New 17" Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

[Canon Rumors Guy]

<p><strong>*UPDATE*

</strong>We now believe the new 17″ printer will remain in the ImagePROGRAF lineup and not PIXMA.</p>
<p><strong>Original</strong></p>
<p>We’re told that new PIXMA Pro printer(s) will arrive before the end of the year, most likely at <a href="https://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CE0QFjADahUKEwj-7Mro49rHAhWkmtsKHei8Ayw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.photoplusexpo.com%2F&usg=AFQjCNF0CQe0RE4R1z0E61GggXKcjwYLZg&sig2=j4x03wKbkJyGXDpXbyE-BA&bvm=bv.101800829,d.ZGU" target="_blank">PhotoPlus Expo</a> next month in New York City. The flagship of the line, the PIXMA Pro-1 was announced in October 2011, and a year later the PIXMA Pro-10 and PIXMA Pro-100 printers were announced.</p>
<p>Details of the new printer(s) were sketchy, but we’re told that Canon will finally introduce a 17″ printer for the PIXMA line, and we should expect a new ink technology with the printer.</p>
<p>While I appreciated the build quality of the PIXMA Pro-1, it’d be nice if the new printers weren’t made out of iron.</p>
<p>More to come…</p>

 

[lglass12189]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

Yes I would love to replace my workhorse Pro -100 with a 17" model and Canon please give us larger ink tanks.

 

[JonAustin]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

Yes I would love to replace my workhorse Pro -100 with a 17" model and Canon please give us larger ink tanks.

+1 on the larger ink tanks!

My Canon Pro-100 more than meets my inkjet printing needs; I love its print quality, flexibility and wireless capabilities. In fact, I've bought a few on special / out of kits for less than it costs to buy a complete set of ink tanks, just to scavenge the tanks, and then gave away the printers. But it will be interesting to see what they announce.

 

[RGF]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

I currently have an Epson 4880 and would like to upgrade to a 24" printer. With the new print technology coming out from both Canon and Epson I will sit tight and wait and see.

 

[DanN]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

Given that Canon has flooded the market with cheap PIXMA PRO 100s from their current rebate deals, I wonder how much demand there will be for a New & Improved! printer. A new printer showed up with my new 7D MkII so now I have a (huge) spare printer taking up space along with all the other printers I've acquired over the years.

 

[keithcooper]

What's on the way...

Many parts of Canon have been asking Japan where the 17 inch printer was for quite a while ;-)

Leaving the iPF5100 as the only 17" option whilst the larger printers went to the x300 and x400 range always seemed a big gap in the range.

When the PRO-1 gets a revamp, I'd like to see attention to its paper handling failings - margins on art papers, and rather small maximum page length. Larger ink carts would be good, although if they bring in a 17" model, reckon on it having larger ink tanks as a 'plus feature'.

The larger iPF printers (x400 range) are currently being widely discounted, so maybe we'll see some new large format printers shipping next year to go up against whatever appears in the SureColor range from Epson ;-)

Having reviewed all the current (larger) printers for several years now, I'm interested to see what new features are rolled out.
The current range of good printers are easily capable of showing up the deficiencies of people's workflow and skills far more readily than vice versa ;-)

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

I'll stick with my Epson 3880. I use Cone Inks in a huge tank that is many times the size of the Epson Tank. I picked up a old used Epson 7600 last year which is fine for 24 in and long prints.

I was given a Epson 1000 (44 in), but I have no inks for it, and am unlikely to get any. I was planning to take off any usable parts and give it away or junk it.

 

[a4jp.com]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

If it can print boarder-less business cards, I'll buy a couple of these for the office. Why can most of these printers only print from L-sized stock? My old Epson printer is so flexible and can print business cards up to oversized A3 stock beautifully. I just like the idea of having all those extra colors and really sharp printing. A smaller print dot of 1 picoliter would also be nice.

 

[keithcooper]

New big Epsons

Epson are launching a new range of wide format printers in a few weeks time.

Whilst I'd expect new versions for 24"/44" I don't know if a replacement for the 17" 4900 will be included

The 4900 came out 2 yrs later than the 7900, at the same time (Oct 2010) as the 7890.

 

[keithcooper]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

If it can print boarder-less business cards, I'll buy a couple of these for the office. Why can most of these printers only print from L-sized stock? My old Epson printer is so flexible and can print business cards up to oversized A3 stock beautifully. I just like the idea of having all those extra colors and really sharp printing. A smaller print dot of 1 picoliter would also be nice.

And I suspect not one of them will print on business cards - come to think of it, not one good quality photo printer I've ever looked at or reviewed could reliably print on business cards. Office printers - who knows, but that's an entirely different product range.

Oh, hang on I remember, you print on bigger card and use a guillotine...

