Canon Announces 10 New Pixma and Imageclass Printers
Earlier today, Canon Singapore refreshed its Pixma and Imageclass printer lineups with the introduction of 10 new models. Be it a professional A3+ photo printer, a color inkjet all-in-one photo printer, or a monochrome laser multifunction printer, there's something for everybody.
Canon Announces 10 New Pixma and Imageclass Printers
At a press event held earlier today, Canon Singapore has announced a total of 10 new printers. They include two Pixma Pro professional photo printers, three Pixma color inkjet all-in-one photo printers, and five Imageclass monochrome laser multifunction printers. We went up close and personal with some of them, and here are the highlights.
Canon Pixma Pro-10 & Pro-100 A3+ Photo Printers
From top: The Canon Pixma Pro-10 and Pro-100 A3+ photo printers.
Earlier this year, Canon announced the Canon Pixma Pro-1, a 12-color, pigment ink-based A3+ photo printer that targets enthusiasts and professionals alike. However at the time, the maker of EOS cameras didn’t update Pixma Pro9500 Mark II and the Pro9000 Mark II, two models that sit directly below it.
Well, fast-forward a year, and Canon has just introduced the successors to the now 3.5-year old Pro9500 Mark II and Pro9000 Mark II, and they come in the forms of the Pixma Pro-10 and Pro-100.
The Pixma Pro-10 uses a 10-color pigment-based Lucia ink system (with individual cartridge for each color) to deliver gallery-quality A3+ photos. The 10 colors are: Photo Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Photo Cyan, Photo Magenta, Red, Gray, Matte Black, and the Chroma Optimizer that we saw on the flagship Pro-1. With three types of black ink (Photo Black, Matte Black, Gray), users should see outstanding black-and-white photos in matte and gloss. According to Canon, a bordered A3+ color or black-and-white photo can be churned out in about 3 minutes and 35 seconds.
The Pixma Pro-10 uses a 10-ink pigment-based system (pictured here), while the Pro-100 uses an 8-ink dye-based system. All the cartridges have their own slots, so there's no need to swap inks if you want to switch from a glossy to a matte media (or vice versa).
The Pixma Pro-100 on the other hand uses the Canon ChromaLife100+ ink system. It features eight dye-based inks, and it too has three mono inks (Photo Black, Gray, Light Gray) for improving color and grayscale reproductions. The Pro-100 is a speedy printer as well: a bordered A3+ color photo can be had in about 90 seconds.
Both the Pro-10 and Pro-100 are capable of print resolutions of up to 4,800 x 2,400 dpi, with a minimum ink droplet size of 4 and 3 picoliters respectively. To achieve the best printout, an Optimum Image Generating System analyzes each area of the print, and chooses the best ink mixture.
Both Pixma Pro printers also come with a manual rear paper feed path for feeding fine art media up to 14 inches wide, Wi-Fi (Apple AirPrint wireless printing is supported) and Ethernet connectivity, and are compatible with a wide range of ICC profiles for use with Canon and other manufacturers' papers. For advanced users who like to tweak, and possess an X-Rite calibrating device, such as the Eye-One Pro and Color Munki, you can use the Color Management Tool Pro software to create custom ICC profiles. There's even a new Pro color mode designed for the sRGB color space to increase screen-to-print color matching accuracy.
To make the device footprint smaller, the manual feed tray for thicker media is now at the rear, just behind the usual loading tray (inset).
Also new is the Print Studio Pro plug-in to help improve workflow with photo-editing apps like Canon Digital Photo Professional, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and Adobe Photoshop Elements. It brings print settings into a single location, lets you save frequently used print settings as a profile, and allows you to add custom text on a photo, among many other features. Direct printing of RAW files in EOS DSLRs without the need to convert them to TIFF or JPEG format can also be done.
The Canon Pixma Pro-10 and Pro-100 are priced at S$999 and S$799 respectively, and they'd be in stores from end October, 2012.
Canon Pixma MG4270, MG2270 & MP237 Color Inkjet AIO Photo Printers
From top: The Canon Pixma MG4270, MG2270, and MP237 AIO photo printers.
The Pixma MG4270 and MG2270 aren't just color inkjet printers; they double up as a scanner and copier too. The biggest difference between the two is the MG4270 comes with additional Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n connectivity; the MG2270 is USB 2.0 only. Thus, features like Pixma Cloud Link, Google Cloud Print, Apple AirPrint, and wireless printing from iOS and Android devices using Canon's free Easy-PhotoPrint app can be found on the former, but not the latter.
