Aimed primarily at the photographic market, Canon's new imagePrograf iPF8000 is a 44-inch large format printer based around the company's Lucia 12-colour pigment ink system.

Canon says that the use of pigment inks enables smooth colour gradation while reducing graniness and metamerism. The use of 12 inks improves colour mixing while reducing the cost of each print.

The iPF8000 features two high-density one-inch print heads. This boosts printing speed, says Canon, and improves its life. 30,720 nozzles produce 4pl ink droplets for highly-detailed prints. The printer also features Canon's L-COA processor for high speed processing of the 12-colour image data, according to the company.

The printers ships with a Photoshop plug-in that allows users to print 16-bit images directly using all 12 colours without altering its colour gamut, which Canon says creates prints with higher colour accuracy and finer gradation. Canon's PosterArtist and Digital Photo Print Professional software are also included.

The imagePrograf iPF8000 will ship in November. Pricing has yet to be announced.