Canon Announces Full-Time Two-Picoliter Six-Color Photo Printer.

Business Editors

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2003

The Canon i950 Photo Printer: 3,072 Two-Picoliter Nozzles Provide

Speed and Quality One-Two Punch 

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ) today introduces the i950 Photo Printer.

The Canon i950 Photo Printer is the successor to the award winning Canon S900 Photo Printer and is aimed at the digital photographer who wants fast, high-quality printing capabilities at home or work. With the new i950 Photo Printer, Canon introduces even higher print resolution and smaller ink droplet size, setting new standards for professional photo printing.

The i950 doubles the maximum print resolution to 4800 x 1200 dpi(a) from the S900's maximum resolution of 2400 x 1200 dpi. Additionally, the ink droplet size of each of the 3,072 nozzles is now twice as small at a mere two-picoliters in volume. The use of two picoliter ink droplets in all modes allows for better photo printing in the mid-range tones with ink drops that are virtually undetectable by the naked eye. The i950 Photo Printer has an MSRP of $249.99(b) and is available immediately.

"With the i950, Canon again is demonstrating a relentless commitment to providing the finest photo printers available to consumers," said Ryoichi Bamba, senior vice president and general manager of Canon U.S.A.'s Personal Imaging Systems Group. "As the successor to the award-winning S900, the i950 raises the standard even further for fast, super high-quality photo printing that today's advanced digital photographers demand."

The Canon i950 Photo Printer features fast photo printing speeds of approximately 37 seconds for a 4" x 6" borderless photograph and approximately 1 minute for an 8" x 10" photo(c). The i950 supports borderless photo printing in both 4" x 6" and letter sizes as well as new support for 5" x 7" borderless printing all without the need to trim the borders or tear off perforations. Other features include Exif Print for smart photo processing, individual ink tanks for efficiency and Canon's advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology(TM). Canon will introduce Canon branded Photo Paper Plus Glossy 5" x 7" paper along with the printer.

New Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy 5"x7" - This 5" x 7" paper, like the 4" x 6" and letter size before, is manufactured to produce vivid photos that rival standard mini-lab prints at an economical price. With a 10.5-mil thickness and a high-gloss surface, pictures will have the look and feel of traditional photographs. Photo Paper Plus Glossy will be available at an MSRP of $7.99(b) for a package of 20 sheets and will be shipping in March 2003.

i950 TECHNOLOGY

High-Density Multi-Nozzle Two-Picoliter Print Head - The i950 print head is all new with 3,072 nozzles. With the highest number of nozzles in its class, the i950 provides fast printing times of 4" x 6" borderless photos in approximately 37 seconds and 8" x 10" photos in approximately one minute.(c) The two-picoliter size ink drop along with the advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology and six-color inks deliver amazing quality and gradation with ink drops virtually undetectable to the naked eye. High printing speeds are also achieved on the i950 by having the highest ink droplet ejection frequency of all Canon Bubble Jet printers at approximately 74 million dots per second.

Latest Generation Advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology- The i950 features Canon's advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology. This revolutionary ink ejection process separates and ejects prescribed-volume ultra-fine ink droplets from the nozzles with precise accuracy. The advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology enables high-speed, high-quality printing with a high-precision, high-density multi-nozzle head. Thanks to this technology, the i950 has achieved a maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi with a constant ink drop size of two picoliters. Reducing the ink droplet volume to two picoliters dramatically improves multi-level gradations for mid-tone areas, enabling even higher quality photo prints.

Individual Ink Tanks -- The i950 also includes Canon's hallmark Canon Think Tank System(TM). This unique technology that Canon invented, offers users a cost performance advantage, especially when printing photos. End-users only replace the individual color ink tank they have depleted which helps to eliminate ink waste. In addition, the Canon Think Tank System has an optical ink sensor that triggers an on-screen warning so that users are alerted when the ink has run low.

Vivid Photo Enhances Colors Beyond Monitor Capabilities -- Vivid Photo, featured on all current Canon printers, and now on the i950, is a function that actively exceeds the sRGB-based color matching of conventional monitors to produce more life-like colors. Compared with the color range of printers, the sRGB color range has a particularly narrow cyan range, affecting the green in foliage and the blues of the sea and sky. Vivid Photo greatly expands this range to bring out the true printer color reproduction capabilities without limitation of monitor matching, to produce vibrant greens and dazzling blues.

