New Printer Technology Provides Improved Usability, Print Speed and Quality; All New Printers Feature Canon's Individual Ink Tank System; Photo Printer with Direct Connect to Canon Digital Cameras Hits Retail

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. February 25, 2002 Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ) introduces three six-color Bubble Jet printers focused at the photo imaging segment of the market and two four-color printers for the SOHO market. Additionally, the S820D direct connect photo printer, announced in October 2001 is now on sale at retail outlets. Innovative printing technologies developed by Canon will improve printer usability, print speeds and quality across the new line. Six-color photo printers added to the line include the S9000 13" x 19" Wide Format printer, the S900 and S820. New four-color Bubble Jet printers designed for the SOHO general use market include the S750 and S520.

"Consumers want printers that will deliver photo prints fast without sacrificing quality," says Ryoichi Bamba, senior vice president and general manager of Canon U.S.A. Inc. "Canon devoted significant research and development resources to address consumer needs and believes that the new S9000, S900, S820D, S820, S750 and S520 printers will meet and exceed those needs in the US market. The latest generation of Microfine Droplet Technology, industry-leading nozzle counts in our S9000 and S900 printheads and the Canon Think Tank System of Individual Ink Tanks to eliminate waste are just a few of the examples of the technology that will keep Canon the leader in the printer business."

High-Density Multi-Nozzle Printheads -- Canon has successfully increased the nozzle density and number of nozzles using the Advanced Microfine Droplet Technology'. The S520, S750, S820, S820D, S900 and S9000 all feature high-density nozzles with an actual pitch of 1200 dpi. The multi-nozzle head of the four-color S520 and S750 printers features 1,088 total nozzles. The head for the S820 and S820D photo printers features 1,536 total nozzles and the printhead in the top of the line six-color S900 and S9000 printers features an incredible 3,072 total nozzles. The S900 and S9000 have the highest ink droplet ejection frequency of all Bubble Jet printers at approximately 74 million dots per second.

Latest Generation Advanced Microfine Droplet Technology and High Intensity Inks for Long Lasting Photos -- All of the new printers, the S520, S750, S820, S820D, S900, and S9000 feature the latest generation of Canon's Advanced Microfine Droplet Technology. This revolutionary ink ejection process separates and ejects prescribed-volume ultra-fine ink droplets from the nozzles with precise accuracy. The Advanced Microfine Droplet Technology enables high-speed, high-quality printing with a high-precision, high-density multi-nozzle head. In addition, Canon printers use specially formulated inks creating sharper text and vibrant, rich colors. Using these inks and Canon's Photo Paper Pro, photos will last approximately 25 years*.

Vivid Photo Enhances Colors Beyond Monitor Capabilities -- Vivid Photo, featured on all the new printers, is a function that actively exceeds the sRGB-based color matching of conventional monitors to produce a more film-like effect. Compared with the color range of printers, the sRGB color range has a particularly narrow cyan range, affecting the green in foliage and the blues of the sea and sky. Vivid Photo greatly expands this range to bring out the true printer color reproduction capabilities without limitation of monitor matching, to produce vibrant greens and dazzling blues.

Canon Think Tank System of Individual Ink Tanks -- The S520, S750, S820, S820D, S900 and S9000 printers include Canon's hallmark feature of individual ink tanks. This is a unique technology that Canon invented, offering users a cost performance advantage, especially when printing photos. End-users only replace the individual color ink tank they have depleted which eliminates ink waste. In addition, the Canon Think Tank System has an optical ink sensor that triggers an on-screen warning so that users are alerted when the ink has run low.

PhotoRecord Software for Printing Professional Looking Photos -- The new printers ship with Canon's PhotoRecord software allowing end-users to easily crop digital photos, create albums and print photos. PhotoRecord also automatically balances color tables between images taken with a Canon digital camera and then printed on a Canon Bubble Jet printer. This is a distinct advantage for end-users who are not experienced with professional photo finishing techniques it allows their final photo prints to look like they were done in a professional lab.

Borderless Printing -- Borderless printing on all of Canon's new printers is now possible on 4" x 6" and letter size papers. This type of printing can be performed at dramatically faster printing speeds compared to competitive printers. On competitive models, the number of nozzles that can be used is limited in printing the top and bottom of the page when in borderless mode, but Canon's high-density multi-nozzle heads provide a sufficient number of nozzles and enough density to ensure high quality and fast borderless prints.

New Canon Photo Papers Canon is also debuting two additional photo paper products to support the excellent features of the new printers. All five new printers will support Photo Paper Pro 4" x 6" to create true borderless high quality photos. With a MSRP of $8.95** for 20 sheets, the Photo Paper Pro 4" x 6" paper will start shipping immediately. Photo Paper Pro 13" x 19", with a MSRP of $24.95** for 10 sheets and immediate ship date, will deliver high quality printed images for the S9000 Wide Format Photo Printer customer. Both papers provide the highest photo quality with approximately 25 years of light fastness*.

High Speed Four-Motor System and Relay Feeding -- All of the new printers incorporate a four-motor independent drive structure in which a single motor is assigned to each of the following: line-feed, carriage, auto sheet feeder, and maintenance unit. This independent control makes it possible for a high-speed and high-precision drive system. This eliminates drive switching, providing increased throughput and reduced noise. Relay feeding feeds in the next sheet of paper before the sheet being printed has been ejected. This dramatically reduces the overall time taken for continuous printing.

