"Your goal shouldn't simply be finding a printer that prints quickly. You want a system that helps your people move efficiently from one completed job to the next."
When visiting with organizations about their printing needs, one frustration comes up surprisingly often: “I wish we could just print this ourselves.”
Outsourcing posters, signs, banners, graphics, and other visual communications can mean waiting on outside turnaround times, coordinating files and revisions, paying for individual jobs, and planning further ahead than you'd like. When those needs become frequent, bringing large format printing (aka wide format printing) in-house can give you greater control over how quickly you produce posters, signs, banners, graphics, and other visual communications.
But buying a wide format printer based solely on print width or speed can leave you with a device that doesn't fit the way your organization actually works. Color consistency, durability, media handling, ease of use, workflow, and the types of applications you plan to produce all deserve consideration.
That's what makes the Canon imagePROGRAF GP S Series worth exploring. The series includes the 24-inch imagePROGRAF GP-2600S, 44-inch GP-4600S, and 60-inch GP-6600S. While the three models address different output sizes, they share many of the same technologies aimed at helping you produce professional graphics efficiently.
If you're considering a new large format printer, here are seven ways those capabilities can make a difference in your day-to-day operation.
Think about the graphics your organization produces. Your logo, corporate colors, campaign artwork, photographs, and other visual elements all contribute to how your brand is perceived, which makes color an important consideration when you're evaluating a wide-format printer.
The Canon imagePROGRAF GP S Series uses a re-developed 7-color LUCIA PRO II pigment ink system consisting of Matte Black, Photo Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Gray, and Orange. Canon designed the ink set for accurate color reproduction, a broad color gamut, and improved reproduction in darker areas. The addition of Orange is particularly useful for organizations producing colorful signs, posters, and promotional graphics because it helps the printer reproduce vivid, eye-catching colors.
Canon states that the GP-6600S, GP-4600S, and GP-2600S can reproduce 96% of the PANTONE Formula Guide Solid Coated under Canon's specified testing conditions. Why should you care about color gamut? A printer capable of reproducing a broader range of colors gives you more flexibility when producing brand-sensitive graphics. It won't eliminate the need for proper color management, but it gives you a stronger foundation for creating output that looks the way you expect.
It's easy to focus on what a graphic looks like immediately after it's printed, but what happens afterward can be just as important. A poster might be transported to an event, a sign may be handled during installation, and a display graphic could remain in use for an extended period. Those situations make print durability an important part of the large-format conversation.
Canon's LUCIA PRO II pigment ink is designed for high scratch resistance as well as high light resistance for longer-term preservation of printed output. That matters because producing a beautiful graphic doesn't accomplish much if routine handling quickly affects its appearance.
When comparing wide format printers, consider what happens to the finished output after printing. Where will it be used? How much handling will it receive? How long do you expect it to remain in service? Those questions can be just as important as print resolution or speed when you're determining which technology is right for your applications.
Print speed gets plenty of attention when organizations compare printers, but the time between jobs matters, too. Loading media, identifying the media type, confirming its dimensions, and preparing the printer all add steps to your workflow.
The GP S Series uses intelligent media handling to automate several of those tasks. The printers can automatically feed media and detect its type, width, and length, and Canon designed the series to reduce media-feed processing time compared with its previous imagePROGRAF PRO S Series models. The printers also use Canon's L-COA PRO Processor to support fast print production.
Put those capabilities together and the bigger benefit becomes workflow efficiency. If your team produces large-format graphics frequently, shaving unnecessary steps from individual jobs can become increasingly valuable over time. Your goal shouldn't simply be finding a printer that prints quickly. You want a system that helps your people move efficiently from one completed job to the next.
Producing one good-looking poster is one thing. Producing the same job again weeks later and getting predictable color is another, and the challenge can grow when you operate multiple wide format printers.
The imagePROGRAF GP S Series includes color calibration capabilities designed to help maintain consistent color over time and across multiple GP S Series devices. For an organization with more than one compatible printer, this can help create a more predictable production environment when work is distributed between devices.
