Canon Debuts Two Top Tier Photo Printers Featuring Six Color Printing, High Speed Capability and Amazing Affordability

Business Wire, Sept 8, 2003

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LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2003

New Canon i900D And i960 Photo Printers Raise the Bar On Imaging Excellence While Lowering the Cost

Two new six color photo printers from Canon - the versatile i900D Photo Printer and the ultra fine, ultra fast i960 Photo Printer - are taking digital print technology to the next level. Beneath their sleek industrial-inspired lines, these two photo printers deliver up to 4800 x 1200 dpi resolution(1) and borderless 4x6 inch professional quality photo prints as quickly as 75 seconds on the i900D and an incredible 37 seconds on the i960 photo printer(2).

Both the i900D and the i960 printers feature PictBridge technology, the new industry standard for digital printers, digital cameras and digital camcorders. PictBridge technology allows the direct printing of images from PictBridge compatible digital cameras and camcorders to PictBridge compatible printers, regardless of brand or manufacturer without the use of a computer(3).

Adding to their speed and versatility, the i900D and i960 photo printers also include a photo paper tray that supports 4x6 inch photo paper that can act as a dual paper feed allowing the i900D and i960 photo printers to simultaneously accommodate 8.5 x 11 or 5 x 7 inch paper as well as the 4x6 inch photo paper. The photo paper tray that had a cover to protect the 4x6 photo paper and is set into the main auto sheet feeder This new feature allows users to alternate printing modes or printing sizes without stopping to change paper.

"Whether the priority is direct photo printing or achieving high-speed, high-resolution photo printing, the i900D and i960 photo printers offer image brilliance and phenomenal flexibility at price points that appeal to novice and professional customers alike," says Yukiaki Hashimoto, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ).

Fast And Fine

The remarkable photo print speeds are a direct result of Canon's print head design and advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology(TM). Utilizing Canon's revolutionary nozzle system that ejects consistent, prescribed-volume of ink droplets in sizes as small as 2 picoliters in volume, these printers deliver professional photo quality results. With a staggering 3,072 nozzles (the highest density print head in its class) the i960 Photo Printer is capable of precisely firing up to 73.7 million 2 picoliters droplets per second. The i900D Photo Printer houses a 1,536 nozzle print head that ejects prescribed volume ink droplets just 2 and 5 picoliters in volume for the critical cyan and magenta standard and photo inks along with 5 picoliter droplets for the black and yellow inks. Combining this print head precision with Canon's six ink printing system and the i900D and i960 photo printers are a natural for creating grain free photo prints with unsurpassed clarity, contrast, color range, and tone.

The Right Connections

A veritable stand-alone print shop, the i900D features a built-in two-inch LCD display for easy viewing, editing and printing without the need for a computer. The i900D printer has the added advantage of an onboard array of media slots that permit direct printing from a wide variety of popular media including CompactFlash(TM), MicroDrive(TM), SmartMedia(TM), Memory Stick(TM) (excluding PRO(TM)) SD Card(TM) and Multimedia Card (TM). Memory Stick Duo(TM), xD PictureCard(TM) and mini SD Card(TM) can be used with the addition of a special adaptor sold separately.

Canon Think Tank System

Recognizing that the photographs can deplete the inks at different rates, Canon's Think Tank System(TM) features six individual ink tanks coupled with an intelligent ink management system that increases ink efficiency, reduces waste and can save you money. Ink tanks are replaced individually when they are depleted rather than replacing the entire all in one type ink cartridge when the first ink is has run out. The six individual color cartridges are black, cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan and photo magenta.

Software Simplicity

In addition to PictBridge direct printing capabilities both printers include Easy-PhotoPrint(4) (an ExifPrint compatible application) and Easy-WebPrint(5) software. The Easy-PhotoPrint software allows users to print high quality digital photographs quickly and easily. Easy-PhotoPrint automatically sizes digital images to print borderlessly on 4x6, 5x7 and 8.5x11 inch paper solving the aspect ratio dilemma. Easy-PhotoPrint also improves digital image quality by eliminating "photo noise" and enhancing color saturation with the "Vivid Photo" driver enhancements. Additionally, the printers include Easy-PhotoPrint Plus, a Canon developed software that reduces red-eye problems and smoothes out facial imperfections. The included Easy-WebPrint software facilitates printing from the Internet by automatically formatting and scaling the output so that the entire page is printed even when it extends over multiple screens. This time saving and cost saving feature reduces waste and ensures that the selected pages are printed properly, in color and without trimming the right-hand margin.