Canon Achieves a Clean Sweep with Wide Format Printer Pick Awards

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF6400S and iPF8400S Provide Exceptional Colour Consistency and Top-Notch Ease of Use
Following last year’s Pick award for Canon’s 12-colour imagePROGRAF iPF6450, two newly-released 8-colour imagePROGRAF models, the iPF6400S and iPF8400S, gave equally superb performances during BLI’s demanding lab evaluation, earning them well-deserved Pick awards in the 24″ and 44″ categories, respectively. Demonstrating flawless reliability, both units produced very good colour output without graininess, mottling or banding. The imagePROGRAF iPF6400S, paired with the optional SU-21 spectrophotometer, and its sister model, the imagePROGRAF iPF8400S (8-colour models are designated by an “S” at the end of the model name), provided precise colour consistency across several media types, as evidenced by Delta E values of 0.92 and 0.79 for glossy heavyweight and matte coated papers, respectively. “After following six simple steps for calibration, the system achieved incredible results,” said Joe Tischner, BLI’s wide format printer analyst. “After printing our high-quality files on the two machines, BLI technicians were unable to discern quality or colour differences on output from the two devices. I think the SU-21 is a ‘must-have’ in any colour-critical proofing print shop.”

Colour consistency across a fleet is just one of many strengths that led to these models’ award-winning status. Canon’s Direct Print & Share utility, which is now available with the S-series models, enables straightforward file submission and sharing, helping to earn the excellent ease of use rating for both, as did the units’ well-designed control panel, easy media loading and multi-faceted Status Monitor. Canon’s Color Calibration Management Console (CCMC) utility, which comes bundled with the system, enabled technicians to monitor the calibration status and, when needed, initiate calibrations for all media used on both printers. Also noteworthy, CCMC is a convenient tool that will enable an administrator to remotely monitor a company’s entire fleet of networked Canon iPFX400S devices. The ability to replace the units’ large ink tanks on-the-fly, unique among Canon wide format devices, further enhances ease of use and proved to be a productivity advantage during the evaluation.

“We are honoured that our iPF6400S and iPF8400S printers are being recognized by the BLI Pick Awards. Both part of our award-winning imagePROGRAF series, they provide graphic artists with the ability to produce work efficiently, accurately and with consistent quality,” said Yuichi Miyano, Director, Large Format Solutions, Canon Europe. “With enhanced print management and colour control capabilities, these models provide a distinct advantage in today’s highly competitive production printing market.”

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF765 MFP M40 Offers SMBs Significant Versatility and Cloud Connectivity
A rich feature set, noteworthy versatility, superb reliability, and trouble-free cloud connectivity have helped the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF765 MFP M40 win BLI’s 2014 Pick award for Outstanding Colour Wide Format Technical MFP. Aimed at the technical printing marketplace, the 5-colour, 36″ Canon imagePROGRAF iPF765 MFP M40 excelled in many areas of BLI’s testing. The unit was lauded for its exceptional halftone output, whose smoothness of fill was the best BLI has observed to date. Its excellent feature set includes a 250-GB hard drive; a convenient flat stacker enabling orderly print collection; a unique 22″ touch-screen monitor; and Print Plug-ins for Microsoft Office, among numerous other advantages. “Conducting copy and scan operations on Canon’s very large touch-screen monitor, as well as connecting to the cloud, is so much easier than working from a small control panel,” said Tischner. “Most impressive was the system’s ability to store, retrieve and share files from the cloud via Canon’s Direct Print & Share utility, which can be easily accessed from either the monitor or Web-connected PCs. The Canon iPF765 MFP M40 is an ideal choice for SMBs’ wide format technical document print, copy and scan application needs.”

“The iPF765 5-colour large format printer is an incredibly versatile machine, utilised by industries from computer-aided design and architecture to engineering and construction,” said Miyano. “We’re pleased to have the model recognised as one of BLI’s 2014 Wide Format Picks for its versatility, quality and breadth of features, which can be applied to virtually any type of technical output.”

In a separate announcement today, Canon was named BLI’s choice for 2014 Wide Format Graphic Arts Printer Line of the Year.

Upcoming Buyers Lab Pick award announcements:
BLI’s Pick awards in the A3, A4, scanner and solutions categories are slated for mid-January.