The Print Shop: The Latest in Professional Printers

The big annual Photo Marketing Association (PMA) convention just wrapped up, and my colleague Eric Butterfield reported on new consumer digital cameras and photo printing accessories for our Today @ PC World blog. However, PMA also saw the introduction of some interesting photo printing solutions that cater to business markets. These include new high-end photo printers targeting professional photographers, graphics artists, and advanced amateurs.

I'll discuss those after I tell you about a new commercial product from HP.

HP's New Photo Kiosk

If HP has its way, you won't be able to go into a supermarket or drugstore without bumping into its new Photosmart Express Station. This kiosk can deliver 4-by-6-inch photo prints from your own memory cards or from a Snapfish online photo-sharing account.

In these kiosks, HP will use its new six-ink inkjet technology, which is based on the company's scalable printing technology. Competing kiosks use either dye-sublimation or silver halide processes.

HP claims that this technology should help the Photosmart Express Station be up to 40 percent more profitable per square foot through greater efficiency, lower maintenance requirements, detailed remote monitoring tools, and up to 10 times the supply capacity of current competing kiosks. Consumers can expect an easy-to-use interface that will deliver waterfast 4-by-6-inch prints that, according to HP, should last for "long over 50 years"--and will produce each one in about 5 seconds.

HP has looked to the retail market before: You might remember its Phogenix Imaging partnership with Kodak, which dissolved back in May 2003. It will be interesting to see how the new kiosk venture competes with existing competitors, including its old ally.

See this post at PC World's staff blog for further information on the Photosmart Express Station and HP's new Photosmart Studio, which will allow retail stores to create albums, calendars, posters, and greeting cards with customer's photos.

HP's Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer

Let's move on to printers. HP's B9180 is touted as producing true monochrome (black-and-white) reproductions and vibrant color/fine art prints thanks to its individual Vivera pigment-based inks: Matte black, photo black, light gray, light cyan, cyan, light magenta, magenta, and yellow. It can produce output on various media (including photo paper, stiff pre-matted paper or canvas) at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches.

Photos printed with the B9180 are rated to last for more than 200 years. The B9180 supports both PCs and Macs, and HP supplies an Adobe Photoshop plug-in for color management in addition to other utilities. HP should begin taking orders for the $699 Photosmart Pro B9180 sometime in late May or early June.

Canon PIXMA Pro9500 and PIXMA Pro9000

For its part, Canon last month unveiled its own models capable of producing detailed, gallery-level color or black-and-white prints. The company's new Pixma Pro9500 and Pixma Pro9000 can print on a number of different media types (such as cotton fine-art paper) at sizes up to 13 by 19 inches; the two printers have a maximum resolution of 4800 by 2400 dots per inch and outwardly appear identical, but they use different printing technologies.

The Pixma Pro9500 is a ten-color Lucia pigment-based inkjet printer, while the Pixma Pro9000 uses eight dye-based inks. Both devices are PC- and Mac-compatible and ship with Easy-PhotoPrint Pro, a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop that simplifies configuration and color management. Pricing and availability weren't confirmed at press time.

Canon imagePrograf iPF5000 Wide Format Printer

Late last month Canon also announced its new imagePrograf iPF5000, a large-format inkjet printer that uses dual print heads to create professional prints up to 17 inches wide. The device features a maximum resolution of 2400 by 1200 dpi, has a 4-picoliter droplet size, and uses 12 Lucia pigment-based inks--red, blue, green, gray, photo gray, cyan, photo cyan, magenta, photo magenta, yellow, regular black, and matte black--to produce striking images rated to last for over 100 years. The imagePrograf iPF5000 is scheduled to become available in April for $1945.

Got a Question for a Printer Vendor?

Got a bone to pick with a printer manufacturer? Have some functionality suggestions, or wonder what happened to your favorite feature, accessory, or model line? Here's your chance! I'm currently accepting questions to ask printer manufacturers on your behalf for a future column. You can e-mail me at Danny Allen.