Canon Debuts Four Printers
By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 9/27/2004
Lake Success, N.Y. — Canon announced four new inkjet photo printers and three photo all-in-ones under its new global brand, Pixma, two weeks ago — the largest printer launch in the company's history.
Canon heralded the move as the beginning of a strong push to gain market share against rivals in the photo inkjet printer market.
The four new Pixma inkjet photo printers will join the four Pixma models introduced in July and serve as the higher-end of the line. All offer PictBridge-compatibility and include a second front-feeding paper cassette that accommodates letter-sized media in addition to a standard auto sheet feeder located on top of the printer, which prints all sizes up to letter sized. The dual-paper path allows the printer to be loaded with both plain paper and photo paper or different sized papers simultaneously.
The iP4000R is a networked version of the existing iP4000. It features Canon's ContrastPLUS five color inks which adds a “photo grade black” tank of dye-based ink for improved photo printing.
The printer has a 4,800 by 1,200 dpi resolution with dual paper feed and two-sided printing capability. It offers wireless printing via built-in 802.11g and is Canon's fastest consumer photo printer, featuring speeds of up to 25 pages per minute (ppm) in black-and-white and up to 17 ppm in color. It can produce a borderless 4-inch by 6-inch photo in 36 seconds. It ships this month for a suggested $229.99.
The iP5000 is Canon's first model with a 1-picoliter ink droplet size, down from the previous two picoliters.
“With 1-picoliter droplets we can achieve the look of six-ink printing with only five inks,” said John Lamb, marketing manager, Canon.
The iP5000 achieves a print resolution of 9,600 by 2,400 dpi and uses the five-ink ConstrastPLUS system with print speeds similar to the iP4000R. It will ship this month for a suggested $199.99.
Canon's iP6000D is a six-color photo printer that can produce prints from camera phones via infrared. It features a 2.5-inch color LCD and flash card slots. The printer will be available this month and retail for a suggested $179.99
Finally, Canon's top of the line model will be the eight ink iP8500, which can produce a 4-inch by 6-inch borderless photo in about 21 seconds or an 8.5-inch by 11-inch borderless print in 60 seconds. It will ship in October for a suggested $349.99.
The company added three new Pixma-branded photo all in ones. The MP130 produces 18 ppm in black, up to 13 ppm in color and a borderless 4-inch by 6-inch print in under 60 seconds. The MP130 features a built-in six-in-one card reader for direct printing from flash memory and a 1,200 by 2,400 dpi flatbed scanner. It will ship in November for a suggested retail price of $99.99.
Canon will ship the MP780 and MP750 in October, featuring PictBridge compatibility and the company's five-color ContrastPLUS ink system.
The units offer top print speeds of 25 ppm in black, 17 ppm in color and borderless 4-inch by 6-inch photos in 36 seconds. The scanner has an optical resolution of 2,400-by-4800 dpi optical resolution and 48/24 bit (in/out) scanning depth.
Both feature dual paper paths, an auto sheet feeder and front-loading cassette paper tray and an integrated 35-page auto document feeder and a duplex unit for double sided printing and copying.
The MP750 will have a suggested retail of $249.99 .The MP780 adds a Super G3 fax modem for color and black-and-white faxing with a 250-page memory for $299.99.
