New bubble jets from Canon
By Ian Burley
1st August - 2001
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Canon’s latest bubble jet printers released today are not dedicated photo models. Although they are capable of printing on photo quality paper, unlike the current S800 photo-specific model, they don’t feature extra photo inks and are more aimed at general purpose home or business use. However, as all-rounders they do have a photo printing role to play. The new £379 inc.VAT S6300 (pictured above) can print up to A3 and offers 17 pages per minute (ppm) printing in mono using A4 paper, or up to 12ppm in colour. MicroFine Droplet Technology means nearly 3 million 5 picolitre droplets can be placed on a square inch. Canon is at pains to point out thatits latest inks have a guaranteed 25 years light fastness when used in conjunction with Canon Photo papers.
For the first time, Canon has introduced pigment ink for its black output, designed to improve text quality on plain paper. Pigment inks differ from dye-based inks in that they contain microscopic particles that constitute the colour and density of the ink. Dye-based inks contain dissolved chemicals that dye the medium that they come into contact with. Pigment inks are usually higher in density on plaim paper and are more resistant to water damage after they have dried. On the other hand, dye-based inks can produce a wider colour range, or gamut, than pigment inks.
As is the recent trend at Canon, each ink colour has a separately replaceable ink tank. Look out for this idea to be copied by one of Canon’s arch-rivals. All can be revealed at the beginning of next month...
Meanwhile, the A4 format £159 inc.VAT S500 model has a similar printing resolution as the S6300, but is slower at 12ppm in mono and 8ppm in colour. Networking options are available too.
Finally, there is the S630, which is as fast as the S6300, but is restricted to a maximum paper size of A4. It is priced £189.
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