This week we are taking a close look at the Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-2000, especially seen as we have one in the demonstration room, printing lots of samples for our customers who live too far away to visit us here.
The Canon PRO-2000 large format printer is a 12 colour large format printer, that can print up to 24″ or 610mm (A1+). It offers the very best in photographic print quality in a compact design. We have had this particular model in our demonstration room since they were first released back in 2016. Being a demonstration model it is well used, printing samples for our customers, doing live demos for customers that come into the showroom, as well as being the faithful guinea pig for staff training.?
The PRO-2000 is larger and heavier than it’s predecessors. Weighing in at 101kg without the ink or printhead and measuring in at 1110 mm wide x 766 mm (depth with the basket closed) x 1168 mm high, the Canon PRO-2000 is still small enough to fit comfortably into most office and home user set-ups, but you might want to borrow a pair of hands or two when setting up – or of course get placement or installation booked with your printer delivery!?
Inks
Ink Colours used in the Canon PRO-2000 are Black, Matte Black,?Grey, Photo Grey, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Photo Cyan, Photo Magenta, Red, Blue & Chroma Optimiser.?The Blue and Red inks work to produce stunning brilliant colour, when printing vibrant images. The inks used are Canon’s LUCIA PRO pigment inks, which are the best archival pigment ink that Canon has ever made. This advanced ink formulation arranges the colour more densely onto the media, improving colour output and the smoothness in the printed surface, which reduces light scatter.
Offering four colours in the greyscale – Black, Matte Black, Grey and Photo Grey allows the Canon PRO-2000 to reproduce amazing monochrome prints, with accurate neutral tones and no colour cast.
The print quality is stunning as you can see from the sample images printed on it just- which are to be shipped out to a customer who wants to see the quality for themselves.
The shades and gradients are beautifully and faithfully reproduced, with no banding.?An enhanced number of colour channels in this printer enables the PRO-2000 to print a wider colour gamut.
As you will also notice from the image taken in our demonstration room on the right, that this printer will print borderless prints too (only from roll) – saving time and space required in trimming the media and money in terms of media wastage.
The PRO-2000 also uses a Chroma Optimiser in one of its ink colour channels. Whilst the Chroma optimiser is actually transparent, it does act as an accelerator to further increase the performance of the LUCIA PRO inks by enriching the blacks and producing a higher density in the dark colour areas and improving the colour clarity. The technology in the Chroma Optimiser helps to achieve a uniform glossiness when printing on Gloss or Satin papers and also offers improved scratch resistance.
The PRO-2000 has hot swap ink capability, meaning you can seamlessly change inks, even during the middle of a print job, thanks to its ink sub-tanks. This allows the inks to be swapped over at any point, without the risk of ruining the job currently printing, or even having to cancel the job in hand, knowing you won’t get to finish it properly.?
Inks are available in 160ml, 330ml or 700ml allowing you to purchase ink tank sizes correct for your printing needs. Different sizes of tanks can be loaded simultaneously, so for those printing mainly monochrome images, you can install 700ml black tanks, and 160ml for the red tank for instance, as you will undoubtedly use less of the red than the black. Another huge bonus with the Canon PRO-2000 is the fact that it has dedicated channels for the Matt and Photo blacks. Anyone who has had to deal with printing on glossy and Matt papers will know all too well the hassle of having to swap ink tanks over. Not only is it time consuming, but it does waste expensive ink. Those who still have to run one black colour channel and who need to swap ink each time they swap paper finish will try to do print runs in batches, so as not to waste so much time and money in the process. With the PRO-2000 this is no longer a problem as you can print on what you like, when you like, and the printer will use the correct black based upon the profile of the paper that you have selected.
Media
The Canon PRO-2000 as I have briefly mentioned before is able to print borderless from roll only. It is also able to take one feed of cut sheet or it can take up to two rolls of media via an optional dual roll unit. The second roll can either hold media ready to print, or it can act as a media take up roll, ready to take up media facing either way. This means that the media is ready for the next part of the process, saving time.?
Also, if you decide to have two rolls of media set up, they can be of different sizes, weights and finishes – meaning you can seamlessly switch from one media to another, without having to change rolls.
Print Head?
The new advanced precision print head in the Canon PRO-2000 is a three chip configuration with four colours per chip. The PRO-2000 has just one print head for all twelve colours, compared to the two separate printheads that its predecessor had. Having only one printhead has enabled Canon to build a more compact printer. With the 1.28″ wide nozzle, print output is faster and the PRO-2000 produces a higher print quality than that of its predecessor.?18,432 nozzles equipped with anti-clogging FINE technology, reduces the possibility of the nozzles clogging.?Canon’s approach to printhead technology is to have a lot of spare nozzles in the print head. Ink ejection is monitored by 27 sensors and in the event of a nozzle failure another nozzle will automatically provide back-up.
All Canon’s printheads come with a standard one year warranty.
New Mechanical Platform
The new and more rigid chassis (made from a single piece metal frame) ensures a high level of stability, which has helped to improve the overall print quality in the Canon PRO-2000 by eliminating any potential for shake during the travel of the printhead. An air feeding system helps to keep media flat during printing. All these combined elements help in obtaining high precision ink placement from the Canon PRO-2000, delivering exceptional print quality.
Calibration
The Canon PRO-2000 has a built in densitometer, which measures the density of a printed target to keep the printer in its optimal condition and to stop colour drift.?Using a three-colour LED and newly developed condenser lens, the sensor in the densitometer enables accurate re-calibration of the printer, helping maintain colour consistency from print to print.??It is good practice to perform a calibration when setting your machine up, and then again about every 3-6 months. You will also need to re-calibrate your printer after you have replaced the printhead.
Touch Screen Panel
The 3.5 inch colour LCD touch screen is a really handy feature. If you have ever printed from an older machine or the smaller brother in the PRO-series range – the PRO-1000 (which doesn’t have this feature), you will know it can be a bit of a hassle going from Printer to Computer, back and forth. From here you can check ink levels, select media, choose prints if printing from USB stick… to name a minuscule range of things that can be operated from here.
L-COA PRO Image processing engine
The Canon PRO-2000 printers are powered by the L-COA PRO high-speed image processing engine, which has been completely redesigned using the latest and most advanced Canon image handling algorithms. With three new processing chips, this high-precision control engine performs the processing of massive image data. It also controls the optimal ink layout that produces high resolution prints.
The features of this printer have just been so well thought out, allowing for such versatility and scope for customisation for the end user, with a compact design, delivering exceptional results.
If you require any help in deciding if the Canon PRO-2000 is right for you and your business, please feel free to give the friendly team at GDS a call on 01625 613548.
To find out more on the Canon PRO 2000 click HERE