Other than that, both printers sport similar capabilities: a 4-color ink system (using a mixture of dye and pigment inks), up to 4,800 x 1,200 dpi photo print resolution, a 2-picoliter smallest ink droplet size, and a 100-sheet plain paper input tray. They also come with the new My Image Garden software for easy photo management using a face recognition function, and supports the Print Your Days Facebook app that lets you to curate and print your Facebook photos. Fun filters (with effects like Fish Eye, Miniature, Toy camera, Soft Focus, Blur Background) and Full HD Movie Print that we first saw on last year's offerings also remained. Another useful feature worth pointing out is Auto Photo Fix II. Simply put, it analyzes and categorizes scenes in your photos, and then optimizes them.
The new Pixma printers adopt a 'fast front' design, which means that loading of paper and replacing of ink cartridges can all be done easier from the front.
The MG4270 has memory card slots; the MG2270 doesn't.
That said, the MG4270 does print faster (9.9ipm for B&W and 5.7ipm for color vs. MG2270's 8.4ipm for B&W and 4.8ipm for color), copy faster (4.3ipm vs. 2.5ipm), supports two-sided copy, comes with memory slots, and has a nicer-looking 2.5-inch color LCD control panel. In a nutshell, if you're shopping for a simple AIO for personal use, and can do without the networking and wireless features, the MG2270 is something worth considering.
If you're looking for something even more affordable, and photo printing isn't a priority, then there's the USB 2.0-only Pixma MP237. This is also an AIO device that prints, copies, and scans. And like the MG4270 and MG2270, it features My Image Garden and Print Your Days creative software. Print speeds are rated at 7.0ipm for B&W and 4.8ipm for color, with a maximum print resolution of 4,800 x 1,200 dpi. Besides a slightly lower-resolution scanner (600 x 1,200 dpi vs. 1,200 x 2,400 dpi for the other two), it also lacks features like borderless printing, support for specialty media, and an operation panel.
The Pixma MG4270, MG2270, and MP237 are priced at S$169, S$119, and S$79 respectively, and they too would be in stores from end October, 2012.
Canon Imageclass MF4890dw, MF4870dn, MF4820d, MF4750 & MF4720w Mono Laser MFPs
From top: The Canon Imageclass MF4890dw, MF4870dn, MF4820d, MF4750, and MF4720w mono laser MFPs.
Also announced are five monochrome laser multifunction printers: the Imageclass MF4890dw, MF4870dn, MF4820d, MF4750, and MF4720w. They share similar features, such as the new One-Touch Solution Keys on the operation panel, a new vari-angle operation panel with a 5-line LCD display, a new Quiet mode, a 250-sheet paper cassette, 128MB of RAM, enhanced color scanning resolution of up to 9,600 x 9,600 dpi, and a 6-second first page out time (FPOT) speed. Furthermore, they all use the Canon All-in-One Toner Cartridge 328 that has a standard print yield of 2,100 pages (the one that comes in the box has 1,000 pages).
The new Imageclass laser MFPs come with a tilting operation panel with one-touch keys. To reduce operation noise, there's a Quiet mode that can even be configured to run at fixed daily timings.
The printers can be positioned in a corner comfortably due to the lack of protruding parts. Even the extendable output tray (inset image) can be tucked into the body.
Leading the pack is the Imageclass MF4890dw, a 4-in-1 MFP (print, copy, scan, fax) that supports double-sided printing in all modes, wireless connectivity (802.11b/g/n), and has a generous 50-sheet duplex auto document feeder (DADF). The MF4870dn share many similarities with the MF4890dw, such as up to 25ppm print speed, 600 x 600dpi print resolution, auto duplex print, a 33.6Kbps fax modem, and Fast Ethernet support. However, it doesn't have built-in Wi-Fi and a DADF. Also, its ADF carries up to 35 sheets.
The Imageclass MF4820d is largely similar to the MF4870dn; it also has a print speed of up to 25ppm and supports automatic duplex printing. However, it doesn't come with a fax function. In addition, it has no ADF and supports a USB 2.0 connection only.
Both the Imageclass MF4750 and MF4720w print up to 23ppm. However, the MF4720w doesn't do fax and has no ADF (the MF4750 does fax, and has a 35-sheet ADF). But on the other hand, the MF4750 has neither wired nor wireless networking support, thus making it more suitable as a personal desktop printer.
The Canon Imageclass MF4890dw and MF4870dn are priced at S$549 and S$449 respectively, and they'd be in stores from end October and end September, 2012 respectively. The MF4750 and MF4720w are both priced at S$279, and they'd be in stores from end September and end October, 2012 respectively. The MF4820d will arrive in January 2013, and its price is yet to be confirmed.
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