For those of us who aren’t too enamoured with the idea of saying cheese on a regular basis, life can be tough. The recent explosion in photography means that it’s increasingly difficult to escape people intent on capturing life in all its glory.
Our seemingly endless need to get snap happy has been fuelled by digital and mobile phone cameras, both of which make it easier than ever before to take picture where and when you want too.
Cameras sales skyrocket
In fact, the growth in both digital and mobile phone cameras has been nothing short of astronomical of late. According to recent research carried out by Strategy Analytics, worldwide sales of digital cameras grew 40 percent last year from 49 million in 2003 to 68 million in 2004. In addition, a whopping 257 million camera phones were sold globally last year, equivalent to 38 percent of all handset sales. This was up from 84 million, or 16 percent of the total handsets shipped in 2003. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Strategy Analytics forecast that more than 350 million camera phones will be sold during 2005.
Such figures reveal just how much we’ve come to love taking pictures. However, being able to capture moments instantly is all very well and good but few of us want to keep them stored on devices for too long. The great thing about taking snaps is that we can share them freely and as we all know nothing quite beats being able to physically hold photos in your hand.
At present it is only a minority who are really interested in processing mobile phone images because the quality just simply isn’t good enough. Nonetheless, this may well change in the future as manufacturers such as Samsung, Nokia, Sharp etc, continue to develop better mobile phone cameras that come closer to matching the quality you’ll find on a digital or traditional camera.
Picture perfect
When it comes to processing digital camera pictures the story is markedly different though. At present the majority of consumers seem content to just store photos on PCs rather than print them off and going forward it looks as though this trend will continue. Recent forecasts suggests that 213 billion photos will be captured by digital cameras in 2008, of which just 31 billion will be printed. Although IDC predicts that in the future the majority of consumers are likely to opt for printing photos at home rather than taking them to a high-street retailer, that’s still an awful lot of images that are going to remain in digital format.
With this in mind, printer manufacturers have been busy focusing on convincing consumers that home printing isn’t as expensive as they’d think. At a recent business summit held in Ireland, HP officially announced the launch of its new ink brand, Vivera, which it hopes will fuel uptake in home printing. The inks have been developed to offer better fade resistance than competitor’s products and, used in conjunction with the company’s other print media, they are to be sold as consumer-friendly ‘photo packs’. HP boasts that through using such packs, the cost of printing a photo is as little as 0.35 cents per picture – which is certainly lower than most people would expect to pay for printing images. Moreover, HP and Epson have both launched photo printers with Bluetooth connectivity which means that you don’t even need a PC anymore to avail of good quality photos at home.
HP and its closest rivals are convinced that people will pay more for home printing simply because it’s more convenient. After all, who wants to trudge off down the high street, drop their images in at a retail store and then have to come back to collect them later when you can simply sit at home and let the printer do the hard work for you?
Well, the answer is quite a few people actually, because despite printer manufacturer’s arguments, high street photo labs are still proving incredibly popular, particularly those that offer new self-service kiosks which allow customers to quickly develop their photos. Indeed, many labs now also offer web services which offer all the benefits of a traditional photo lab but without the hassle.
Although users will often have to wait longer to get their developed pictures sent out to them, they’re often able to store them online. In addition, although it is only just beginning to take off, kiosks which allow you to develop your cameraphone images are also beginning to hit the market with the likes of Carphone Warehouse actively promoting such services in their stores.
Retailers with photo kiosks
Jessops, which is one of the UK’s leading camera store chains with 280 stores in Britain and Northern Ireland opened its first store in the Republic on Grafton Street in October 2004.
According to Andy Kerr, general manager for Jessops Ireland, the store attracts over 300 customers every day, many of whom are coming in to get their digital pictures processed. “As traditional film declines, digital is making up for it and as a consequence, there’s been an increase in people using kiosks and other processing services,” said Kerr. “Obviously compared to film the beauty with digital film is that you can pick and choose which images you want printed.” Kerr suggests that while home printing may be more convenient, the benefits of going to a professional photo lab are obvious. “The quality is better and obviously we can produce images in a range of sizes and if you have large quantity of pictures to develop, it can be considerably cheaper to come into a store such as ours,” comments Kerr. “In addition, because we’re a professional photo lab we use top-of-the-range printers and unlike pictures printed on an inkjet which usually fade over time, our pictures are long lasting.”
