The Canon EXPO is held every five years in major cities around the world to showcase powerful products, cutting-edge technology and inspirational ideas to the world. It is an imaging showcase allowing attendees a rare chance to see and experience the incredible breadth of Canon's imaging technology, as well as get a glimpse into future products, solutions and services that will transform the way customers live, work and share experiences.
"Throughout history, from roll film to digital cameras, wooden printing presses to inkjet technology, creators have relied on technology to discover new worlds and further the progress of mankind. When we embark on new adventures, we explore uncharted territories, choosing to see what's never been seen, and doing what has never been done," said Joe Adachi, chairman and CEO, Canon U.S.A., Inc. "As today's creators explore their world, continuing to dream and discover, Canon will be there for the journey, ready at the helm to provide the right technology to see impossible."
Leading industry experts, award-winning photographers and film directors were all present at this event to provide insight on the ways technology is changing their landscape of work. I was fortunate enough to have an invitation to this extraordinary event. The exhibit floor was divided into 6 zones – IMAGING JOURNEY – PROFESSIONAL PRINTING – ENTERPRISE – HOME – MEDICAL & WELLNESS – CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE and UNIVERSITY. For the purpose of this article, I will focus only on the professional printing solutions.
Professional Printing – See Inspired Printing
There was an impressive array of equipment brought together under one roof exposing visitors to a bookcase of hard- and soft-cover picture books, a gallery of stunning, detailed prints and lifelike textures printed as a 2-D images. Canon highlighted what is possible with current and future technologies, providing print solutions for commercial printers, direct mail and transactional printers, corporate and small businesses, print service providers, book publishers and more. For me this was the most exciting zone as the journey took me past a wide array of professional solutions, from high-speed to high-quality, production printing to large format, with an impressive range of variable printing options that lie in between.
OCE Elevated Printing Technology
One exhibit that greatly impressed me was the Canon Super Creative Printing Technology. This is a future technology being developed that allows for various materials to be printed in a 2D format. It could be used in a POP application, creative design as well as in industrialized printing applications. This technology reproduces "Colour, Gloss and Elevation" in the final printed product. The material appearance is managed by Canon's image processing software, and it works something like this:
INPUT – Multiple cameras capture the reflected light from multiple directions on the object surface
IMAGE PROCESSING – The captured image is then analyzed and delicate surface elevation and the gloss of the image is calculated and converted into printable data
PRINTING – The colour, elevation and gloss of the image is then reproduced by an Arizona UV inkjet printer.
The Canon Super Creative Printing process reproduces not only colour information, but also elevation and light reflection characteristics in order to enable the viewer to experience a more realistic visual effect in the reproduction of the subject matter. The aim of this Super Creative Printing technology is to allow for the object’s gloss and sense of transparency to be viewed and felt by the viewer as he looks at it from different angles.
Océ Arizona – Océ has done very well with the Arizona UV-curable printers and started winning awards with the line beginning way back to 2003. Canon’s new revolutionary oversize flatbed platform was on display representing innovative printing at its best. This versatile Océ Arizona Series prints onto a wide array of rigid substrates up to 2 inches thick and up to 8 by 10 feet in area. It utilizes a vacuum table to hold the substrates in place while printing and features seven ink channels including white ink, enabling the production of a wide range of applications.
Océ InfiniStream – We had a glimpse into this impressive digital press which is an electro photographic liquid toner technology designed for digital packaging production. Running at speeds of up to 393 feet per minute this state of the art packaging press can produce 14,400 B2 sheets (half sheets) per hour while utilizing seven modular print towers and TRESU coating technology to generate stunning quality output. Along with the Océ InfiniStream, businesses would be able to be prepared for on-demand production of folding cartons. The world's first InfiniStream Technology has been installed at packaging printer Joh. Leupold GmbH, based in Schwabach, Germany and as a 'proof-of-concept' customer, Leupold was able to share many insights into this technology as the Océ InfiniStream was presented to customers via a large and impressive video screen.
Océ VarioPrint i300 – Canon U.S.A. received a prestigious InterTech Technology award for the Océ VarioPrint i300 Sheetfed Inkjet Production Press last month and is expected to further transform the Industry. Being one of the first sheetfed inkjet color production presses available on the market, the Océ VarioPrint i300 sets the tone for high productivity and low running cost. The 4-colour sheetfed press prints up to 294 letter images/min and produces monthly volumes of up to 10 million letter images. "It is a true honour for Canon to be recognized for our innovative technology by the Printing Industries of America," said Junichi Yoshitake, senior vice president and general manager, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. Inc. "This award emphasizes our commitment to offer solutions that help empower print providers to grow and to deliver new services to their customers."
Canon imagePress C10000VP – On display as well was the new imagePRESS C10000VP Series is designed to deliver production excellence for commercial printers and inplant print professionals. This digital press won the “MUST SEE‘EMS” award at Graph Expo. Building on unique features of the renowned high imagePRESS output quality, the imagePRESS C10000VP Series may well set a new quality benchmark in its class. This new flagship device builds on the success of the imagePRESS range, which, since its launch in 2006, has established an enviable reputation for robust production presses with a proven track record for reliability and quality. To date 40,000 colour imagePRESS devices have been installed worldwide. The imagePRESS C10000VP will be available from October 2015.
Next Generation Canon Large Format PRO Photo Printers – Not to be overlooked, the imagePROGRAF line of large format printers are also getting re-engineered. On display was the new large format PRO printer lineup, which boasted a new look plus a new image processing engine. Reproductions of the high dynamic range and high resolution can be achieved at blistering speeds (according to the specs) the intent is to introduce the next generation of PRO photo printers (17”, 24”, 44” 60”) which can faithfully express the original data captured by the new high resolution EOS cameras. We look forward to seeing this printer in action next year.
All in all this was another exciting Canon Expo to attend and I look forward to the next one in five years!
