What was behind the introduction of PgR (Pigment Reaction) technology that delivers beautiful print on plain paper?
Ohashi: There are two cultures behind development of ink jet printers in Canon. One is a culture to improve print quality on photo paper, which comes from development of cameras. The other is to improve print quality on plain paper, a culture which comes from development of copiers for office use. And PgR technology has stemmed from the culture to improve print quality on plain paper. PgR technology features beautiful photos on plain paper and recycled paper commonly used in the office. We believe this feature, delivering high quality on plain paper, matches the needs of business users.
Who are the target users?
Ohashi: The target users are Small and Home Office users. To obtain quality print at work, in many cases, users have to change plain paper to specialty paper or use special printers. With PIXMA MX7600 employing PgR technology, not only text and graphics on plain paper are crisp and bright, but also photos are beautiful on plain paper. There is no longer need to change paper or install a printer exclusively for text. That is one of the assets PIXMA MX7600 has. When users, using plain paper, can easily print materials, such as leaflets and posters, which demand high-level quality of commercial printing like FM screen print, they may feel like making everyday documents beautiful with lots of colors and photos. With PIXMA MX7600, even the way to create documents in the office may change. We believe PIXMA MX7600 will bring a new culture to the office for creating documents.
Do you mean that leaflets and posters can be made easily in the office, too?
Iwasaki: Yes, because we pursued high print quality even on plain paper to the level of commercial print. Incidentally, although prints using Standard quality mode setting are good enough, they turn out even more beautiful using High quality mode setting. If you take a look at actual printed samples, you would rarely find any graininess even on plain paper. For a critical meeting like a one-shot deal, for example, this makes a difference. Featuring high longevity, prints from MX7600 are almost free from fading even if they have been put up in the office for some time.
Please explain the special benefits of using pigment ink.
Ogasawara: The ink, thanks to high water-fastness, would not bleed should water be spilled over it. Also, high longevity is another feature of pigment. PIXMA MX7600 adopts five color inks. Cyan, magenta, yellow and photo black inks are the same type used for PIXMA Pro9500, a professional photo printer, thus achieving high print quality. In addition, new black ink was developed. It was designed to have a characteristic not to bleed easily even if fingers touch the printed area. Supposing it for office use, we thought ink durable against touch with fingers would be desired.