The Camera Centre 56 Grafton Street, Dublin 2
Contact: 01 6775594
The Camera Centre offers everything that a photo enthusiast could possibly want. More importantly for those who aren’t too sure of what they want, it also employs courteous staff who seem to not only know what they’re talking about but are also keen to help. The Camera Centre’s digital print services employ Fuji Digital Imaging and it will accept all memory media. The kiosk allows customers to manipulate images before processing to remove red eye etc. The kiosk is incredibly easy-to-use, even for those who aren’t enamoured with technology. Processing takes either one hour for those in a rush or 24 hours for those with time on their hands.
A one hour surcharge fee of EUR*3.00 is applicable for one hour processing. The price of printing is dependent on how many pictures are to be processed. For 6 x 4 inch pictures, the cost is 0.50 cents for 1-25 images, 0.35 cents for 26 to 50 pictures and down to 0.25 for 51+ images. To include white borders on prints, an additional charge of 0.50 cents per order is required. For a second set of pictures, the cost is half price. To transfer images to CD from memory media costs vary depending on media. The Camera Centre also offers an image recall service on corrupted media cards. If the store is successful in retrieving lost images a charge of EUR*20 applies. If unsuccessful, customers are charged just EUR*5.
Dublin Camera Exchange, 63 St Great Georges Street, Dublin 2, Contact: 01 4784125
Dublin Camera Exchange on South Great Georges Street also owns two other stores – the Kodak Express outlet in Temple Bar and Camera Exchange on Trinity Street Square. The Exchange’s digital processes are covered by Kodak and like the Camera Centre, the outlet will accept digital images stored on pretty much every digital media memory card available.
The Camera Exchange offers both a one-hour and a 24-hour processing service for digital images. Costs for processing with 60 minutes from digital media, CD or floppy disks is approximately 0.50 cents for a 6 x 4 in photo. The 24-hour service offers 20 6 x4 in snaps for EUR*7.95 or 40 6 x 4 in snaps for just EUR*9.95. Customers can request to have up to 40 images stored on a CD in addition to processing for an extra EUR3.99. There is no extra charge for those who with to have a white border on standard sized photos.
Conn’s Cameras Ltd, 54 Clarendon Street, Dublin 2
Contact: 01 6777179
Conn’s Cameras is a family-run business with a professional approach to servicing quality-conscious photographers. In business for more than 30 years, Phil, Bob and Mike Conn offer plenty for those with an interest in photography. In addition to employing the Fuji Digital Imaging process, the brothers are currently in the process of establishing an online printing service as well. Conn’s accepts digital images in a wide range of formats including CD ROM, Zip 100 (PC format), ZIP 250 (PC format), Compact Flash, SmartMedia, MultiMedia, Secure Digital, Sony Memory Stick and IBM Microdrive.
Customers can opt for either standard, one hour, three hour or next day processing and costs vary according to which service is chosen. In the case of 6×4 in images, the price is 0.60 cents for 1-9 standard images, which falls to 0.28 cents for 100+ images. For the one hour service, the price is 0.90 cents for 1-9 images, down to 0.58 cents for 100 or more pictures. For the three hour service, cost is 0.80 cents for up to nine images, down to 0.48 for 100+ images. The next day service charges are 0.70 and 0.38 respectively. In addition, Conn’s offers an image rescue service to retrieve pictures from a corrupt memory card for EUR*25. It can also write images to CD and DVD if required.
