This installment of Printing Press: What’s Happening April-May 2024 is all about professional printers. We start off with three Canon ImagePrograf printers for photo and fine art prints and move onto a new pro fine art printer from Epson. However, we end with two large-format scanners: the Image Access WideTEK 36CL CIS scanner and 48-inch CCD unit for scanning photographs and artwork.
Canon ImagePrograf Pro Printers for Photo & Fine Art Prints
Canon now offers a trio of 11-color plus chroma optimizer inkjet photo printers in its large-format imagePrograf Pro series. The imagePrograf 60-inch Pro-6600, 44-inch Pro-4600 and 24-inch Pro-2600 models were introduced for photography and fine art printing. 
Further, the new imagePrograf Pro line features the newly developed Lucia Pro II pigment ink to help improve image quality over previous models. The ink is also said to enhance resistance to light. What’s more, Canon achieved improved black density on art paper by changing the formulation and material of matte black ink. The color gamut of the dark region was also expanded by the adoption of a newly designed image table.
The ink set can also help preserve prints, as a crystalline wax was added to the ink. As a result, the printed surface is better resistant to abrasion-caused scratches on glossy and semigloss media. In addition, Canon reformulated the Chroma Optimizer to give the surface a clear coat of transparent ink that helps suppress bronze phenomena and reduce uneven glossiness.
The printers also have a new ink-sensing system that periodically monitors ink ejection conditions and optimizes the ink landing position. It does so by detecting the deterioration of ejecting conditions and automatically performing alignment adjustments. In addition, an intelligent media-handling function detects the paper type, width and estimated remaining amount of paper. Moreover, it completes the paper-feeding process in a shorter time than previous models. And the addition of LED interior lights allows users to preview prints, while semitranslucent ink tank covers let users monitor ink tank status.
Epson 64-Inch SureColor P-Series Fine Art Printer
To support creative professionals looking to create large, sellable output, Epson announced its most advanced 64-inch SureColor P-series printer. Successor to the SureColor P20000, the SureColor P20570 represents the pinnacle of Epson’s professional printing technology. 
It features an improved printer design that supports a 12-channel PrecisionCore MicroTFP printhead, Nozzle Verification technology and Epson UltraChrome Pro12 ink. In fact, Epson says it delivers “the widest color gamut in its class with incredible black density.” The ink set includes orange, green and violet ink. Moreover, Epson designed it for high-volume print shops. Thus, it touts a 1.6L ink pack system that eliminates the need for frequent cartridge changes.
With wide media support, the SureColor P20570 produces prints at speeds beyond 200 sqft/hr. It also includes Epson Media Installer software to help control parameters for printing with a variety of media. Other tools include new Epson Edge Print Pro RIP software, with an Adobe PostScript 3 based engine, and Epson Cloud Solution PORT for production monitoring and fleet management.
For professional photography to fine art reproductions to graphic design, the SureColor P20570 also provides intuitive operation via a 4.3-inch color LCD touchscreen. Additionally, Epson will make the SureColor P20570 available in summer 2024.
Canon WideTEK Scanners
Canon also added two large-format scanners to its imagePrograf printer portfolio—the Image Access WideTEK 36CL CIS scanner and 48-inch CCD scanner. Moreover, the Image Access WideTEK 48 CCD scanner is for scanning photographs, artwork and related images up to 48 inches wide. The Image Access WideTEK 36CL CIS scanner is for text documents and CAD drawings up to 36 inches wide.
The WideTEK 36CL is one of the fastest color CIS scanners, running at 10 inches per sec at 200 dpi in full color. Furthermore, scanning speeds are 15 inches per second in black and white or grayscale. Additionally, Image Access engineered the scanner to produce sharp images with high color accuracy. Document rotation is also done on the fly. What’s more, a scan of an E-sized/A0 document in portrait mode at 200 dpi in 24-bit color takes 10 seconds. It takes another two seconds to crop & deskew, preview and store.
The WideTEK 48 CCD scanner digitizes graphics documents up to 48 inches wide. It’s an option for large-format scanning in offices or for production service providers scanning high volumes. This scanner utilizes special transport rollers that serve as pressure points, to help ensure safe document transport for historical and fragile documents. To achieve extra contrast on sepias and film-based documents, operators can exchange the standard black drum with a white drum—no tools required.
More Features
In addition, the scanners feature a 64-bit Linux-based real-time operating system. It is dedicated to scanner specific imaging and mechanical control tasks. Consequently, they are stand-alone systems that scan at high speed directly to FTP servers, hot folders, USB drives as well as cloud applications. They can also copy to printers directly, without using an extra PC.
Both scanners also feature a 7-inch, high-resolution multi-touch screen to perform all scanner functions without a computer. Additionally, a Full HD 22-inch touchscreen monitor is available to add on to each model.
