imagePROGRAF PRO-500 Delivers Professional A2 Prints in Rich Colours and Unparalleled Sharpness

SINGAPORE, 17 March 2016 – Canon today launched the new imagePROGRAF PRO-500, an A2 professional photo printer capable of delivering exhibition-ready prints using Canon’s latest printing technologies. Equipped with a new print head, improved ink set, and extensive support for Fine Art paper media, the imagePROGRAF PRO-500 ensures stunning image quality for photographers who demand the highest print quality. Coupled with its Wi-Fi capability, photographers can easily transfer files for print directly.

“With its top-of-the-line capabilities and advanced photo printing performance, the imagePROGRAF PRO-500 is designed to bring out the intricate details and rich hues in images taken by professional cameras. This will enable imaging professionals to achieve premium quality large format print outs while maintaining colour stability,” said Edwin Teoh, Head of Marketing, Singapore Operations, Canon Singapore.

The imagePROGRAF PRO-500 is powered by a new 1.28-inch print head and equipped with an incredible 18,432 ink nozzles, enabling it to produce a colour A2 print in just six minutes on the ultra-glossy Canon Pro Platinum photo paper.

Coupled with its enlarged (compared to Canon’s A3 photo printers) ink cartridge capacity of 80ml, photographers and artists can easily and efficiently produce high quality A2-size photos with true colour fidelity in reproduction that stands up to the rigorous standards ideal for gallery exhibitions.

Equipped with the new LUCIA PRO 11-colour plus Chroma Optimizer ink system which  features a new pigment ink formulation, the imagePROGRAF PRO-500 has an expanded output colour gamut of up to 19 percent over the PIXMA PRO-1. The density of ink droplet placement brings about greater gloss uniformity and reduces bronzing. The inclusion of four monochrome inks – Matte Black, Photo Black, Gray, and Photo Gray deliver enhanced black density, better colour gradient consistency, and shadow detail reproduction in darker areas for a vivid and intense print. With the addition of a dedicated Blue ink, reproduction of dark blue areas are also enhanced. Similarly, matte Black and Photo Black inks also have dedicated channels now. This eliminates the need for the printer to switch between ink cartridges when changing media types, thereby improving efficiency and the usage experience when printing.

To support the work of photographers in creating dynamic photo expression with different textures and substrates, the imagePROGRAF PRO-500 supports an extensive range of paper media from Canon and other media partners, including Hahnemuhle, and Canson Infinity fine art media types. When paired with select Canon photo papers such as the Photo Paper Pro Platinum and Photo Paper Pro Luster, the LUCIA PRO ink system delivers extended print longevity and colour stability of up to 200 years when stored in an album.

The imagePROGRAF PRO-500 boasts Canon’s next generation processing engine L-COA PRO, which improves overall balance of inks, and precision in placement of ink droplets. This powerful processor enables high speed processing of very large image files for high resolution prints quickly and efficiently.

The printer comes with an integrated Air Feeding System that creates a vacuum under the media to prevent papers from rising during printing. This results in greater accuracy of paper feeding and ink placement, which reduces incidences of print head strike especially for thicker media, where there may be a possibility of adverse impact on print.

With a built-in Colour Density Sensor, users can easily perform colour calibration without the need for any additional peripheral devices. This helps to prevent colour variation differences caused by normal device aging or hardware differences. The process can be initiated through the printer’s LCD display, or through the included software suite.

To assist the print process following post-editing work in applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Digital Photo Professional (included with Canon EOS digital single-lens reflex cameras), Print Studio Pro v 2.0 plug-in is bundled with every imagePROGRAF PRO-500.

The 16-bit processing engine transfers image data seamlessly to the printer while retaining original image characteristics. The printing workflow is highly streamlined, keeping productivity at optimal levels by maintaining a familiar user interface that offers immense ease of use, ensuring a superior user experience from shoot, post-editing, to print.

For professionals, the imagePROGRAF PRO-500 can be managed remotely using the Canon Device Management Console. Detailed settings may be exported for configuration to other units and ensure consistency of print quality. The Accounting Manager allows users to track the cost of every print job by accounting for every sheet of paper and volume of ink.

With its combination of speed, power and precision, the imagePROGRAF PRO-500 stands as a perfect complement to the true craftsman, bringing the finest of inkjet printing technology into the modern digital darkroom for professional photographers and digital artists.

The imagePROGRAF PRO-500 is now available at Canon authorised dealers at the recommended price of $1,899.

Dimensions (WxDxH):         approx. 723 x 433 x 285mm

Photo Print Speed (A2):
approx. 6 mins

                                                (Borderless: Photo Paper Pro Platinum PT-101)

Photo Print Speed (A2):
approx. 3 mins 35 secs

                                                (Borderless: Photo Paper Pro Luster LU-101)

Mobile Printing :                 AirPrint, Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY, PRO Gallery Print

Cloud Printing:                 AirPrint, Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY, PRO Gallery Print

Cloud Printing:                     PIXMA Cloud Link

Key features: LUCIA PRO 12-ink system, L-COA processor, Wired/Wireless LAN*¹, 3” LCD display, 80ml ink cartridges, air (vacuum) feeding, non-firing nozzle detection and compensation, built-in colour calibration, straight paper path feeding