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September 9, 2007* – At Graphic Expo 2007 in Chicago today, Canon USA introduced the new imagePROGRAF-S series of production printers. The imagePROGRAF iPF8000S and the iPF9000S—the flagship models in this line—boast increased print speeds of up to 40 percent over their predecessors. The 44-inch iPF8000S and the 60-inch iPF9000S will sell for $5,995 and $14,995, respectively, and be available in October.
By increasing the print speeds of these printers, Canon makes the imagePROGRAF line more attractive to high-volume production print houses, signage shops, and in-plant facilities. The iPF8000S and iPF9000S can produce a 32.5 x 40.6-inch (A0) print in 4.9 minutes in standard mode.
The new S-series printers feature an eight-ink system, as opposed to the 12-ink system found on their predecessors, the iPF8000 and iPF9000. The new ink set includes cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, black, matte black, and gray colors. Like the earlier models, the S-series utilizes a dual-head print system with 30,720 nozzles, but with fewer inks, the number of nozzles per color increases to 5,120.
The new ink/nozzle system fires the cyan, magenta, and photo magenta inks symmetrically and in sequence on both passes. Improved color results from this system by reducing uneven ink application.
The S-series retains many of the same features of its ancestors such as color calibration, automatic clogged nozzle detection, large backlit LCD screen, and selectable ink capacity (330 ml or 770 ml). Ink sub tanks allow users to replace ink mid-job without interruption.
Canon added its new Kuyanos system to the S-series printers; this adjusts print color to different lighting conditions. The addition of an 80-gb hard drive and media skew correction, in which the printer automatically detects misaligned paper, will help streamline production.
The iPF8000S can utilize media from 8 inches to 44 inches in width and comes standard with 384 megabytes (MB) of RAM, while the iPF9000S can print up to 60 inches and has 640 MB of RAM.