums, scrapbooks and personal books.
• Credit card size glossy media (Glossy Photo Paper GP-401) - ideal for printing wallet photographs and name cards.
• Photo stickers (Photo Stickers PS-101) - sheets of 16 small photo stickers, for fun and practical purposes.

Quality software for quality prints

The iP8500 is bundled with the following software packages:

Easy-PhotoPrintprovides three easy steps to printing photos. Assisting with options such as media selection and scaling, it includes features such as Face Sharpening for out-of-focus face correction, Red Eye Correction and Digital Face Smoothing to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. In addition, Easy-PhotoPrint works seamlessly with Canon’s new software for EOS-1D series cameras – Digital Photo Professional. Images saved using the camera’s highest quality RAW format can be passed directly from Digital Photo Professional to Easy-PhotoPrint, which uses the camera’s original wide colour space to ensure highest quality output.

Easy-WebPrintsits on the Explorer toolbar and takes the frustration out of web page printing, saving time, ink and paper by correctly scaling output to print one-page-per-sheet. This prevents the common problem of having the right-hand side of web pages cut off.

Canon PhotoRecordguides users through printing a personalised photo album, including assistance with printing on Canon's new double-sided media.

CD-LabelPrintfor easy creation and printing on print ready CD or DVD media.

PC connection is via USB interface. The PIXMA iP8500 is compatible with Win98/Me/2000/XP and Macintosh OS 9.x and OSX v10.2.1 or later.

The PIXMA iP8500 will be available from October 2004 for £329 RRP inc. VAT.

[1] Theoretical figure

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