Wide Format Imaging

When Canon introduced their imagePROGRAF W8400 pigment ink large-format printer last year, they were looking bring to market a printer that targets a wide spectrum of large format output environments, including corporate, commercial, print for pay and photo retail operations as well as photography and the fine art markets.

This device is capable of printing on media up to 44-inches wide and designed with features that will appeal to those users who all require outstanding quality and high speeds in the large format arena.

One of the early adopters of the 8400 was Digi-COPY, a fast growing chain of high tech digital copy centers located in Wisconsin. Currently, they have three locations in Eau Claire, Wausau, and Stevens Point; each with a Canon imagePROGRAF W8400.

DigiCOPY is owned by Craig Shuler, a former Kinko?s employee, who started his chain about five years ago.

?We offer high quality printing services with a fast turn-around time,? says Shuler

When asked why they chose the W8400, Shuler said that they were familiar with the Canon brand. ?We already had in house previous Canon units. When the W8400 came out last year we got a demo and we liked what we saw. It?s a natural upgrade from what we already had. Canon has added improvements to increase speed, increase color intensity, heighten resolution and provide a truly user-friendly large format printing solution for our business,? says Shuler.

He also likes the plethora of options in the media they can now print on. ?The W8400 gives us ability to print on a wide range of media. It?s a big plus for us. We?ve been able to find an appropriate media for anything our customers have asked for so far. We can output to a host of different substrates. We can print on vinyl, sticky backs, window clings, and thicker gloss materials. We are using it on many jobs for trade shows and other types of indoor signage. The new UV inks also make a difference as well.?

The W8400 offers Canon?s proprietary print head technology that enables high-speed printing at 2400 x 1200 dpi with precise four picoliter ink droplets for high image resolution, clarity and detail. ?Canon?s unique print head enables the W8400 to achieve print speeds up to 307 square feet per hour at 1200x1200 dpi resolution. Even for the most critical eyes, the printer?s highest quality mode (2400x1200 dpi, 10-bit color mode) prints at an amazing 26 sfph (22sfph with W6400),? reports Shuler.