Software Applications for Printing Professional Looking Photos - Shipping with Canon's i950 printer will be the latest version of Easy-PhotoPrint, an all-new web-printing application called Easy-WebPrint, PhotoRecord, PhotoStitch, ZoomBrowser and ImageBrowser. The new version of Easy-PhotoPrint adds 5" x 7" photo printing support to the 4" x 6" and 8.5" x 11" current printing capability. The driver also features a new Photo Noise Reduction function that helps reduce speckle noise often found in blue areas such as the sky. Easy-PhotoPrint also includes Exif technology and is available for Windows and Mac.

Easy-WebPrint (Windows) is a new software application from Canon that is designed to quickly and easily format web pages for a variety of print layouts. No more cutting off the side of the website, because your web browser can't format the page. For owners of many current and past Canon Bubble Jet printers, Easy-WebPrint will be available as a free download from the Canon U.S.A. website. PhotoRecord software (Windows) allows end-users to easily crop digital photos, create albums and print photos. PhotoStitch (Windows and Mac) allows users to quickly format panoramic shots taken with digital cameras and ZoomBrowser (Windows) and ImageBrowser (Mac) provide easy digital download, viewing and photo album capabilities.

Exif Print -- Exif 2.2 allows digital cameras to record information on shooting conditions including exposure, white balance, flash and processed or non-processed as well as shooting scenes including standard, scenery, portrait and night view. This information will then be communicated to printers using Exif Print to allow for the highest quality prints. This standard will allow Canon printers to print exceptional photo prints from virtually any brand of digital camera. Canon's Easy-PhotoPrint and PhotoRecord software translates the Exif camera data to the printer.

Borderless Printing -- Borderless printing on the i950 is now possible on 4" x 6", letter size and the new 5" x 7" papers. This type of printing can be performed at dramatically faster printing speeds compared to competitive printers. On competitive models, the number of nozzles that can be used is limited in printing the top and bottom of the page when in borderless mode, but Canon's high-density multi-nozzle heads provide a sufficient number of nozzles and enough density to ensure high quality and fast borderless prints.

High Speed Four-Motor System and Relay Feeding - Canon's four-motor independent drive structure, in which a single motor is assigned to each of the following: line-feed, carriage, auto sheet feeder, and maintenance unit, increases the printing speed and helps the high-precision drive system. The four-motor system eliminates drive switching, providing increased throughput and reduced noise. Relay feeding feeds in the next sheet of paper before the sheet being printed has been ejected. This dramatically reduces the overall time taken for continuous printing. The i950 also increases the paper capacity in the automatic sheet feeder from 100 to 150 sheets of plain paper.

Canon Quiet Mode -- In addition to the reduced operating noise by using the 4-motor system, Canon's i950 features a "Quiet Mode" setting inside of the driver. The Quiet Mode setting can achieve a greater reduction in the operating noise and can be set for specific time periods to reduce noise at certain times of the day or night.

Compatibility and Warranty - The i950 will use USB and will be compatible with Windows 98/ME/2000 and XP, and Mac OS 8.6-9.X and OS X v 10.1 or later (Mac OS X borderless printing requires v 10.2 or later.). The i950 comes with Canon's one-year limited warranty with InstantExchange (see Canon U.S.A. website for details).

Canon U.S.A., Inc. delivers consumer, business-to-business, and industrial imaging solutions. In 2001, the Company was listed as one of Fortune's Most Admired Companies in America, and was ranked #41 on the BusinessWeek list of "Top 100 Brands." Its parent company Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ) is a top patent-holder of technology, ranking third overall in the U.S. in 2001, with global revenues of $22 billion. Canon U.S.A. employs approximately 11,000 people at over 30 locations. For more information, visit www.usa.canon.com .

Specifications subject to change without notice. All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks of their respective owners.

(a) Will vary depending on driver settings.

(b) Prices are MSRP at time materials were created. Prices subject to change at any time. Actual prices are determined by individual dealers and may vary.

(c) 4" x 6" and 8" x 10" photo print speeds based on default mode setting. 4" x 6" photo print speed based on using Canon Photo Paper Pro For Borderless Printing 4" x 6", and 8" x 10" photo print speed based on an 8" x 10" image printed on Canon Photo Paper Pro 8.5" x 11". Print speeds will vary depending on system configuration, software, document complexity, print mode and page coverage.