Editing Inkjet printing (section)

== Printer types ==

=== Professional models ===

In addition to the widely used small inkjet printers for home and office, there are professional inkjet printers, some for "page-width" format printing and many for wide format printing. ''Page-width format'' means that the print width ranges from about {{convert|8.5|-|37|in|cm|abbr=on}}. "Wide format" means print width ranging from 24" up to 15' (about 60&nbsp;cm to 5m). The most common application of page-width printers is in printing high-volume business communications that do not need high-quality layout and color. Particularly with the addition of [[variable data printing|variable data]] technologies, the page-width printers are important in billing, tagging, and individualized catalogs and newspapers. The application of most wide format printers is in printing advertising graphics; a lower-volume application is printing of design documents by architects or engineers. But nowadays, there are inkjet printers for [[digital textile printing]] up to 64" wide with good high definition image of 1440×720 dpi.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dengan Printer Kain Dye-Sub Terbaru Epson Memasuki Dunia Fashion dan Tekstil |url=https://www.tribunnews.com/iptek/2015/04/25/dengan-printer-kain-dye-sub-terbaru-epson-memasuki-dunia-fashion-dan-tekstil |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Tribunnews.com |language=id-ID}}</ref>

Another specialty application for inkjets is producing [[prepress]] color proofs for [[printing]] jobs created digitally. Such printers are designed to give accurate color rendition of how the final image will look (a "proof") when the job is finally produced on a large volume press such as a four-color offset lithography press. An example is an [[Iris printer]], whose output is what the French term ''giclée'' was coined for. The largest-volume supplier is [[Hewlett-Packard]], which supplies over 90 percent of the market for printers for printing technical drawings. The major products in their [[Designjet]] series are the Designjet 500/800, the Designjet T Printer series (including the T1100 and T610), the Designjet 1050 and the Designjet 4000/4500. They also have the [[HP Designjet 5500]], a six-color printer that is used especially for printing graphics as well as the new Designjet Z6100 which sits at the top of the HP Designjet range and features an eight color pigment ink system. [[Epson]], [[Kodak]], and [[Canon Inc.|Canon]] also manufacture wide-format printers, sold in much smaller numbers than standard printers. Epson has a group of three Japanese companies around it that predominantly use Epson piezo printheads and inks: [[Mimaki]], [[Roland Corporation#Brands|Roland]], and [[Mutoh Europe nv|Mutoh]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=In Cuc Re |url=https://incucre.com/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |language=en}}</ref> [[Scitex]] Digital Printing developed high-speed, [[variable data printing|variable-data]], inkjet printers for production printing, but sold its profitable assets associated with the technology to [[Kodak]] in 2005 who now market the printers as Kodak Versamark VJ1000, VT3000, and VX5000 printing systems. These roll-fed printers can print at up to 305m per minute. Professional high-volume inkjet printers are made by a range of companies. These printers can range in price from [[US$]]35,000 to $2 million. Carriage widths on these units can range from 54" to 192" (about 1.4 to 5&nbsp;m), and ink technologies have tended toward solvent, eco-solvent, and UV-curing with a more recent focus toward water-based (aqueous) ink sets. Major applications where these printers are used are for outdoor settings for billboards, truck sides and truck curtains, building graphics and banners, while indoor displays include point-of-sales displays, backlit displays, exhibition graphics, and museum graphics.

The major suppliers for professional high-volume, wide- and grand-format printers include: [[Electronics for Imaging|EFI]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-02-17 |title=EFI and Konica Minolta Business Solutions Establish Wide-Format Printer Distribution Agreement |url=https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/02/17/707251/10120678/en/EFI-and-Konica-Minolta-Business-Solutions-Establish-Wide-Format-Printer-Distribution-Agreement.html |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=GlobeNewswire News Room |language=en-us}}</ref> LexJet, Grapo, Inca, Durst, [[Océ]], NUR (now part of [[Hewlett-Packard]]), Lüscher, VUTEk, [[Scitex Vision]] (now part of [[Hewlett-Packard]]), [[Mutoh Europe nv|Mutoh]], Mimaki, Roland DG, Seiko I Infotech, IQDEMY, Leggett and Platt, Agfa, Raster Printers, DGI and MacDermid ColorSpan (now part of [[Hewlett-Packard]]), swissqprint, SPGPrints (formerly [[Stork B.V.#History|Stork Prints]]), MS Printing Systems and Digital Media Warehouse.

