Canon USA have announced 2 new pro level PIXMA printers to replace the current top of the pile Pro 9000 and Pro 9500. It seems that Hong Kong announced them a little while ago, the USA chose PMA (which is happening at the moment) but there is no sign from Europe yet that there are new products so we'll have to wait and see when they get over here and what prices they'll be.
The new printers looks very similar to the old models so the changes are obviously confined to inside. Then again, from the USA press release (shown below) it appears they are using the same inks as well. It seems that the main advances will be speed, with the Pro 9000 Mark II claimed to be 3x faster than the older Pro 9000 and the Pro 9500 Mark II claimed to be about 1.5x faster than the Pro 9500.
Of marginally less interest, there is also a new flatbed scanner that uses an LED light source to scan images. It is claimed to be able to scan a single 35mm transparency at an optical resolution of 9600dpi, which should be more than enough to extract as much details as you'd need from a transparency.
Hit the comments with your thoughts if you have one of the older models and whether these new models would persuade you to upgrade? Do you find the older ones slower? Is faster something you'd put at the top of your list of requirements?
Canon USA press release follows:
CANON U.S.A. INTRODUCES THE NEW PIXMA PRO9000 MARK II AND PIXMA PRO9500 MARK II PROFESSIONAL PHOTO PRINTERS
New Canon LiDE700F Color Image Scanner Easily Digitally Renders Large Photos and Documents Using an LED Light Source, for Low Power Consumption
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., March 2, 2009 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, today introduced two new printers for professional and advanced photographers, the ten-color PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II and the eight-color PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printers. The PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II printer takes advantage of Canon's professional Lucia brand pigment-based inks for long-lasting, professional-quality prints. The PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II printer uses the Company's dye-based inks to produce brilliant, gallery-quality prints up to 13 x 19 inches on a variety of fine art papers and glossy media. Canon will debut the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II and PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II photo printers and the LiDE700F Color Image Scanner in its booth (#F131) during the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) exhibit in the Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall from March 3-5, 2009.
"Canon is known within the professional photographer community for providing the right output tools to manage their photographic creations and the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II Photo Printer continues to deliver on that tradition with its superior quality and archiveability," said Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A. "Additionally, with the growing number of enthusiasts capturing professional-quality photographs with digital SLR cameras, it is only natural to want to maintain creative control over their photos by printing the images themselves on products like the new Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer. These professional and emerging photographers understand and appreciate the creative control that Canon provides over image quality from capture to output."
PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II Photo Printer
The new PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II Photo Printer features ten pigment-based ink colors - photo black, matte black and gray as well as cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, red and green, allowing users the benefit of a wide color gamut for stunning color prints, as well as three levels of black for true black-and-white photographs. Designed for the pro and "pro-sumer" photographers, the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II provides outstanding resolution and droplet control utilizing Canon's double-encoder system to produce high-quality portfolio pieces or gallery-quality prints for the marketplace. The Pro9500 Mark II delivers rich detail, texture and tone plus extraordinary color reproduction in the green, red, yellow and orange color ranges resulting in breathtaking photo-art. Employing the Canon Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) technology along with a sophisticated 7,680 nozzle print-head structure, the Mark II model provides significantly faster production times, delivering approximately one-and-a-half times faster color print speeds on a 13" x 19" bordered print1,2 than the previous model.
The printer's matte black, photo black and gray inks reduce metamerism and provide high-density blacks and truly neutral monochrome prints. Metamerism is an effect in some printed "black-and-white" images where composite gray inks (achieved with combinations of cyan, magenta and yellow ink) make image areas appear a different color hue under different lighting conditions (such as sunlight, fluorescent light and incandescent light). This aberration is due to the differences in spectral reflectance properties of each of the composite colors.
The Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II Photo Printer is scheduled to be available in May for an estimated selling price of $849.993.
PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer
The eight-color PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer – cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, photo black, red, and green – delivers an even glossiness and vivid color experience rivaling that of positive film for photographers. The Pro9000 Mark II's impressive quality and speed are the result of the Canon FINE print head technology coupled with the Company's high-performance, high-density 6,144-nozzle print head which is capable of producing nearly invisible ink droplets of two-picoliters. Thanks in part to an enhanced double encoder system for media control, the PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II achieves three times faster print speeds over its predecessor, producing a bordered 13" x 19" size black and white photographic print in approximately 1 minute, 23 seconds2.
The Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer is scheduled to be available in May for an estimated selling price of $499.993.
Software
A new Easy-PhotoPrint Pro feature incorporated into the PIXMA Pro models is Canon's Ambient Light Correction technology which helps reduce the perceived color difference caused by different light conditions between printing and viewing or display environments. Compatible with Windows Vista OS, Ambient Light Correction allows users to optimize print color for the lighting conditions where the final print will be shown. Through the software, users can adjust color to various levels of lighting conditions from daylight at 6500K to a warm white fluorescent lamp at 3000K for optimal viewing.
Both the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II and the PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printers come bundled with Canon's proprietary Easy-PhotoPrint Pro software and now with Adobe PhotoShop Elements, an user-friendly photo-editing software tool. Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, which is a software plug-in designed for Adobe applications such as PhotoShop CS, CS2, CS3, or PhotoShop Elements 6 along with Canon Digital Photo Pro (DPP) software, permits one-click image transfer, simple setting controls for color management and allows users to configure printer settings once for images on multiple sheets. A helpful feature, Easy-PhotoPrint Pro facilitates the printing of RAW image files (as a high quality TIFF or JPEG) without having to save directly from applications, like DPP.
Canon LiDE700F Color Image Scanner
The new Canon LiDE700F Color Image Scanner provides consumers with a high-speed scanning solution capable of capturing a letter-sized image – roughly the size of a large wedding photo or school portrait – at 300 dots-per-inch (dpi) in approximately 12 seconds. The scanner can capture one frame of a 35mm filmstrip at a maximum optical resolution of 9600dpi to help digitally archive customer's older photographic film. Powered and connected via a single USB cord, the LiDE700F, includes a LED light source for low power consumption. Canon helps make scanning easier with Auto-Scan Mode, a one-touch solution where the scanner will automatically detect the type of document or image being scanned and adjust the setting accordingly. The scanner's four easy buttons offer simple, single-touch operation for copying, scanning, and creating e-mail attachment/multi-page PDF files. The LiDE700F scanner is expected to ship to retailers in April at an estimated retail price of $129.993.
-blabpictures-
New Canon LiDE700F Color Image Scanner Easily Digitally Renders Large Photos and Documents Using an LED Light Source, for Low Power Consumption
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., March 2, 2009 – Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, today introduced two new printers for professional and advanced photographers, the ten-color PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II and the eight-color PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printers. The PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II printer takes advantage of Canon's professional Lucia brand pigment-based inks for long-lasting, professional-quality prints. The PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II printer uses the Company's dye-based inks to produce brilliant, gallery-quality prints up to 13 x 19 inches on a variety of fine art papers and glossy media. Canon will debut the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II and PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II photo printers and the LiDE700F Color Image Scanner in its booth (#F131) during the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) exhibit in the Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall from March 3-5, 2009.
"Canon is known within the professional photographer community for providing the right output tools to manage their photographic creations and the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II Photo Printer continues to deliver on that tradition with its superior quality and archiveability," said Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A. "Additionally, with the growing number of enthusiasts capturing professional-quality photographs with digital SLR cameras, it is only natural to want to maintain creative control over their photos by printing the images themselves on products like the new Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer. These professional and emerging photographers understand and appreciate the creative control that Canon provides over image quality from capture to output."
PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II Photo Printer
The new PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II Photo Printer features ten pigment-based ink colors - photo black, matte black and gray as well as cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, red and green, allowing users the benefit of a wide color gamut for stunning color prints, as well as three levels of black for true black-and-white photographs. Designed for the pro and "pro-sumer" photographers, the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II provides outstanding resolution and droplet control utilizing Canon's double-encoder system to produce high-quality portfolio pieces or gallery-quality prints for the marketplace. The Pro9500 Mark II delivers rich detail, texture and tone plus extraordinary color reproduction in the green, red, yellow and orange color ranges resulting in breathtaking photo-art. Employing the Canon Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) technology along with a sophisticated 7,680 nozzle print-head structure, the Mark II model provides significantly faster production times, delivering approximately one-and-a-half times faster color print speeds on a 13" x 19" bordered print1,2 than the previous model.
