Canon launches the flagship Pixma Pro-1 A3+ printer for photographers

The unique 12-ink system significantly expands colour gamut in most areas and features new Chroma Optimizer for increased black density and uniform glossiness. Five monochrome inks produce professional quality black and white prints with excellent detail in shadow and highlight areas, as well as smooth tonal gradation and suppressed graininess. Next generation Lucia pigment inks are used for outstanding image permanence, allowing prints to be sold or exhibited with confidence.

The Pixma Pro-1 supports 1200ppi input resolution (double compared to previous generations of Pixma Pros) to reflect the increasing number of pixels available on professional cameras and produce smoother prints with high resolutions of up to 4800x2400dpi. The new Optimum Image Generating (OIG) system analyses the photo colour and precisely calculates the optimum ink combination and volume of ink droplets, which are then accurately placed on the paper by Canon’s Fine print head with 12,288 nozzles.

The OIG system enhances colour reproduction, natural tonal gradations and uniform glossiness in each print mode and media type, to produce print quality so realistic it almost jumps off the page. Smooth tonal gradations in colour and monochrome prints are achieved through 16-bits per channel printing capability. The new Pixma PRO-1 also features three colour modes, including the new Photo Colour print mode which reproduces fresh blues and greens to match people’s memory of colours. Linear Tone mode reproduces colours with linear tone curve, while the ICC Profiles mode means users can utilise paper-specific colour profiles or create their own.

The Pixma PRO-1 can produce a gallery-quality print in approximately 2 minutes 55 seconds&supl;, down from 7 minutes 55 seconds² for the Pixma Pro9500 MkII. A 2.5x larger ink tank capacity compared with the nearest model ensures longer running periods can be maintained between ink changes. Front-opening panels enable easy access to the tanks either side of the main printer body, and for efficiency the rear tray takes up to 20 sheets of photo paper, while the manual feed slot accepts photo paper up to 356mm (14”) wide and heavier fine art papers.

For saleable prints, real-time droplet volume control stabilises colour and ink density ensuring consistency of colour output from print to print. Reliability in a commercial environment is assured through the use of features commonly found on wide format professional printers, including a mist fan with an air circulation system and a tubular ink supply system separate to the print head. An Ethernet connection ensures the Pixma Pro-1 can be shared easily over a network.

The Pixma Pro-1 comes with Easy-PhotoPrint Pro plug-in software which simplifies printer settings and allows batch printing. Support has now also been expanded to the full Adobe Photoshop® family as well as to the Canon Digital Photo Professional software package. The printer can also automatically select the correct ICC profile for each Canon paper, and an expanded range of ICC profiles is available for Fine Art papers from well known manufacturers.

The Colour Management Tool Pro software, which can be downloaded from [http://software.canon-europe.com] supports x-rite colour management tools, including Colour Munki Photo and Colour Munki Design, and enables users to create custom ICC profiles to ensure the optimum output quality. The Pixma Pro-1 also includes the Ambient Light Correction feature so that users can select the type of lighting under which a print will be displayed. The print colours are then automatically adjusted to ensure the very best colour reproduction under different viewing conditions.

The Pixma Pro-1 is available across Europe from November 2011.