 

[LDS]

Re: What's on the way...

When the PRO-1 gets a revamp, I'd like to see attention to its paper handling failings - margins on art papers, and rather small maximum page length.

Will Canon add roll paper support also to the Pixma Pro printers?

 

[privatebydesign]

Re: New big Epsons

Epson are launching a new range of wide format printers in a few weeks time.

Whilst I'd expect new versions for 24"/44" I don't know if a replacement for the 17" 4900 will be included

The 4900 came out 2 yrs later than the 7900, at the same time (Oct 2010) as the 7890.

I look forwards to that, the x900 series has been a disaster for many 'photo' orientated low to medium volume printers. I have a three year old 4900 that has been the all too common dichotomy of amazing output and ink monster head clogging.

Indeed the x900 series has such a bad reputation I just got a 7900 via craigslist with a 250 print count for $260! And there are two more within 30 minutes drive of me for $199.

I have definitely moved on from the 17" size to the 24" size and would happily throw some money at the next generation Epson 7900/ Canon 6400.

Epson need to sort out their heads with the Canon style user replacement and blocked jet mapping, Canon need to emulate the paper handling and especially the roll holder of Epson.

I am very eagerly looking forwards to Keith's reviews of the printers.

 

[privatebydesign]

Re: What's on the way...

When the PRO-1 gets a revamp, I'd like to see attention to its paper handling failings - margins on art papers, and rather small maximum page length.

Will Canon add roll paper support also to the Pixma Pro printers?

After the excellent P600/P800 roll paper implementation I can't believe they won't.

 

[-pekr-]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

I wonder what ppl having a studio think about printers like DNP, Sinfonia-Shinko, etc. But maybe that is a different kind of printers, more suitable to small mini-labs, party printing, etc. Pity Canon's Selphy can't print 5"x7"

 

[a4jp.com]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

If it can print boarder-less business cards, I'll buy a couple of these for the office. Why can most of these printers only print from L-sized stock? My old Epson printer is so flexible and can print business cards up to oversized A3 stock beautifully. I just like the idea of having all those extra colors and really sharp printing. A smaller print dot of 1 picoliter would also be nice.

And I suspect not one of them will print on business cards - come to think of it, not one good quality photo printer I've ever looked at or reviewed could reliably print on business cards. Office printers - who knows, but that's an entirely different product range.


Oh, hang on I remember, you print on bigger card and use a guillotine...

A guillotine. How nasty. All they have to do is add a few rollers and these printers would be able to print business cards edge to edge. Maybe they should make it so they are also fed into the printer lengthwise (landscape). This would speed up printing and maybe stop the paper moving around if that is the reason why they stopped supporting business card stock on the high quality printers.

 

[keithcooper]

Re: New PIXMA Pro Printer Coming [CR2]

If it can print boarder-less business cards, I'll buy a couple of these for the office. Why can most of these printers only print from L-sized stock? My old Epson printer is so flexible and can print business cards up to oversized A3 stock beautifully. I just like the idea of having all those extra colors and really sharp printing. A smaller print dot of 1 picoliter would also be nice.

And I suspect not one of them will print on business cards - come to think of it, not one good quality photo printer I've ever looked at or reviewed could reliably print on business cards. Office printers - who knows, but that's an entirely different product range.


Oh, hang on I remember, you print on bigger card and use a guillotine...

A guillotine. How nasty. All they have to do is add a few rollers and these printers would be able to print business cards edge to edge. Maybe they should make it so they are also fed into the printer lengthwise (landscape). This would speed up printing and maybe stop the paper moving around if that is the reason why they stopped supporting business card stock on the high quality printers.

Business card printing - must mention that the I'm next talking to the Canon and Epson large format printer people. ;-)

In terms of features I confidently don't expect to see in high end end wide (A3+ and bigger) printers, this one ranks pretty highly.

When I want high quality (stock and printing) for my business cards that's when I visit real printers - I've not made my own business cards since trying to emulate Jim Rockford, when I was at school...

 

[keithcooper]

New Epson 24" and 44"

Well the new Epson wide printers were announced in the US.

Replacements for the 7890/7900/9890/9900 - no 17" 4900 replacement yet

And yes, there is still a black ink swap ;-)

"September 14, 2015 – Epson is once again redefining large format commercial ink jet printing with the announcement of the SureColor P-Series line-up. Incorporating the latest imaging technologies, including Epson’s PrecisionCore TFP printhead, the new P-Series printers deliver extraordinary performance for the professional printing industry along with unparalleled Colour matching capabilities. Leveraging Epson’s UltraChrome HD eight-Colour ink set, the 24-inch SureColor P6000 and 44-inch SureColor P8000 are designed for graphic designers, commercial printers and photographers. Successors to the award-winning Epson Stylus Pro 900-Series, the 24-inch SureColor P7000 and 44-inch SureColor P9000 incorporate a reformulated Epson UltraChrome HDX 10-Colour ink set for both commercial and flexographic printers, as well as graphic designers, photographers, and fine art reproduction houses."

