Digicam revolution boosts photo printing

Record sales of digicams, growing number of digital studios and new technology have all combined to broaden the footprint that photo printers enjoy, says Vinutha V.

Photographic technology is evolving by leaps and bounds—be it digital cameras or printers. Although cost-per-print still lags behind the traditional film-based process, vendors and analysts concur that photo printers offer greater flexibility. As per IDC, Q3 2005 saw the photo printer segment grow 10 percent over the previous quarter. Of inkjet printer sales, single function devices with photo printing capabilities had a share of 88 percent, both direct printers and those that operate with input from a PC.

Earlier, the photo printer market was dominated by Epson, which offered photo printing capability at an extra cost. HP entered this segment two years ago offering photo-printing from entry-level printers and more. In Q2 2005, HP had a market share of about 65 percent with Epson as the runner-up.

Click and print

"With a photo printer, you can print multiple photos on a single page, add text and captions and create wonderful layouts that are ready to go in a few minutes" -V P Sajeevan National Sales Manager IT Division Canon

Sanjit Sinha, Senior Manager, Hardware Research, IDC India says, “The growth of digital cameras and the convenience in terms of time, quality and productivity that is associated with photo printers are driving sales in this segment.” The imaging sector encompassing photography and photo printing has grown robustly in the current year aided by digital technologies. Increased PC penetration, availability of a wider range of digital cameras and greater printing possibilities at home and at photo finishing retail outlets have all contributed to this. Unlike early adopters, today’s users are squarely in the mainstream. They are aware of printing at home and are discerning users who will settle for nothing but the best.

“With a photo printer, you can print multiple photos on a single page, add text and captions to photos and create wonderful layouts that are ready to go in a few minutes. It also gives the luxury of batch-printing a folder of photos. Hence, photo printing solutions are preferred to traditional printing methods,” says V P Sajeevan, National Sales Manager, IT Division, Canon.

Says Suresh Govindachari, Senior Manager, Inkjet Printer & LFP, Epson India, “Depending on the quality of paper and the photo printer, pictures can last from 20 to 200 years. Apart from photo labs, even affluent home consumers are buying photo printers.” The compact nature of these devices, quickness of the method vs traditional film, and ease of use are attracting photo labs, advertising agencies as well as professional and amateur photographers.

P G Kamath, Country General Manager, Lexmark International lists the passport business and digital studios as the principal driver of this segment. He says, “Printing in passport size is a strong industry in India as it’s the standard for every official purpose. Small photo labs use photo printers extensively.”

Ravi Karamcheti, Country Business Manager, Digital and Film Imaging Systems, Kodak India says, “Personal photo printing has seen a change from being almost non-existent to a healthy growing business. Apart from flexibility, competitive prices and value-added features such as after-sales support, high quality of colour ink cartridges providing photos which are as good as the pictures from a photo-processing lab have made photo printers an attractive option.”

Digicam sales add spice

Digital cameras have given a fillip to the photo printing industry. Increasing use of digital still cameras is expected to lead to higher levels of penetration of photo printers in the home segment. At the same time, the digital still camera will get a fillip once an affordable printing infrastructure is in place. “Our do-it-at-home trend has proved to be popular in India and overseas and has reduced the dependence on commercial photo studios. This trend is beginning to gain popularity amid a new profile of users—school and college students, business professionals and photography buffs, who are increasingly using home printing due to the flexibility and convenience it provides,” adds Sajeevan.

Beyond CMYK

"Although, nascent at present, mobile phones are also driving this market. Currently about 2 to 5 percent of mobile phone pictures get printed" -Rajiv Rao Country Category Manager Personal Printing Imaging and Printing Group HP India Sales

“With the digital camera and camera phone boom, photo printing is catching on. Conventional photo printers can print only four colours—cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). The latest photo printers have light cyan and light magenta in addition to CMYK. This transition has helped improve the shelf life of photographs to 60 years,” says Kamath.

If a printer and digicam support this technology, PictBridge technology lets you print images directly using a USB cable even if the camera and printer have been made by different manufacturers. In some cases a photoprinter directly accepts flash memory cards that the digicam stores its photos on so that you don’t even need a cable. In the first case, print size, layout, media type, date and other settings are chosen on the camera.

“You can print one or more images, part of an image by cropping it on the camera and even create index prints. PictBridge technology is driving the market as it eliminates the need to have a computer in the first place,” explains Sajeevan. Rajiv Rao, the Country Category Manager for Personal Printing, Imaging and Printing Group, HP India Sales says, “Recently, we launched Scalable Printing Technology in our photo printers for the Indian market with the aim of increasing print speed, improving quality and reducing cost per page.”

