Canon releases three new imagePROGRAF printers

Canon just announced three new printers to their graphic arts line of wide format printers. The new models are the iPF6300, iPF6350, and iPF8300. The iPF6300 and the iPF6350 are both 24" wide printers and the iPF8300 is a 44" wide printer. Some of the improvements that Canon is making is a newly developed mechanical structure and a new pigment ink set - the LUCIA EX. It also seems like they are enhancing their RIP support for their printers as well. These software manufacturers will be releasing RIP software support for the new printers: GMG, CGS, EFI, ONYX, Ergosoft, and a few others. IT Supplies has some more information on this as well a link to the press release Canon sent out.

http://www.itsupplies.com/Canon-iPF-Wide-Format-Printers

Canon is going to be showing off these printers at WPPI in Las Vegas, March 8-11, 2010 according to their press release. Also, these printers will start shipping in March as well.

Canon iPF6300 - $3,695 MSRP
Canon iPF6350 - $3,995 MSRP
Canon iPF8300 - $5,995 MSRP

Canon ipf605 printer is now discontinued

The Canon ipf 605 wide format printer is discontinued. With recent rebates on the Canon ipf650, they were usually more expensive (the ipf650 replaced the ipf605).

36" Canon iPF720 printer is discontinued

Notice on the discontinuation of the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF720 Printer

Canon has stated that effective immediately, their iPF720 36" printer is discontinued. Canon (Canon USA) has no remaining inventory. Select Resellers and distributors may still have stock. If you were thinking of buying one, you should probably check into that.

Part Number (SKU):

3035B002AA

Description: 

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF720 Printer

Product Status:

Discontinued

Replacement Product:

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF755 Printer

Replacement Part Number (SKU):

3432B007

The Canon iPF 755 Printer

Digital Graphics Resources (DGR) Goes out of Business

Digital Graphics Resource, www.digitalgraphicsresources.com, a large supplier of Canon, Epson, Wacom, Eizo Monitors, and many other products has gone out of business.

Their website now simply displays the plain text on a white background:

DigitalGraphicsResources.com has closed and is no longer conducting business.

Based upon some recent reviews at Reseller Ratings and Complaints Board, it looked like people saw this coming. Read the discussion at:

• http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Digital_Graphics_Resources
  
• http://www.complaintsboard.com/byurl/digitalgraphicsresources.com.html
  

Inkjet Ink Price Increase coming Feb 2009!

"SAVE Before February 1st Price Increases!!

Dear Valued Customer,

Citing recent changes in the global economy our major manufacturers have all announced price increases on select items, effective February 1st.  To this end, we have provided lists of those affected parts on our website so that you may take advantage of pre-increase savings.

We thank you for your continued business,

ATLEX.COM

EPSON PRICE INCREASE BETWEEN 3%-10%

HP INK & TONER INCREASE BETWEEN 5%-9%

CANON INK & MEDIA INCREASE 5%  "

We recently received the above email regarding supplier price increases of some of the major manufactures of inkjet ink. This seems to be coming directly from the manufacture, so its most likely going to be passed on to all consumers by all of the distributors & suppliers. I was glad to hear not all of my inks are going up in price. This is also good to know if you are working on budgeting and planning for the year.

Changes coming in February '09:

Epson Ink 

Increasing between 3%-10% (MSRP price)

HP Ink

Increasing between 5%-9%

Canon Ink

Increasing around 5%

Atlex offered a nice list of whats going up in price at their website --  http://www.atlex.com/febpriceinc/febpriceinc.html

Huge Sale - IPF6100 and IPF5100 ends soon

There has been a huge sale going on the Canon IPF6100 and the Canon IPF5100. If you haven't noticed, the ipf 5100 is selling for as low as ~$800 (with serial number of existing printer) with a bunch of free paper and the ipf 6100 has been selling for ~$1500. Check out IT for free freight. I doubt this will last much longer, this seems to be way below cost considering MSRP of $2800 (IPF 6100) and $2000 (IPF 5100).

As was the case with the last IPF 5000 sale, you might want to consider picking up another printer if you already own one. When you factor in the cost of ink, printheads, and spare parts, buying one might make economic sense. For example, printheads can run up to $500. Buying two would be around $1000. If you bought another unit at $800, you get two printheads and the rest of the unit is essentially free (all the ink, etc).

Check the deals out at:

• IPF 5100 -- http://www.itsupplies.com/cgi-bin/itsupplies.storefront/en/Product/2157B002AA

• IPF 6100 -- http://www.itsupplies.com/cgi-bin/itsupplies.storefront/en/Product/1016B002AA

Remember to add the product to the basket to see the real price.

Giclee Camera Capture System for Fine Art

If you are looking for a solution for photographing your artwork, check out the Giclee camera capture systems on the DTG Web site. They have common cameras for photographing fine art in order to make reproductions.

http://www.dtgweb.com/solutions/

Camera kits and bundles start at just under $34,000. Output options go as high as 39 Mega pixels.



They also offer a PDF of some of their solutions available at:

http://www.dtgweb.com/solutions/DTG_GICLEE_%20Solutions.pdf

Goodbye HP 5500 , Hello iPF 8000

I finally sold my HP 5500 today on Craigslist (www.craigslist.com). Definitely a good place to try and sell higher end gear, and being free sure helps. I had the UV and postscript version, 42", and sold it for $5000. My reason for selling was mainly the fact that the HP 5000 series is basically a 5 year old technology...

My main decision was should I stay with HP with the Z series, or venture out to a new company? Epson has always been one of my favorites, they are very friendly and always look great. I still have 2 small Epson printers. If I did solely giclee, I would buy a Stylus 9800 in a heartbeat. It sure would save some space in my office. But I need something faster and more industrious, so I was in the market for either the Canon line or HP's Z2100. Canon is currently having some excellent rebates, iPF 9000's (60") start around $10k and iPF 8000's (44") start around $3500. No, that is not a typo, they are going for under four thousand dollars. Good deals I found were www.colorHQ.com , www.itsupplies.com. CONTRARY to what is says on Color HQ's website, neither iPF printers can print full bleed at maximum width! I was lucky enough to be informed of this before I purchased one.

As the title states, I ended up buying a iPF 8000. It cost me $3495, including shipping. I would say thats a very good deal. When the original iPF 5000 came out, they're were very mixed reviews (ok, a lot of bad reviews), but as people experiment more and more with these printers they are achieving excellent results. They aren't nearly as "plug and play" as the Epsons, but some photographers claim to be getting better prints now off of their Canons. I will definitely let you know.

Another dreary Monday

Today was rather blase, nothing too interesting. Made some prints off my Hp 5500, finally got my G5 to read it (an accomplishment none the less, but its no Onyx). Its still amazes me how you can use this printer like its own FTP server, just typing in its web address on your network and dropping files in. Not that I do that anymore, but none the less impressing. I suppose at home I could begin printing files at work to save some time if I was really in a crunch. Over all I haven't been thrilled with my 5500 lately, if it wasn't for the Pantone and the Postscript 3 it probably would have been gone a while ago. I don't do nearly enough posters etc to justify it, although it is by far the fastest printer I've used. The quality is still far behind the Epson's, which limits what I can do with it. If I were to start a sign shop, I think I would buy one of those and a W6400 ( Canon ). That's definitely a poster machine. How to start a Sign Shop coming soon...

In more news, I just switched over from www.typepad.com ( www.digitalprinter.typepad.com ) has my first post on it, I decided to opt for a free blog instead of a fee one. I need to save the money for the holidays, anyway.