Canon Press Release - 08/09/03

Canon’s Bubble Jet i965: World’s fastest photo prints with highest resolution

Canon, leader in photographic and imaging technology, is pleased to announce the launch of the fastest and highest resolution photo printer the 4800 x 2400 dpi1 Bubble Jet i965. Canon’s latest professional series six-ink printer produces a 400dpi full A4 photo in approximately 60 seconds - less than half the time taken by its nearest rival. A 4"x 6” print takes just 21 seconds, making this the ideal printer for demanding photographers. The i965 is compliant with the new direct photo print industry standard, PictBridge.

The i965’s remarkable speed results from patented technologies that allow Canon to get more ink on the page in less time and with more accuracy. Semi-conductor manufacturing techniques are used to create the highest density print head, delivering extremely small droplets from the smallest diameter Micro-Nozzles. The result is a 3072 nozzle print head capable of ejecting up to 73.7 million 2-picolitre (pl) droplets per second. The exacting precision afforded by this advanced icroFine Droplet Technology combines with the six-ink, 1/6 density photo ink system to create grain-free prints with unsurpassed clarity, contrast, colour range and smoothness of tone.

“Professional users not only demand lab quality prints, they want high speed as well” explains Malcolm Hills, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging in the UK and Ireland. “The great thing for our customers is that the same technical advances that make the i965 the fastest photo printer also deliver the highest quality images”.

Leaves competition in its wake
The secret to the i965’s incomparable speed lies in the print head. Unlike other manufacturers who must assemble their print heads from a multitude of components, Canon employ a proprietary etching process similar to that used in semi-conductor manufacture. The result is smaller nozzles, greater nozzle density and longer print heads. The extremely precise 10-micron diameter nozzles are almost half the diameter of Canon’s nearest rival and are placed seven times closer together. Minuscule 2pl droplets are ejected with unsurpassed frequency and accuracy. Combined, these features produce a print head that puts more ink down on the page in less time for record breaking print speeds.

Ultimate photo quality
The world’s finest print quality results from a combination of factors, including 1/6 density light inks, use of six-colour inks, and extremely small droplet size. High colour inks guarantee vivid colours and high contrast output. While competitors are forced to use a mix of small and large droplet sizes to overcome speed limitations, the i965 only uses 2pl droplets, which are fired at the paper with unrivalled force, precision and consistency. This control gives Canon the edge in resolution of fine detail, enhancing image depth and eliminating sandy textures evident in lesser brand devices.

Packed with new photo printing features
The i965’s advanced print head enables ultra fast borderless printing on A4, 5"x 7” and 4"x 6” media.  A new covered paper tray has been added to the auto sheet feed to hold and protect 4"x 6” photo paper, allowing users to switch printing modes without swapping paper. Printing directly onto compatible CD-R/DVDs is now possible with the inclusion of a detachable CD-R printing unit.

The Bubble Jet i965 also supports the new industry standard PictBridge protocol. Any compliant camera or camcorder can now print directly to the printer via a USB cable connection, regardless of brand and with no need for a PC.

The i965 supports a full range of specialist media offered by Canon including the newly introduced Photo Paper Plus, Semi Gloss (SG-101) & Glossy Photo Paper (GP-401).

Single Ink technology
The i965 benefits from the efficiency of Canon’s Single Ink technology. This feature minimises wastage of ink and media, as only the ink that is exhausted needs to be replaced.

Connectability and compatibility
To prevent data transfer to the printer getting held up in a bottleneck, the i965 has a new USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection in addition to the standard USB interface. The printer is compatible with all popular Windows & Macinosh operating systems.

Quality software for quality prints
To keep the desktop tidy, all print applications have been brought together under the one easy to navigate Canon Easy-ToolBox tool bar. To help users get the most from their printer, Canon includes a suite of practical software:
?  CD-LabelPrint - guides users through printing to CD-R/DVD disks
?  PhotoRecord - Auto scales images to different paper sizes, making it easy to print a photo album from images of any size onto A4, 5"x7” and 4” x 6” media.
?  ZoomBrowser EX - Image management system that displays thumbnails to make it easy to edit and manage images stored on the computer, with features such as cropping, slide presentation and resizing for emailing.
?  Easy-PhotoPrint - uses information collected at the time of image capture on Exif 2.2 compliant cameras to create better quality, more natural looking photos.
?  Easy-PhotoPrint Plus - a new software tool that works in conjunction with Easy-PhotoPrint. It incorporates new face recognition technology to automatically detect a face or faces within an image, and apply advanced image optimisations to improve the final photo print. The software can be downloaded from the Canon Europe website.
?  Easy-WebPrint - simplifies printing of Internet pages by scaling down output so the entire page is printed even when extending over multiple screens.

1 See Specifications

The Bubble Jet i965 will be available from October 2003 for around ?289 inc VAT.