COLOR COPIERS & DIGITAL PRESSES -- Coloring Between The Lines
The Standard Edition is designed for static and variable data printing. It comes with the new Nex-Station II SE front end and one license of NexTreme DL-100. And the Entry Edition, with the Nex-Station II EE front end, supports basic digital printing services like short-run and quick turnaround jobs.
At press time, Canon U.S.A. had announced its intention to hold a "momentous" press conference in early March, but no details were available on the new product introductions.
Last fall, the company unveiled two production color printing systems—the CLC 5100 (51 ppm) and CLC 4000 (40 ppm). The machines are said to feature new delivery and fixing unit systems, plus advanced color management technology for enhanced system efficiency, accelerated production and increased color consistency. Four-drum technology, Finer Brighter (FB) toner and Automatic Image Refinement enable print resolutions up to the equivalent of 800x400 dpi.
Xerox Corp.'s most recent major introduction was of a new black-and-white platform, as it continues to build the installed base of DocuColor iGen3 digital color presses. At the low end, however, the company did launch the new Phaser 7750 color laser printer. It is capable of printing 35 pages per minute, handles media sizes up to a 12x47.25˝ banner sheet and offers three print modes, including the ability to print at true 1,200-dpi resolution for fine detail and photographic images.
Bundled with the device are PhaserMatch 3.0, an enhanced color-matching tool for proofing applications, and PhaserCal, a new color calibration software application that ensures consistent color regardless of the page quantity produced.
The merger that formed Konica Minolta is still the big news from that organization. The combined entity has formed a new Production Printing Group to capitalize on the commercial printer market, among others. So far, there reportedly has been no consolidation of the color product lines since both brands have been retained.