Cost-per-print gradually falling

The cost-per-print of a standard 4x6 post card print has dropped from Rs 15 per copy two years ago to Rs 10 today. In comparison, traditional printing at the studio for a print of the same size costs Rs 7.50, still lower but comparable.

Youth and home

Vendors are strengthening their channels and plan to educate consumers. Canon’s new go-to-market initiative involves de-layering the distribution channel, retail expansion and creating a value shift. Kamath says, “The potential segment is youth. We have to let them know that this technology is simple and cost-effective. The number of photo labs remains stagnant while photo printers can be better pushed at the home segment,” Kamath adds.

The youth segment is expected to drive the consumer boom in India.

Growth-enablers

The digital imaging market comprises the production, manipulation and communication of images with a computer, digital cameras, scanners, printers, copiers and multi-functional office automation products. Photo labs need five pieces of equipment to put together a complete digital solution: a digital camera, photo printer, film scanner, a PC and software. While the competition has been intense in the area of digicams, the past six to eight months have witnessed increased competition in the area of developing and printing digital photographs.

Camera phones

To a certain extent, phonecams are driving sales of photo printers. “Although, it’s nascent at present, mobile phones are also driving this market. Currently about 2 to 5 percent of mobile phone pictures get printed. Better growth is expected in 2006. Connectivity, flexibility and versatility will be the key to future growth. Photo printers fit right in whatever the source be it a camera phone, notebook or PC. However, people believe that using a photo printer is a complex proposition. Growth will be there from home segment. HP will try to put all the capabilities in a single printer and convince customers vis-a-vis the flexibility of this product category,” adds Rao. Most vendors are already supporting printing via Bluetooth on their photo printers.

Vendors opine that photo printing will prove popular across segments—consumer and professional. They offer digital photographers a superior performance, high-speed and quality that compliments the capabilities of high-end digital cameras. Direct printing from digicams and mobile phones will be the driver for future growth in the home segment. However, the tipping point will be reached when the cost-per-print drops below that of traditional silver halide.

Have photo, will print

Inkjet Multifunctional Devices
Company /Model Number	Features	(PPM)/(CPM)* and Resolution	Memory	Price
Brother/MFC 620CN	USB 2.0 Full Speed & Ethernet Interfaces, NC-2200W (wireless print server), PC fax capability. Optical scan 600x2400 dpi, built-in digital media card drives, Compact Flash, SmartMedia, memory stick, x-D picture card and secure digital media cards	Prints 20 ppm black, 15 ppm colour. Copy: 17 cpm black, 11 cpm colour up to 6000x1200 dpi	16 MB	Rs 19,650
Brother/5840 CN	4-cartridge ink system, maximum monthly duty cycle 3,000 printed pages, USB 2.0 Full Speed & Ethernet interfaces, optional, interface NC-2200W (wireless print server), 33.6 Kbps Super G3 Fax Modem, optical scan resolution (dpi) 1200x2400 dpi, includes ScanSoft Paper Port for Windows and Presto PageManager for Mac and PhotoCapture Centre	20ppm black, 15ppm colour up to 6000x1200 dpi	16 MB	Rs 18,400
Canon/CP710	PictBridge compatible, no PC required Windows/Mac support dye-sublimation thermal transfer printing system. Inbuilt multi-cards slots, LCD monitor accepts popular memory cards (CompactFlash, microdrive, multimedia card, SD card, memory stick and memory stick PRO)			Rs 8,995
Canon/CP510	PictBridge compatible, no PC required Windows/Mac support dye-sublimation thermal transfer printing system			Rs 7,495
Epson/Stylus C 63	Durabrite Ultra ink; longer print life, waterproof, fade–resistant prints	17 ppm black & 9 ppm colour text. 5760x1440 dpi		Rs 4,399
Epson/Stylus CX 4700	Photo printer with resolution up to 5760 dpi and A4 BorderFree			Rs 8,789
Lexmark/X1195	600x1200 dpi optical & 9600 dpi enhanced 48-bit flatbed scanner; Lexmark Photo Editor software, colour photocopy, borderless printing up to A4; duty cycle 2,000 pages per month	2400x2100 dpi; 4800 x 1200 dpi in colour, 14/8 ppm (draft black/colour)		Rs 4,999
Lexmark/X3350	Four-colour, optional six-colour photo printing, USB 2.0; optional Ethernet 10/100 and wireless 802.11g ports. Additional features: 600x2400 dpi optical & 19,200 dpi enhanced 48-bit flatbed scanner; PictBridge port, borderless printing, up to A4; duty cycle 1,000 pages per month	2400 x 1200 dpi; 4800 x 1200 dpi in colour, 22/15 ppm (draft black/colour)		Rs 8,999
*Pages Per Minute / Copies Per Minute

vinutha@expresscomputeronline.com