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Canon debuts 24- and 44-inch PROGRAF printers with distinctive dual roll and sub-ink tank features
posted Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at 2:48 PM EDT
Canon's imagePROGRAF PRO series of printers has expanded with the addition of four large format inkjet printers, two of which are designed for the fine art and photographic markets.
The first photographer-oriented printer is the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-2000. In addition to the 24-inch PRO-2000, Canon has also introduced a larger 44-inch imagePROGRAF PRO-4000. With these new PRO printers, Canon's new imagePROGRAF PRO-series now has photography-specific printers in 17" (PRO-1000), 24", and 44" sizes.
Toyotsugu Kuwamura, senior vice president and general manager of Canon's Business Imaging Solutions group says of the new printers, "[They] not only deliver an impressive and well-appointed design equal to Canon's EOS digital cameras, but they are also equipped with advanced technology features to faithfully reproduce high-quality photos taken by Canon's EOS digital cameras with outstanding image quality."
With that said, based on my experience with the PRO-1000 printer, these printers are designed to make high-quality prints from any camera, but it is easy to see the overlap between Canon's professional printers and their other professional imaging equipment.
Like with the PRO-1000, both the PRO-2000 and PRO-4000 printers utilize Canon's improved LUCIA PRO 11-color plus Chroma Optimizer ink system and a wider (1.28-inch wide) print head that includes anti-clogging technology. They also feature Canon's "Crystal-fidelity" image quality system, which helps ensure accurate reproduction of prints taken with Canon EOS cameras.
Unlike the PRO-1000, both the new PRO-2000 and PRO-4000 printers can utilize an optional Multifunction Roll System. The PRO-2000 is Canon's first 24-inch imagePROGRAF printer to offer the ability to use roll media. The Multifunction Roll System can be used as a dual roll, which allows users to load a roll of glossy media and a roll of matte media. The Multifunction Roll Unit can send jobs to the correct media and in conjunction with the dedicated photo and matte black ink nozzles so that images can be automatically printed on the correct media without any interruption.
To maintain fast printing, the new printers are equipped with the L-COA PRO processing engine and also include a sub-ink tank feature, which allows ink tank replacement during printing, minimizing downtime and ink costs.
The new printers include a 3.5-inch color LCD touchscreen, direct USB drive print capabilities, and wireless connectivity. PDF and JPEG files can be printed directly from a connected USB drive. Like the recent imagePROGRAF PRO-1000, they take design cues from Canon's L-series of lenses and features a distinctly Canon-red line across the front of the printers.
In addition to the PRO-2000 and PRO-4000 printers, there were also two signage-oriented printers announced as well, the eight-color 60-inch imagePROGRAF PRO-6000S and the 44-inch imagePROGRAF PRO-4000S.
The image PROGRAF PRO-2000 has an MSRP of $2,995 or $3,795 with the optional Multifunction Roll System. The PRO-4000 has an MSRP of $5,995 or $6,995 with the optional Multifunctional Roll System. All new imagePROGRAF printers are expected to be available in late spring.
If you're interested in learning more about what you might be able to expect from the PRO-2000 and PRO-4000 printers, you can see my review of the PRO-1000 ($1,299.99) which shares many features with the new PRO-2000 and PRO-4000 printers.