CANON’S VERSATILE A2 PHOTO PRINTER WINS 2016 TIPA AWARD
Desktop 17-inch format model is crowned Best Photo Printer by global imaging magazine group.
Five Canon imaging products won their respective categories in the prestigious 2016 TIPA Awards which are judged annually by the Technical Image Press Association, a global group comprising 30 of the world’s leading photography magazines. Canon’s winning products this year include the EOS-1D X Mark II and EOS 5Ds R high-end D-SLRs plus Canon’s image PROGRAF PRO-1000 A2 format photo printer.
Held each year since 1991, the TIPA Awards recognise the best photo and imaging products announced during the previous 12 months, based on such criteria as innovativeness, use of leading-edge technologies, design and ease-of-use. Canon won its first TIPA Award in 1993 (for the EOS 100 35mm SLR camera) and has subsequently won awards every year since for a grand total of 78 products and technologies.
The image PROGRAF PRO-1000 represents a new breed of photo printer, combining many of the performance aspects of Canon’s wide-format professional floor-standing printers with the convenience of a more compact desktop design.
Consequently, the image PROGRAF PRO1000 ticks a lot of boxes for both professional and enthusiast-level shooters. It employs a newly-developed pigmented inkset called Lucia PRO which comprises 12 colours to give an extended colour gamut and smoother gradations. In fact, the PRO-1000’s increased colour gamut represents 110 percent of the existing PRO-1 model’s on lustre or gloss paper and 119 percent on matte papers.
The Lucia PRO inkset comprises Photo Black and Matte Black – using separate channels – plus Grey and Photo Grey to give enhanced B&W printing. It also includes a gloss optimiser to reduce the bronzing effect when printing on lustre or gloss papers. Silicon oil has been added to the Lucia PRO inks to improve their resistance to scratching and abra--
“THE PROFESSIONAL PRINT MAKER WILL FIND THE STRENGTH AND QUALITY OF OF THE PRO-1000 APPEALING WHILE THE KEEN ENTHUSIAST WHO APPRECIATES TOP CLASS MACHINERY WILL BE EQUALLY ATTRACTED.” Trevern Dawes CAMERA Magazine
sions. The ink cartridges are 80 millilitres in capacity to extend the periods between replacements.
The PRO-1000’s 1.28-inch print head (which is 1.5x larger than the PRO-1’s) employs 18,432 nozzles and Canon has developed a new image processing engine – called L-COA PRO – for more precise ink droplet placement and mixing of the inks while also reducing the processing time. An A2-size colour print (with 25 millimetre borders) on high gloss paper can be produced in six minutes. Equipped with the air feeding system found in Canon’s large-format image PROGRAF inkjet printers, the PRO-1000 virtually eliminates paper skewing, regardless of paper weight and type, while also achieving more accurate ink placement. Additionally, non-firing nozzle detection and correction helps eliminate banding.
The PRO-1000 can handle papers up to 400 gsm in weight, including canvas. It has WiFi, Ethernet and USB connectivity, and is supplied with Canon’s Print Studio Pro Version 2.0 plugin for Photoshop, Lightroom or Canon’s own Digital Photo Professional editing software which includes the Accounting Manager function – as also provided on the larger format models – to record the costs of ink and media for determining print production prices.
In selecting the Canon image PROGRAF PRO-1000 as Best Photo Printer for 2016, the TIPA Awards judging panel noted, “Combining the convenience of desktop use with a 17-inch wide paper capability and many of the features from Canon’s higher-end pro-level models, the PRO-1000 represents a new class of photo printer for enthusiasts. It uses a new 12-colour Lucia PRO pigmented inkset and Canon’s precision ‘FINE’ print head with a tubular ink delivery system that results in faster print speeds and stable print-to-print quality. There is a newly formulated Photo Black ink, while both it and the Matte Black have their own channels so no ink swap is needed when changing papers. A vacuum paper feeding system keeps sheets absolutely flat during printing, ensuring more accurate ink placement regardless of the paper weight and type.”