Canon Press Release 09/07/04

Amstelveen, The Netherlands, 9 July, 2004: Canon, a leader in photographic and imaging technology, today announces two 4800 x 1200 dpi personal photo/document printers to open its new PIXMA range - the 20 ppm PIXMA iP2000 and 18 ppm PIXMA iP1500. The printers offer remarkable 2 picolitre photolab print quality at entry level price points from Canon?s unique FINE (Full-Photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) print head technology.

The 4 ink iP1500 and iP2000 represent new levels of price performance, with print quality that was until recently only available in dedicated 6 ink photo printers.

“With these new PIXMA printers, Canon confirms a commitment to bringing consumers true photo performance, consistent reliability and superb design across the entire range,” said Mogens Jensen, Head of Canon Consumer Imaging Europe. “The introduction of 2 picolitre photolab quality at this price point brings a new level of performance to range-opening printers that will change consumers? expectations of personal photo printing standards.”

A tolerance for quality
In a patented process called FINE, Canon has adapted its own silicon chip manufacturing technology to create print heads with tolerance and precision similar to that of integrated circuits. FINE print heads use Micro-Nozzles to eject millions of microscopic droplets each second with unrivalled consistency and accuracy. Tolerances afforded by FINE simply cannot be achieved with traditional ink-jet print heads, which must be assembled from multiple parts. The result is photo prints with a look and feel comparable to that of traditional silver-halide photolab prints.

Personal photolab
Both printers provide borderless printing in 4? x 6?, 5? x 7? and A4 formats. The Easy-PhotoPrint application supplied with the printers assists with options such as media selection and scaling to make photo printing fast and simple. It is designed to perfect image quality in a few clicks, with functions such as Face Sharpening to correct out-of-focus faces, Red Eye Correction and Digital Face Smoothing to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Canon PhotoRecord guides users through printing a personalised photo album, including assistance with printing on Canon’s new double-sided media.

The iP2000 provides direct photo printing with the vendor independent PictBridge standard. Any compatible digital camera or digital video cameras can connect directly to the printer via USB cable for direct printing without the need for a PC.

Faster than ever
The iP1500 and iP2000 are significantly faster than Canon?s previous entry-level printers: the iP2000 prints at 20 ppm mono / 14 ppm colour while the iP1500 prints at 18 ppm mono / 13 ppm colour. While some competing brands have a fast ‘draft mode’, the Canon printers’ true speed advantage becomes evident when the printers are called upon to print high quality documents and/or high resolution photos. For example both printers will print out a high quality borderless 4? x 6? photo in less than one minute.

Designer printing
The new PIXMA printer range is defined by cutting edge designs that excel in both functionality and aesthetics, and all are furnished with a style and finish appropriate for the home environment. Both printers are remarkably compact and robust, while the iP2000 has a cassette (‘U’ turn) paper path in addition to the traditional sheet feeder (?J? pass) path. This allows the printer to be stored and operated in confined areas, such as a shelf, making it ideal for home use. The dual paper path also allows the iP2000 to be loaded with plain paper and photo print media simultaneously, so both documents and photos can printed without the need for stopping and changing paper.

New photo media
Canon?s new media extends the creative and practical applications of the printers:

- Double sided photo paper (Photo Paper Plus Double Sided PP-101D) in A4 and 5? x 7? sizes. As well as standard packs, this media is available as a kit (Photo Album Kit PAK-101) which includes a high quality hardback album cover to make photo albums, scrapbooks and personal books
- Credit card size glossy media (Glossy Photo Paper GP-401) ? ideal for printing wallet photographs and name cards
- Photo stickers (Photo Stickers PS-101) ? sheets of 16 small photo stickers, for fun and practical purposes
- Photo stickers ? sheets of 16 small photo stickers, for fun and practical purposes

Easy web printing
The printers are also equipped with Easy-WebPrint software, which sits on the Explorer toolbar. Taking the frustration out of web page printing, Easy-WebPrint saves, time, ink and paper by correctly scaling output to print the entire page (even when it extends over multiple screens) to prevent cutting off the right hand side of the page.

Connection is via USB interface and both printers are compatible with both Windows (Win98/Me/2000/XP) and Macintosh operating systems.