Ricoh has replaced its existing L5000 series of latex wide format printers with two new modesl, the 1.3m wide L5130e and 1.6m wide L5160e.
The only practical difference between the older versions and these new models appears to be the inkset, which now includes an option to add orange and green inks. The advantage is that this extends the colour gamut and the brand colours that these printers are capable of though Ricoh seems strangely reluctant to say how much of the Pantone range these printers can reach. Unfortunately, the existing models cannot be upgraded to take advantage of this.
These printers also gain a new Media library where customers can save their media settings directly on the touch panel on the front of the printers. Ricoh has also opted to include ColorGate’s ProductionServer Select RIP, which is based on the Adobe PDF Print Engine.
These printers use three of Ricoh’s Gen 5 printheads, which Ricoh insists are the MH5441 variant, though they each have four ink channels. The heads are arranged in a staggered pattern. Two of these heads are each set up to take the four CMYK inks. The third can be loaded with either another set of CMYK, white ink or the orange and green inks. This is a fairly sensible arrangement as it allows Ricoh to offer a range of options with just three of the Gen 5 heads.
Angelo Mandelli, product manager for Ricoh’s large format printers, says that there’s no need to offer light cyan and light magenta inks because the variable sized ink droplets can achieve the skin tones and gradation that those inks are normally used for.
Ricoh is quoting speeds of 46.7 square metres per hour on outdoor high speed four colour mode and 25 sq m per hour on indoor standard four colour mode.
Graham Kennedy, director of Industrial Print for Ricoh Europe, says: “The ability of the orange and green inks to allow operations to accurately produce Pantone, brand colours and skin tones, enables high quality production versatility on a wide range of indoor and outdoor applications. These new models support PSPs in the expansion of their creative services and offer a new level of production flexibility for display specialists.”
The new printers start from €28,000, which is the same price as the older models. They should be available in Europe from the beginning of December this year. Check with ricoh-europe.com for more details nearer the time.
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