HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series

Enough of the teasers

I can today announce that HP has launched its latest professional Z Photo Series printers. The range consists of four models: the Z2100 24" and 44" eight colour printers; the Z3100 24"" and 44" twelve colour printers. All printers use HP's new Vivera Pigment inks which were developed for the B9180 printer. The most interesting feature on the printers is the built-in spectrophotometer, this should guarantee perfect colours on almost any media. The printer produces a print with a series of colour patches, once printed the printer retracts the media. The spectrophotometer reads the colours of the swatches and compares the readings to a reference file. A custom profile for the media in use is then created - it really is that simple.

I saw the printers earlier in the year in Barcelona and I was totally convinced that HP has got it right - well almost right, it will be 100% right when the technology is incorporated into the B91XX.

I will be at Photokina and producing a video-cast. I will feature the printers in this video.

press release -

HP Transforms Color Experience for Graphics Professionals with
HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 26, 2006 – HP today announced it is changing the way graphics professionals create large-format images with the unveiling of the HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series.

Continuing to expand its professional printing portfolio, HP is leveraging its pigment ink technologies developed for the HP Photosmart Pro B9180 to create the first large-format printers employing HP’s Scalable Printing Technology.

The HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series is designed to deliver intuitive, dependable and repeatable color accuracy for 24- and 44-inch museum-quality prints with 200 years’ photo permanence. (1)

Z3100 24 and 44" printers

“The HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series enables photographers, graphic designers and artists to print their vision accurately and consistently,” said Enrique Lores, vice president and general manager, Inkjet Commercial Division, HP. “With our breakthrough color management features, graphics professionals can now leverage a truly intuitive and automated printing process that expands both their business opportunities and their creative boundaries.”

Experience simple and intuitive color management

The HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series employs the industry’s first embedded spectrophotometer, utilizing Eye-One Color Technology from GretagMacbeth/X-rite. Mounted on the printer carriage with completely self-contained optics and electronics, the embedded spectrophotometer greatly simplifies accurate color-matching, enabling automated ICC profiling and HP Advanced Closed-Loop Color Calibration. The result means the user can create color profiles in minutes rather than hours and expect exact color matches throughout the printing process.

Leading brands in the creative community, including Adobe, Colorbyte, EFI, GMG and GretagMacbeth/X-rite, have worked closely with HP to develop solutions optimized specifically for the HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series to fully address the needs of key markets, such as graphic design, professional photography, prepress and digital fine arts. From GretagMacbeth/X-rites’s Eye-One Color Technology to the use of Adobe’s Lightroom calibration application, these solutions further streamline workflow and provide users a simple, reliable printing experience.

The HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series
color management partner tools include:

The embedded spectrophotometer, built on GretagMacbeth/X-rite’s leading Eye-One color technology.

HP’s Advanced Profiling Solution, (2) co-developed with GretagMacbeth, provides additional options for profiling and calibration. Integrated with the HP embedded spectrophotometer, this solution includes a monitor calibrator and profiler with editing capabilities to offer an end-to-end color-managed workflow.

EFI’s RIP Designer Edition 5.1, (2) developed with HP-specific inputs, is the latest version of EFI Designer Edition. New photo features and an improved user interface give graphic designers full control over digital proofing needs, saving users time and money.

Imageprint v.6 photo RIP from Colorbyte and ColorProof v.4 prepress RIP from GMG, also developed with HP-specific inputs. The Imageprint v.6 is optimized for use by prosumers and professional photographers. The ColorProof v.4 works directly with the embedded spectrophotometer for print verification, radically shortening workflow.

The HP ProPrint Plug-in and the “Calibrate Printer” button in Adobe Lightroom, co-developed with Adobe. Print expected colors on the first try from Adobe Photoshop with the free HP ProPrint Plug-in, and use the Adobe Lightroom “Calibrate Printer” button to launch the color management tools directly from within the application.

New ink and media for exquisite museum quality that lasts 200 years (1)

The HP Designjet Z2100 features an eight-color HP Vivera pigment ink system, including both matte black and photo black inks, providing a broad color gamut on matte fine art papers and glossy photo papers for photographic and creative design applications.

The HP Designjet Z3100 uses a 12-ink HP Vivera pigment ink system, including the HP 70 Gloss Enhancer and HP Quad-Black Inks to create beautiful black and white prints and achieve truly neutral grays under different lighting conditions. This also provides continuous tones, uniform gloss and rich blacks, making the HP Designjet Z3100 ideal for high-quality art reproduction, photography and proofing applications.

Z3100 - half of the twin six pack	Z2100 - print heads under blue lever

Both models deliver the industry’s best photo permanence on a wide variety of HP media up to 24- or 44-inches wide.

“ With the HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series, we have color prints that are as good as, and in some cases superior to, traditional media and normal color C-prints. It’s a win-win situation for us,” said Thomas Hoepker, photographer , Magnum Photographers. “ We have better color. We have a wider gamut. We have total control over it. We don’t have to send it out to a dark room specialist. We do it at home and we have this long lifespan.”

With the HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series, graphics professionals have the ability to print beyond the limits of traditional papers using the widest range of media options on the market. With 11 new media offerings, users have the flexibility to choose from more than 30 media options within HP’s media portfolio.

HP also announced a strategic alliance with Hahnemühle FineArt --- the 400-year-old pioneer in developing and producing fine art paper. In addition to co-developing three fine art papers, HP Hahnemühle Smooth Fine Art Paper, HP Hahnemühle Textured Fine Art Paper and HP Hahnemühle Watercolor Paper, Hahnemühle’s entire portfolio of digital fine art media types is compatible with the HP Designjet Z2100/3100, providing customers a complete and reliable printing solution with the ultimate media choice and flexibility. Profiles of Hahnemühle’s 21 fine art papers are available at www.hahnemuehle.com.

In addition, the HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series’ automated color management features have opened doors to more media options. Leveraging relationships with strong brands like Hahnemühle, the HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series can quickly create ICC profiles for the most relevant commercially available media.

New tools and services make printing even easier

Backing the HP Designjet Z Photo Printer Series’ superior color experience are a variety of HP services and support options that give users greater confidence in their printing. Users can rely on the HP Color Center tool for step-by-step instruction on color management and HP Color Expert Service for a single point of contact for remote live assistance to resolve color issues in the workflow. From setup to media profiling, fine-tuning to finishing tips, HP ensures a flawless, straightforward printing experience for novices to professionals every step of the way.

Pricing and availability (3)

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2006, HP revenue totaled $90.0 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.

(1) Display permanence rating by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. on a range of HP creative and specialty media. For details: www.hp.com/go/supplies/printpermanence.

(2) Available as an optional accessory.

(3) Estimated U.S. street prices. Actual prices may vary.

© 2006 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

9/2006