Consistency is particularly important when you're producing multiple pieces for the same campaign, event, location, or brand. If one graphic looks noticeably different from another, your audience may not know why, but they can still notice the inconsistency. That's why color calibration should be part of your evaluation when consistent, repeatable graphics matter to your organization.
One advantage of bringing large format printing in-house is giving your team faster access to the materials they need, but that advantage becomes less compelling if only one person knows how to operate the equipment. Ease of use deserves more attention than it sometimes receives during the buying process.
Canon designed the GP S Series interface so operators can see ink levels, media information, settings, and prompts from the home screen. Translucent covers allow you to see ink tanks and loaded media, while an interior LED light helps you monitor output during printing. The printers also support hot-swappable ink tanks.
These may sound like small conveniences compared with specifications such as print width or color gamut, but in daily use, convenience matters. If multiple employees will interact with your printer, think about how easily they can understand its status, load media, monitor jobs, and respond when the device needs attention. The easier those tasks are, the easier it can be to incorporate wide format printing into your normal workflow.
Producing a borderless poster or graphic traditionally raises a practical question: does your roll width match the exact size of the finished piece? The Canon imagePROGRAF GP S Series gives you more flexibility with two types of borderless printing, helping you produce finished graphics across a wider variety of sizes.
With Free-Sized Borderless Printing, you can print borderless using any supported paper roll width, regardless of the paper type or size. This gives you greater flexibility when your finished output doesn't conform to a standard roll width.
The second option, Three-Sided Borderless Printing, is useful when the image you're producing is smaller than the width of the loaded media. You can produce borderless output on three sides and trim only the remaining edge. This makes it possible to create different finished sizes from the same paper roll without having to match every job to a specific roll width.
If your team regularly produces posters, signage, promotional graphics, or other large-format applications, you don't necessarily want to change media every time the finished dimensions change. Easier borderless printing can give you more flexibility with the rolls you already have loaded while reducing the amount of manual trimming required.
The practical advantage is straightforward: you can produce borderless graphics more easily without being limited by roll width, giving your team greater flexibility when moving from one large-format application to another.
One of the easiest mistakes to make when evaluating a printer is focusing entirely on the hardware. Your large format printing workflow also involves preparing files, arranging layouts, managing color, tracking media, and understanding what jobs cost to produce.
Canon provides several software utilities with the GP S Series that address those tasks. Professional Print & Layout provides editing, layout, and color-management capabilities for professional photo printing, while Free Layout Plus lets you nest, tile, and create custom layouts before printing. Nesting jobs can be especially useful when you're trying to make efficient use of roll media.
Then there's Accounting Manager, which helps track actual ink and media usage and associated costs. That capability can become particularly useful if one of your reasons for bringing large format printing in-house is greater control over production expenses. Knowing that you can print something internally isn't the same as knowing what it costs you to print it.
The GP S Series also supports tools such as Device Management Console, Direct Print Plus, Media Configuration Tool, and PosterArtist. The broader lesson is simple: when evaluating a wide format printer, don't stop at the printer specifications. Look at the complete workflow surrounding the device.
Choosing between the imagePROGRAF GP-2600S, GP-4600S, and GP-6600S starts with understanding what you want your large-format printer to accomplish. Before comparing models, ask yourself a few practical questions:
Your answers can tell you far more than a specification sheet alone. The 24-inch GP-2600S gives you a more compact entry into professional graphics production, the 44-inch GP-4600S gives you room for larger applications, and the 60-inch GP-6600S offers the widest output of the series and includes the Multifunction Roll Unit as standard equipment.
A wide format printer can be a valuable resource when your organization regularly needs signs, posters, banners, displays, or other visual communications, but the value isn't simply being able to say you own the equipment. The more important question is whether bringing that production closer to your team can give you greater control over turnaround time, print quality, workflow, applications, and costs.
That's where the seven capabilities discussed above become useful evaluation criteria. The Canon imagePROGRAF GP S Series combines color reproduction, durable pigment inks, production-focused media handling, color calibration, user-friendly operation, multiple print widths, and workflow software in a family of professional large format printers.
If you're evaluating whether in-house wide format printing makes sense for your organization, Datamax can help you look beyond the specifications and determine what type of device and job workflow best fits what you're trying to accomplish.