=== SOHO multifunction inkjet photo printers ===

SOHO multifunction inkjet printers for [[photo printing]] use up to 6 different inks:
* Canon: cyan, yellow, magenta, black, pigment black, gray. 1 pl thermal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canon.co.uk/printers/inkjet/pixma/pixma_mg7700_series/ |title=Canon PIXMA MG7700 Series |access-date=11 August 2016}}</ref>
* Epson: cyan, yellow, magenta, light cyan, light magenta, black. 1.5 pl piezo variable. Also with A3 paper printing,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epson.co.uk/products/printers/inkjet-printers/consumer/expression-photo-xp-950 |title=Expression Photo XP-950 |access-date=10 August 2016 |archive-date=7 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807131254/http://www.epson.co.uk/products/printers/inkjet-printers/consumer/expression-photo-xp-950 |url-status=dead }}</ref> or FAX and duplex ADF.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11CC41201 |title=Epson Expression Photo XP-850 Small-in-One® All-in-One Printer |access-date=10 August 2016}}</ref>

=== Professional inkjet photo printers ===

Inkjet printers for professional photo printing use up to twelve different inks:

* Canon: photo magenta, photo cyan, yellow, magenta, cyan, red, photo black, matte black, grey, plus either blue, photo gray, and one chroma optimiser for black density and uniform glossiness,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canon.co.uk/printers/inkjet/pro-photo-printers/imageprograf-pro-1000/specification.aspx |title=Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 Specification |access-date=10 August 2016}}</ref> or light gray, dark gray and one chroma optimiser,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canon announces Pixma Pro-1: 12-ink A3+ printer |url=https://www.dpreview.com/articles/2128601895/canonpixmapro1 |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=DPReview}}</ref> or green, blue, and photo gray.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-04-28 |title=Best Printer for Your Home or Office in 2025: I’ve Spent Hundreds of Hours Using Dozens of Printers to Bring You the Best |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/best-printer/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=CNET |language=en}}</ref> 4 pl thermal.
* Epson (10 colors from 12): vivid magenta, yellow, cyan, orange, green, vivid light magenta, light cyan, light black, matte black or photo black, plus an irreversible choice of either light light gray or violet (V not for photo).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Pro/SeriesSureColorP7000P9000/Specs.do?UseCookie=yes |title=Epson SureColor P7000 {{pipe}} P9000 |access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref> 3.5 pl piezo variable.
* HP: magenta, yellow, red, green, blue, light magenta, light cyan, gray, light gray, matte black, photo black, and one gloss enhancer.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} 4 pl thermal.

They can print an image of 36 megapixels on A3 borderless photo paper with 444 [[Pixel density|ppi]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ephotozine.com/article/canon-pixma-pro-10-a3--professional-printer-review-21551 |title=Canon PIXMA PRO-10 A3+ Professional Printer Review |access-date=12 January 2014}}</ref>

=== Compact photo printers ===

A compact photo printer is a stand-alone inkjet printer designed to produce 4×6 or 2×3&nbsp;inch prints from [[digital cameras]]. It works without the use of a computer. It is also known as a portable photo printer or a snapshot printer. Compact photo printers came on the market shortly after the popularity of home photo printing took off in the early 2000s. They were designed as an alternative to developing photos or printing them on a standard inkjet photo printer.

The majority of compact photo printers can only print {{convert|4|x|6|in|abbr=on}} pictures. Given this limitation, they are not meant to replace standard inkjets. Many manufacturers advertise the cost per page of photos printed on their machines; this theoretically convinces people that they can print their own pictures just as cheaply as retail stores or through online printing services. Most compact photo printers share a similar design. They are small units, usually with large [[LCD]]s in order to allow people to browse and edit their photos, as can be done on a computer. The editing options are usually somewhat advanced, allowing the user to crop photos, remove red eye, adjust color settings as well as other functions. Compact photo printers typically feature a large number of connection options, including [[USB]] and most [[memory card]] formats.

Compact photo printers are currently manufactured by most of the leading printer manufacturers such as [[Epson]], [[Canon (company)|Canon]], [[Hewlett-Packard|HP]], [[Lexmark]] and [[Kodak]]. While they have increased in popularity in recent years, they still make up a relatively small share of the inkjet printer market. [[LG Corporation|LG]]'s Pocket Photo uses [[Zink (technology)|Zink]] thermal paper which has chemistries embedded on each inkless photo paper and the image will appear with the heat.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Skipworth |first=Hunter |date=2013-04-16 |title=Digital photography - why should I print? |url=https://www.pocket-lint.com/laptops/news/kodak/110600-digital-photography-blurb-and-printing/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Pocket-lint |language=en}}</ref>