New wide-format printers will extend Canon's product leadership with extraordinary improvements,

including microscopic 4 picolitre ink droplets

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Sydney, 22 March 2005 -- Canon, already the fastest growing vendor in Australia's wide-format market, has declared that it will retain its status as the market's new product leader by demonstrating the Canon imagePROGRAF W8400 and Canon imagePROGRAF W6400 at PacPrint (24--28 May 2005). The demonstration will be shortly after the release of both products in Australia.

"The Canon imagePROGRAF W8400 and W6400 build on the substantial achievements of our existing series of wide-formats, while offering a range of remarkable improvements," said Steven Brown, Market Segment Manager, Production & Graphic Arts, Canon Australia. "Every Canon wide-format offers fine image details, but the W8400 and W6400 launch with microscopic 4 picolitre ink droplets, which means Canon can offer the industry a virtual guarantee against graininess."

The imagePROGRAF W8400 is a B0+ device, capable of printing on media up to 44 inches (1.1176m) wide. It will appeal to professional users requiring outstanding quality and high speeds in this larger format, including commercial printers, designers, advertising agencies, poster printers, as well as architects, engineers and other CAD users.

The imagePROGRAF W6400 is an A1+ device, capable of printing on media up to 24 inches (60.96cm) wide. It will appeal to a broad range of wide-format users who value quality and speed but don't require extra-large output sizes, including prepress/proofing departments, photo labs, professional photographers and internal marketing departments.

The 4-picolitre droplets used by the W8400 and W6400 are made possible by their new one-inch-wide high-density printhead -- featuring 7680 tiny ink nozzles, or 1280 for each of the six colours. The printhead enables the W8400 to achieve industry-leading print speeds of up to around 2.2 minutes per page when producing A0 size output, and both models to produce A1 output in around 1.3 minutes per page.1 In addition, Canon's new high-intensity yellow ink makes possible a wider colour gamut and increased colour intensity, while a new image processor enhances image quality for the production of brighter photos and sharper point-of-purchase posters and materials.

Employing Canon's proprietary pigment-based inks, the W8400 and W6400 printers realise output with exceptional light fastness, water resistance and colour stability, while also achieving colour performance to rival dye-based-ink systems. The models also offer two interchangeable black inks -- photo black and matte black -- to enable printing on a wide variety of media. While photo black offers enhanced depth when printing on glossy media commonly used for photos, magazines, posters and proofs, matte black achieves sharp, solid blacks when printing on matte media commonly used for fine art, newspaper proofs, and CAD (computer aided design) applications.

The printers enable users to produce high-impact borderless prints in a wide range of formats, including photo-industry standard sizes 10 x 11 inches (254 x 279mm) and 8 x 10 inches (203 x 254mm) and, marking an industry first2, common poster sizes B2 and A1, as well as A0 and B0 for the W8400. In addition to a new printer driver the printers offer boosted compatibility with industry-standard software, featuring an output plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, and HDI drivers for AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT.

The models also come with PosterArtist3 software, which was developed by Canon Information Systems Research Australia -- one of Australia's largest private R&D facilities, and Canon's largest R&D centre outside of Japan. By combining one of the many poster templates with original data, users can produce and print high-quality borderless posters with ease. Moreover, when used in combination with Canon's Digital Photo Print Pro, which enables the easy output of large-format digital camera prints, and the printer driver software, PosterArtist becomes a powerful tool for poster production.

The printers will also mark the local introduction of Canon's global imagePROGRAF brand name.

1. Print speeds based on Fast Mode when using plain paper

2. As of January 17 for B2, A1, A0 and B0 size media

3. Compatible with Microsoft Windows 98, Me, 2000 and XP

--ENDS--

About Canon

Canon Australia (canon.com.au) was established in 1978 and is a subsidiary of the US$33.3 billion Canon Inc. group. The company is an industry leader in professional and consumer imaging solutions with an extensive product line that includes networked multifunction devices, document solutions software, printers, scanners, facsimiles, digital video cameras, film and digital cameras and lenses. In addition, the company operates its own finance service, Canon Finance Australia, which provides a one-stop shop for customers wanting to lease or finance their equipment. Canon Inc. is a top patent-holder of imaging technologies with a local research and development centre -- CISRA (Canon Information Systems Research Australia) -- based in Sydney.

Media contact:

Steven Noble

Associate Director, Technology

Hill & Knowlton

02 9286 1238

snoble@hillandknowlton.com.au