Product Reviews

Canon originally set out its Ipex agenda as being about applications and business development for customers, with Mark Lawn, Canon Europe professional print solutions marketing manager, stating prior to the show and shortly after the launch of its ImageRunner light production colour machines that: "We're not dominated by product launches, there's no need - we have a full portfolio. Customers are telling us that they need support and not endless product launches."

Come the show and Canon had a surprise: the imagePress 7010. It was a successor for the 7000, which had been launched to much fanfare as the firm's first production colour digital press four years previously at the last Ipex.

Lawn admits that the launch was "a bit of a sneaky surprise" and describes it as the result of continual improvement of the imagePress platform, rather than a totally new product.

New additions In comparison to its predecessors, a wider range of stock weights are supported, it's more productive, colour consistency has been improved and the duty cycle (number of pages per month it can handle) has been increased.

Maximum stock weight has been increased from 300gsm to 325gsm and minimum weight has been reduced from 64gsm to 60gsm for uncoated stocks.

"It helps customers to push the boundaries a little bit more," says Lawn. "They've already found success with a range of materials including metallics, waterproof paper, synthetics, non-tears and textured stock."

The feeds are the same, as Lawn says they were already well able to handle coated stocks, but productivity has been addressed. The length of the imaging belt has been extended so more sheets can be fed onto the belt at any one time, which increases print speed. The precise improvement depends on stock weight and size, but generally the bigger the sheet, the greater the advantage, which benefits commercial printers running SRA3 and above sheets.

For A4 sheets, which are normally used as the headline speed figure, the speed has risen from 70 pages per minute (ppm) to 71.6ppm. For larger sizes, the increase is more substantial - A3 ppm has risen from 36ppm to 38.5ppm while SRA3 is now 36.2ppm.

"People look at pages per minute, but a more realistic figure would be time per job," says Lawn. "We're currently investigating how to best communicate the enhanced productivity in those terms."

He argues that a machine with a headline speed of 100ppm isn't necessarily any more productive than the 72ppm 7010 and that customers aren't actually asking for faster machines any way. Instead, he says, the measures Canon has taken, such as enabling the handling of mixed sized-sheets, are more real-world issues for customers.

Colour as critical He adds that uptime is as important to productivity as speed and he believes colour management can improve that.

"Automated colour management and bespoke fingerprinting and matching are key," says Lawn.

Working with X-Rite, Canon has developed its Process Control software to keep colour to specification. The firm is planning to get Fogra certification for the 7010, as it has for the 7000, but already the software can be used to keep the machine running to a specification.

"It's to help to get the colour right the first time, which saves time in production and reduces re-runs," says Lawn. "It's no longer in the eye of the minder, it's an unquestionable measurement."

Lawn says there are two default specifications that can be run to: ISO 12647-7, which due to its paper white point definition limits the range of applicable stocks; and another with a wider latitude on paper white.

New in Process Control version three for the 7010 is a unique iterative profile function. This enables the operator to adjust the output on the fly to get back to target. Lawn cites this as useful when the developer is starting to lose charge, but not totally gone. Not only does it highlight to the operator that it's time to call an engineer to replace the developer, it also gives them the tools to keep colour in line until it is replaced.

Canon has chosen to keep the spectrophotometer - the X-Rite i1iO scanning table - offline, rather than integrating it into the press.

"We've chosen not to make the spectrophotometer internal as you want the colour management process to be carried out in parallel with production," says Lawn. "You don't want the press to be tied up while you carry out colour management."

Another benefit of the colour system is a new spot colour library too.

Although it was previewed at Ipex, the 7010 won't be launched until the autumn. Canon is in the process of finalising the testing and approval of the machine, but expects to roll it out at its Expo event in Paris in October, and Lawn adds a number of firms have pre-ordered the machine based on what they saw at Ipex.

More output One of the most significant enhancements is the higher duty cycle the 7010 offers over the 7000. The duty cycle is expected to be 1m pages per month, which the firm expects will reinforce the imagePress' production credentials and position it against HP's Indigo, Kodak's NexPress and the Xerox 7002/8002 and even the new Color Press 1000.

"We've spec'd up the 7010, which is to help ensure customers get a better return by being able to sweat the asset as much as possible," he says. "This duty cycle pushes us into new markets and to new customers," he adds.

The range of inline finishing options from the 7000 will work with the 7010 and there is also a new saddle finisher in the wings. This promises improved robustness and flatter booklets and, says Lawn, reflects an increased interest in integrated production lines with automated front-end workflow and finishing to cut the amount of human interaction involved in producing a job.

While the 7010 as the flagship colour imagePress has garnered most of the attention Canon has applied the same upgrades throughout the range with the launch of the 6010 and the 6010VP, which bring the same benefits to the 60 A3ppm machines. The VP denotes a less power-hungry fuser. While this compromises the speed with heavier stocks - one of the big plusses of the 7010 - it also ensures it can run from a standard power output, so copy shops and quick printers don't need to invest in additional power supplies.

One of the applications Canon is starting to explore for the imagePress now is photobooks.

"ImagePress is the only toner-based press to produce tints that look like inkjet output and the Canon brand has always been historically very strong in the imaging market in other areas, just not digital printing," he says.

The imagePress 7010 is an evolution, rather than a revolution, which Canon hopes can continue to build on the market it has already. With its increased robustness and stability it may have what it takes to continue Canon's push beyond inplants to commercial printers.

SPECIFICATIONS Speed A4 71.6ppm
A3 up to 209gsm 38.5ppm Up to 325gsm 36ppm SRA3 up to 210 gsm 36.2 Ppm
Up to 325gsm 33.6ppm Paper weight 60-325gsm
Max sheet size 330.2x487.7mm
Resolution 1,200dpi
Monthly volumes AMPV :n/s
Max (duty cycle) up to 1m
Workflow EFI Fiery or Creo
Contact Canon ME+971 4 391 5050 www.canon-me.com