Precision Paper Feed Mechanism -- High-speed and consistent paper feeding is created by the outstanding auto sheet feeder that was highly acclaimed on the original S600 and subsequent S630 and S500 products. This is incorporated into all the new printers to help ensure consistent paper feeding even at high speeds regardless of paper type.

Canon Quiet Mode -- In addition to the reduced operating noise by using the 4-motor system, Canon's new printers (with the exception of the S520) feature a "Quiet Mode" setting inside of the driver. The Quiet Mode setting can achieve a greater reduction in the operating noise and can be set for specific time periods to reduce noise at night. The quiet mode setting can reduce operating noise by as much as 7 db(A) on the S820/S820D and as much as 11 db(A) on the S750.

Canon Supports New Exif Print Standard -- Canon will strive to further promote the benefits of digital photo imaging through the launch of digital camera and Bubble Jet printer products supporting the new Exif Print (Exif 2.2) standard, expected to gain acceptance as the global industry standard. Canon Bubble Jet Printers

The S9000 13" x 19" Wide Format Photo printer leads the way as Canon's flagship photo printer in the line. It incorporates the ultra high-density multi-nozzle printhead featuring 3,072 nozzles (the largest number of nozzles in its class) to achieve print speeds of approximately 29 seconds for 4" x 6" photo prints with a border, approximately one minute for 8" x 10" prints and approximately two minutes for 13" x 19" prints.

Quality from the S9000 is achieved by using the Advanced Microfine Droplet Technology with 2400 x 1200 dpi and six-color photo printing using Canon's Individual Ink Tank system and Vivid Photo. Lightfast for approximately 25 years*, photos printed from this printer rival professional photo developing. The S9000 can be used for Postscript proofing applications. A free demo CD of iProof's PowerRip 2000 for Macintosh users will be included in the printer box. Shipping in February 2002, the S9000 will have a MSRP of $499**.

The S900 printer follows the S9000 with the new printhead featuring 3,072 nozzles (the largest number of nozzles in its class) allowing for lightning fast print speeds of approximately 29 seconds for a 4" x 6" photo print with a border and approximately one minute for an 8" x 10" print with a border. Other exciting features on the S900 include the Individual Ink Tank system, latest generation Advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology and Vivid Photo. Canon's combination of high intensity ink and its Photo Paper Pro media gives prints the ability to be light-fast for approximately 25 years*. The S900 has MSRP of $399** and will be shipping in February 2002.

Advanced Precision Color Distribution Technology combined with single-pass bi-directional printing produces print speeds for the Canon S750 Bubble Jet printer of up to 20 pages per minute (PPM) in monochrome and 13 ppm for color without sacrificing print quality. New Advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology featuring 2400 x 1200 dpi in color and five-picoliter precision, along with new borderless printing capabilities ensure customers get the high standard of photo printing they expect. The S750 will replace the S630 printer currently in the line, have a MSRP of $199** and will ship in February 2002.

Announced in October 2001 and currently shipping, the S820D Bubble Jet Direct printer connects directly to two Canon PowerShot digital cameras, the PowerShot S30 and PowerShot S40, via a proprietary USB cable. This cable allows users to print directly from the camera without connecting to a computer. For those customers who want the ability to print photos directly but don't have either Canon camera, the printer has a PCMCIA Type II memory card slot so that virtually any brand camera's "digital film" can be inserted into the printer***. The optional Canon Image Viewer (MSRP of $99**) allows those customers to view their images prior to printing.

S820D six-color printing at 2400 x 1200 dpi provides borderless printing at speeds of approximately one minute for a 4" x 6" borderless photo print and approximately two minutes for an 8" x 10" photo print when printing from a computer. And when using Canon's Photo Paper Pro, the images have the ability to be lightfast for approximately 25 years.* The S820D will be shipping in February 2002 and with a MSRP of $399** including the dedicated USB cable and PCMCIA Type II CompactFlash adapter.

Rounding out Canon's printer line are the S820 and S520, replacing the award winning S800 and S500 respectively. Borderless printing from 4" x 6" up to letter size and faster printing speeds make these printers leaders in their segments. The S820 and S520 both feature the Canon Think Tank System of Individual Ink Tanks, the latest generation of Advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology, 2400 x 1200 dpi resolution in color and photo lightfastness for approximately 25 years*. The S520 also includes Precision Color Distribution Technology. MSRP for the S820 six-color photo printer is $299** while the S520 four-color Bubble Jet printer will have a MSRP of $149. Both printers are shipping in February.

Canon U.S.A., Inc. is an industry leader in professional and consumer imaging solutions and, through its parent company, Canon, Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), is a top patent-holder of imaging technologies. The company's comprehensive product line includes networked multifunction devices; digital and analog copiers (color and black and white); printers; scanners; image filing systems; and facsimile machines, camcorders, cameras and lenses; and semiconductor, broadcast and medical equipment. Canon U.S.A. employs 12,000 people at more than 30 facilities throughout North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.