The printer's matte black, photo black and gray inks reduce metamerism and provide high-density blacks and truly neutral monochrome prints. Metamerism is an effect in some printed "black-and-white" images where composite gray inks (achieved with combinations of cyan, magenta and yellow ink) make image areas appear a different color hue under different lighting conditions (such as sunlight, fluorescent light and incandescent light). This aberration is due to the differences in spectral reflectance properties of each of the composite colors.
The Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II Photo Printer is scheduled to be available in May for an estimated selling price of $849.993.
PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer
The eight-color PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer – cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, photo black, red, and green – delivers an even glossiness and vivid color experience rivaling that of positive film for photographers. The Pro9000 Mark II's impressive quality and speed are the result of the Canon FINE print head technology coupled with the Company's high-performance, high-density 6,144-nozzle print head which is capable of producing nearly invisible ink droplets of two-picoliters. Thanks in part to an enhanced double encoder system for media control, the PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II achieves three times faster print speeds over its predecessor, producing a bordered 13" x 19" size black and white photographic print in approximately 1 minute, 23 seconds2.
The Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printer is scheduled to be available in May for an estimated selling price of $499.993.
Software
A new Easy-PhotoPrint Pro feature incorporated into the PIXMA Pro models is Canon's Ambient Light Correction technology which helps reduce the perceived color difference caused by different light conditions between printing and viewing or display environments. Compatible with Windows Vista OS, Ambient Light Correction allows users to optimize print color for the lighting conditions where the final print will be shown. Through the software, users can adjust color to various levels of lighting conditions from daylight at 6500K to a warm white fluorescent lamp at 3000K for optimal viewing.
Both the PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II and the PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II Photo Printers come bundled with Canon's proprietary Easy-PhotoPrint Pro software and now with Adobe PhotoShop Elements, an user-friendly photo-editing software tool. Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, which is a software plug-in designed for Adobe applications such as PhotoShop CS, CS2, CS3, or PhotoShop Elements 6 along with Canon Digital Photo Pro (DPP) software, permits one-click image transfer, simple setting controls for color management and allows users to configure printer settings once for images on multiple sheets. A helpful feature, Easy-PhotoPrint Pro facilitates the printing of RAW image files (as a high quality TIFF or JPEG) without having to save directly from applications, like DPP.
Canon LiDE700F Color Image Scanner
The new Canon LiDE700F Color Image Scanner provides consumers with a high-speed scanning solution capable of capturing a letter-sized image – roughly the size of a large wedding photo or school portrait – at 300 dots-per-inch (dpi) in approximately 12 seconds. The scanner can capture one frame of a 35mm filmstrip at a maximum optical resolution of 9600dpi to help digitally archive customer's older photographic film. Powered and connected via a single USB cord, the LiDE700F, includes a LED light source for low power consumption. Canon helps make scanning easier with Auto-Scan Mode, a one-touch solution where the scanner will automatically detect the type of document or image being scanned and adjust the setting accordingly. The scanner's four easy buttons offer simple, single-touch operation for copying, scanning, and creating e-mail attachment/multi-page PDF files. The LiDE700F scanner is expected to ship to retailers in April at an estimated retail price of $129.993.
-blabpictures-
2 comments:
As a user of both the current 9000 and 9500, the speed improvements are not compelling for me.
The 9000 is already pretty quick and has never made me think I wish this would run faster. Where it is not so good is on monochrome performance.
The 9500 on the other hand would benefit from the speed of the 9000, and as such a 50% speed increase is not that significant.
Where the 9500 does excel over the 9000 is monochrome and fine art.
There needs to be just one printer in this range, with the speed of the 9000, the colour performance on regular papers of the 9000 and the monochrome and fine art quality of the 9500 - now that would be compelling
Martin
Bloody typical-bought my 9000 about a month ago, No wonder they are doing such good deals on it $399 and then get $100 rebate, Faster than my old Epson and IQ is pretty good, I guess some extra speed is nice as long as IQ isnt affected but the 9000 will have to earn its keep before i upgrade
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