I hope to get a better look before too much longer...

 

[privatebydesign]

Re: New 17\

Totally underwhelmed by the announcements.

They have done nothing to address the main issues that x900 owners have had.
[list type=decimal]
[*]Print head not user replaceable
[*]Print head not able to remap blocked nozzles
[*]MK and PK still share the same nozzles
[*]The head is the same design as previously so no reason to expect different clogging 'performance'
[/list]

They do say the auto cleaning cycles have been reworked, so more ink down the $35 maintenance tank, and supposedly ink usage has been lowered, though on a per print figure I have never had a problem with that, use the ink you need to make a print but using gallons of it to keep the printer maintained is not on. HP's use next to no ink for 'maintenance' over years of reliable use.

Actual improvements seem to be limited to a blacker black, that it never lacked anyway (though does anybody know if that is PK or MK?) and yellow longevity to match that of Canon already. Oh and the optional violet ink for non photographers concerned about Pantone range.

Massive, massive, thumbs down.

P.S. I live and die on printer advice from Keith's reviews and the ones on LuLa, the main issue I now have with Epson is they can't be trusted and the probable problems that owners will have won't show up in reviews.

 

[keithcooper]

new Epsons...

I'm not quite so put off by the changes.

It will indeed take regular use to find out if there are longer term changes in reliability and clogging.

The remapping question is one of design philosophy - Canon starts with lots of relatively low lifetime nozzles and uses the mapping to extend overall head lifetime to more reasonable periods. The fact that they are a user replaceable item suggests that head lifetime is still an issue - I can testify to them really not liking periods of rest. The PF05 printhead (iPFx300 and x400) is due a replacement, but it's looking as if there won't be anything new in large format from Canon until next year. Maybe the PRO 17" will signal some changes and elements appear in a replacement for the ageing iPF5100.

The SureColor range was partly intended to bring new head manufacturing technologies in to play - so whilst the layout may be similar I'm not so sure that the internals are. The Epson design is for a head that shouldn't need replacing (although YMMV it seems) Swapping inks... still???

Although I've not had a chance to look at one yet (they are only officially launched in the US at the moment) some of the specs suggest wider mechanical changes too.

BTW I do wish that HP would bring out a proper update for the z3200ps I first looked at in 2009...

 

[privatebydesign]

Re: new Epsons...

I'm not quite so put off by the changes.

It will indeed take regular use to find out if there are longer term changes in reliability and clogging.

The remapping question is one of design philosophy - Canon starts with lots of relatively low lifetime nozzles and uses the mapping to extend overall head lifetime to more reasonable periods. The fact that they are a user replaceable item suggests that head lifetime is still an issue - I can testify to them really not liking periods of rest. The PF05 printhead (iPFx300 and x400) is due a replacement, but it's looking as if there won't be anything new in large format from Canon until next year. Maybe the PRO 17" will signal some changes and elements appear in a replacement for the ageing iPF5100.

The SureColor range was partly intended to bring new head manufacturing technologies in to play - so whilst the layout may be similar I'm not so sure that the internals are. The Epson design is for a head that shouldn't need replacing (although YMMV it seems) Swapping inks... still???

Although I've not had a chance to look at one yet (they are only officially launched in the US at the moment) some of the specs suggest wider mechanical changes too.

BTW I do wish that HP would bring out a proper update for the z3200ps I first looked at in 2009...

Great points Keith,

Like you say the design philosophy is fundamentally different. But the fallout is a corporate philosophy issue.

Canon take the route that some nozzles will get blocked, so they will work around them. They give the head a service life and run with that, the heads are readily available and user replaceable, indeed you fit the originals yourself.

Epson take the path that their heads will never fail, they will never get a single blocked nozzle and if they do they can 'clean' it out themselves. But they do get blockages that can't be cleaned. They don't sell the heads either, they are only available to factory techs. They are not user replaceable. This is a basic weakness of Epson wide format printers.

Rather than address these concerns with a reworked philosophy Epson present us with un-fixable clog situation v2. I'd love to be proven wrong, but the head image is exactly the same design as the x900's so the basic issues are still there. Yes they are calling it something different, and my hope is that the new coatings and cleaning cycles do actually work, but they have proven to not be overly accepting of the well recorded issues many low to mid volume and occasional users have actually had.

For background, I have a 7900 and a 4900 both of which I have had to take the head off and clean manually to keep running.