Release Issued by Canon:
For inkjet photo-printing speed and launches ChromaLife100
• New photo-printing speed criterion reflects current user trends
• ChromaLife100 system delivers new level of colourfastness
Canon, leader in photographic and imaging technology, is pleased to announce a fundamental shift in focus for communicating printer speed performance to reflect the rapidly growing trend in personal photo printing. Canon will quote the amount of time, in seconds, it takes to print a photograph as the print speed benchmark for all new PIXMA photo printers and multifunctionals. As a further indication of Canon’s commitment to the photo printer market, the company is also introducing the new ChromaLife100 system for photo longevity, making possible a level of fade-resistance rivaling traditional film-based prints.
Photo Print Speed
Capitalising on its proprietary cutting-edge FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) technology, which delivers superlative photo-image quality and exceptionally fast print performance, Canon will now convey print speeds for all new PIXMA devices based on the time required to print a lab-quality 10 x 15 cm borderless print using default settings for genuine Canon-brand high-quality photo paper (Photo Paper Plus Gloss, PP-101).
“In an effort to satisfy the expectations of our customers and make product comparisons more transparent, Canon will focus on communicating photo-print speeds that accurately reflect the way these products are now being used,” said Mr. Katsuichi Shimizu, Chief Executive of Inkjet Products Operations at Canon Inc. “We want consumers to be confident that the photo-print speeds we quote for our PIXMA products provide a reliable estimation of the time required to produce prints that match the image quality offered by photo labs.”
Although inkjet printer print speeds have traditionally been expressed in terms of “pages per minute” (ppm) when producing text-based documents, IDC the leading IT market research firm, predicts photo printing to continue growing rapidly, reaching up to 69 billion digital photos printed worldwide by 2008 (from 37 billion in 2005), fuelled by an 80% increase in the number of digital images taken over the same period . This trend has had a direct impact on the way inkjet printers are used today and the photo-printing capabilities that they now offer. Canon is driving the technological advances that have made this progress possible through such innovations as its patented FINE technology and the integration of PictBridge connectivity.
Achieving photo lab quality prints requires the use of more ink droplets and smaller droplet sizes than simple text-based documents and requires greater levels of droplet placement accuracy. While print speeds of 20 to 30 ppm are common when printing black and white text documents, print speeds for photo lab quality prints have only recently surpassed the 1 ppm mark for A4-size output.
ChromaLife100
Canon’s newly introduced ChromaLife100 system, comprising genuine Canon dye-based inks and specialised photo paper, delivers an exceptionally broad colour gamut while making possible photo prints that resist fading for up to 100 years when stored in a photo album . Designed to complement Canon’s FINE print head technology, ChromaLife100 realises a technology “triangle” combining print head nozzle design, ink and print media, making possible the creation of photo prints that rival the image quality and colorfastness of conventional film prints.
“With the introduction of our PIXMA photo printers, we achieved new levels of print speed and photo-image quality on a par with conventional film prints,” said Mr. Shimizu. “And now Chromalife100 gives us the final piece of the photo-print puzzle: fade resistance that also rivals conventional photo prints.”
When displayed under glass in a photo frame, ChromaLife100 prints resist fading for up to 30 years, and 10 years when exposed to the effects of the air2.
www.canon.co.uk
