Citizen announces direct supply and support for the OP900 dye sublimation photo printer in the UK.

Citizen Systems Europe, the manufacturer of thermal printing solutions, is to supply and fully support the Olmec OP900 dye sublimation photo printer in the UK. 

This printer, typically used by professional photographers for high volume, fast output images, is manufactured by Citizen but was previously available through ICI Imagedata under the Olmec brand.  With the withdrawal of ICI Imagedata from the market, Citizen will now be supporting existing Olmec OP900 printers with media and spare parts, and will also be supplying new machines as the Citizen OP900.

The Citizen OP900 is a high quality dye sublimation thermal transfer printer, capable of producing an industry-recognised leading level of colour rendition, with finely graduated, true colour rendering at high speeds.  Typically, a 6x4 print is output every eight seconds, while depending on the quality of the original digital file, Citizen claims it is possible to produce images that surpass traditional silver halide photo printing in terms of both quality and definition.

In addition, the Citizen OP900 features a powerful print and communication engine, with a double buffer memory, which plays an important role in maintaining uninterrupted print speeds by ensuring that each image is ready to print as soon as the last one has been output. Software utilities from Citizen allow quick and easy monitoring of media levels and print usage, making it a popular printer to be hired out to event photographers.  The chassis and enclosure are built to withstand heavy, constant use, with quick media changeover being accessed from the front of the printer. 

Perhaps as importantly, especially when the printer is to be used in mini-labs and other high throughput networked applications, the print head and engine mechanism has been designed to offer a long a trouble free operating life; in many instances, this can be more than twice as long as competing products. The Citizen OP900 will be available from Citizen photo resellers, who will also be supplying media for both the Citizen and Olmec versions of the OP900.  Printer drivers, utilities and other support materials for both printers will be available from Citizens own website with spares and accessories available via Citizens normal spares and photo resellers.