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Canon unveils new i860 Desktop Photo Printer
Dennis Hissink : September 8th 2003 - 18:48 CET
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 Fast, flexible and photographically fine, Canon's new i860 Desktop Photo Printer is also a super-efficient all-purpose printer that achieves up to 4800 x 1200 color dpi (Ink droplets can be placed in a pitch of 1/4800 inch at minimum. Resolution may vary based on printer driver setting) and speeds of up to 23 pages-per-minute (ppm) in black text and up to 16 ppm in color (PPM print speed based on the highest speed printer driver setting. Print speeds will vary depending on system configuration, software, document complexity, print mode and page coverage). The successor to the multi-award winning Canon i850 printer, the i860 printer features ContrastPLUS, an advanced five-color ink system.
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Key to the extraordinary flexibility of the i860 printer, ContrastPLUS features a dye-based photo-grade black ink tank for photo printing, delivering improved image contrast and overall sharpness, particularly when used on photo paper. The i860 Desktop Photo Printer also has a pigment-based black ink tank to achieve crisp, fast, high-quality black text.
New features on the i860 printer include PictBridge technology, the newly adopted industry standard for cross-brand direct printing from PictBridge compatible digital still and digital video cameras, and a photo paper tray that supports 4x6 inch photo paper that can act as a dual paper feed allowing the i860 printer to simultaneously accommodate 8.5x11 or 5x7 inch paper as well as 4x6 inch photo paper. The photo paper tray has 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.
The i860 Desktop Photo Printer offers true edge-to-edge borderless printing in 4x6, 5x7 and 8.5x11 inch sizes. The i860 print head features advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology with a total of 1,856 nozzles that deliver prescribed volume ink droplets in sizes as small as 2 and 5 picoliters, achieving professional high definition, photo quality results. The i860 printer also increases ink efficiency by providing individual ink tanks for all five colors from the pigment based black as well as the dye-based photo-grade black, cyan, magenta and yellow. This ensures that individual colors only need to be replaced when they have been completely depleted.
Adding to the flexibility, efficiency and high performance of the i860 printer is an optional auto duplex printing unit (DPU-10) that automatically reroutes the page for properly formatted two-sided printing. Both timesaving and paper saving, the Auto Duplex feature also allows for a wider printable area than competitive duplex-capable printers. Additionally, an optional high volume, 250 sheet paper feed cassette (PFC-10) attaches to the base of the i860 printer to increase the paper load capacity to 400 sheets at a time.
Among the significant technological advances found on the i860 Desktop Photo Printer is the inclusion of the new PictBridge technology protocol. The new industry standard for digital printers, digital cameras and digital camcorders, PictBridge 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.
In addition to PictBridge direct printing capabilities of the i860 Desktop Photo Printer, the printer includes Easy-PhotoPrint (an ExifPrint compatible application) and Easy-WebPrint software. The Easy-PhotoPrint software allows users to print high quality digital photographs quickly and easily by automatically sizing 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. 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 formatted to print properly without trimming the right-hand margin.
Compatible with both Windows(R) and Mac platforms (Windows XP, Windows 2000/ Millennium Edition/98/95/NT 4.0 and Mac OS (8.6 to 9.x) and Mac OS X v 10.2.1 to 10.2.x.), the i860 Desktop Photo Printer also includes the PhotoRecord (Windows), Zoom Browser EX (Windows) and ImageBrowser (Mac) image management software, and PhotoStitch (Windows and Mac) that makes composite images from shots taken separately.
Shipping in mid-September, the Canon i860 Desktop Photo Printer carries an estimated street price of $149.99. |
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