I hope they don't drop the Lucia inks any time soon because I recently bought an iPF6100. I'm not worried by a desire to upgrade but I'll be more than a little miffed if they drop the ink support. Then again, maybe the old printers can use the new inks
btw, I liked your review of the 6100 except for the bit about it arriving on the back seat of a VW Golf - mine came in two huge boxes on a palette and would not even fit into a Golf let alone on its back seat
Thanks - it was delivered personally by someone from Canon UK, in their car
As to ink availability, I still have an Epson 9600 here and it still uses the original UC inks which I have no difficulty finding. I think large format printers are expected to give a fair life.
At the moment I've got a 9600 and 7880 here, so there is a distinct chance that eventually I'll be looking for a 44" replacement that covers the range of papers I use - the Japanese press info suggests that we are unlikely to see the new Canon printers until later this year (October is for Japanese availability)
Needless to say, I'm quite keen to see what the new printers are like ;-)
Nope, minus the legs - Just sitting on the back seat :-) I did have to help carry it in...
I've been doing a bit more digging and it seems that -as yet- the new printers are a 'Japan only' product. Just how long this situation will persist I've no idea.
Still, not that bad given that it looks like the price is going up and real availability won't be for quite some time. I couldn't wait, and I'm using the printer rather a lot. I guess that's what starting a print service to justify the thing does...
They are legally required to continue selling the inks for five years after discontinuing a printer where I live.
"that will depend on your choice of paper and likely will not be evenly distributed around the entire gamut."
Well yes... it was a quote from a manufacturer's press release ;-)
If you look at the original Canon PR and pages on their main site (Japanese) you can see that a lot of the features are aimed at the graphics/proofing market.
One of the (minor) areas I hope they improve is single sheet feeding - just a might too fiddly and prone to error.
Interestingly enough, I've got a 9500 mkII on loan from Canon UK at the moment and the single sheet feed process is again just that little bit more cumbersome than I'd prefer (once again a minor quibble) As a printer though it works very well.
I gave up on single sheet feeding the 6100. Apart from losing the paper too often, the printer wants to put a 23mm (nearly an inch) margin on the bottom edge. The 5100 would have been better for that role with its sheet feeder but then it doesn't do 24"x36" prints nearly as well as the 6100 does In retrospect there is no way I could be as happy with 17" wide prints.
I very, very rarely use the single sheet feeder on my 8100, but it has always worked flawlessly for everything that I've ever needed to print. Even if it feels insanely cumbersome after the joy of roll printing.
With my 44" printer, I can say a similar thing: There is no way I could be as happy with 24" wide prints. That said, I print a lot of canvas so the largest would really be 20x30.
I hate to say it, but looking over at the 8' by 8' mural I've got laid out, I think the size envy might not be over for me.
I'd _love_ to be able to print 8 feet wide from a roll all at once with this quality. It's a little ridiculous.
I guess it may be "Please Canon, make your iPF9300 64" wide"... since I doubt I could ever justify anything larger than that, and even 60/64 might be a stretch.