Jessops, 111 Grafton Street, Dublin 2
Contact: 01 6796077
“No matter which digital media your images are stored on we can print them,” says Jessops and there seems to be some truth in its claim. The retail outlet can take images from CD, Compact Flash, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, MultiMedia, Secure Digital, PCMCIA and XD card – and using their in-store kiosk is child’s play. The cost of printing at Jessops is also pretty reasonable with a print costing 0.79 cents for one hour photo for between one and four 6 x4 inch images, a price that falls to just 0.29 cents if customers are printing over 40 images. The retail outlet also has a next day service with costs per print ranging from 0.59 cents for between one and four images and 0.19 cents for 40 or more photos. The company offers a special deal of 50 6 x 4 in images for EUR*8.99 and images can also be written to CD if required.
Photocentre. Unit 49, Blackrock shopping centre, Blackrock, Co Dublin, Contact: 01 2883472
Founded in 1991, Photocentre is one of Ireland’s leading independently Irish-owned film processing companies. It provides a full range of digital film printing and 135mm processing at seven outlets in Dublin and Kildare. The company uses Fujifilm Digital Imaging (FDI), a state of the art system that allows customers to produce prints from almost any form of digital media. All Photocentre retail stores are equipped with mini-labs and user friendly kiosks that give customers complete creative control over the pictures they wish to print. Such kiosks are easy to use and just in case customers are having difficulties, helpful staff are there to lend a hand. In terms of pricing, cost per 6 x4 inch print is 0.75 cents for the one hour service, 0.65 for the four hour service and 0.60 for the standard service. However, as with other processing labs prices drop for bulk printing with 100+ images available for as little as 0.25 cents per print. Images can also be written to CD for as little as EUR*3 for a CD containing up to 200 pictures.
Spectra Photo, 113 Lr Baggot Street, Dublin 2
Contact: (01) 6766425
Spectra is one of the leading photo labs currently operating in the Irish market with over 1,000 agents nationwide. The company also has 40 digital stores at which customers can avail of a vast range of services including writing images to CD. In addition to accepting images on most common digital film media, the retailer also accepts images on CDs, floppy discs and zip discs. Printing prices start from as little as 0.15 cents per print for bulk processing. Package deals available include an offer 1-10 6 x 4 inch prints for EUR*5.99 for the one hour service with the cost rising to EUR*24.99 for between 51 to 100 images. As would be expected, the firm’s overnight service is cheaper with 1-10 prints costing EUR*4.99 and up to EUR*19.99 for between 51 to 100 images. An online processing service is also available (www.spectraphoto.ie) with prices per print starting from as little as 0.15 cents.
It’s all about self-service
Customers are used to dropping images into photo labs to be developed but a new option has recently emerged which allows photo-enthusiasts to process their images themselves in a matter of minutes. Digital photo kiosks are only just beginning to take off in Ireland and aren’t freely available outside chemists and or specialist camera centres, but in a short space of time they’re likely to be commonplace. Part of their attraction lies in the fact that they’re so easy to use. Customers simply insert their camera memory card into the terminal to copy their files. They can then view and edit the images on the colour screen before ordering the individual prints they require in various sizes or on a photo-CD. As an added bonus, most allow idiot-proof, on-the-spot editing – from cropping to adjusting colours to eliminating redeye before printing. Once customers are happy with their images, they’re processed in minutes and hey presto!
You have your photos. Some experts warn though that while there’s no doubting the efficiency of such kiosks, the quality isn’t as good as more traditional methods of processing images.
It’s not just traditional camera stores that are offering digital printing facilities now. Retail outfits such as Carphone Warehouse, O2 and pharmacists such as Boots and Hickeys are also getting in on the act with in-store kiosks.
Hickeys has installed Mitsubishi’s DPS Kiosk, an instant multimedia photographic self-service unit, throughout its 20 outlets located in Leinster. “The DPS Kiosk allows us to offer digital services through a self service unit for our consumers within our outlets”, said Paddy Hickey, managing director, Hickey’s Pharmacies. “It is the ideal solution to take advantage of the business opportunities in the digital photography market with a low investment, allowing greater profitability.”
The Kiosk allows consumers to retouch and edit images to remove red eye etc. It also enables digital processing in multiple sizes with the option of saving images on a photoclick CD. Moreover, customers can also share photos using the virtual album on the Mitsubishi website. Costs for printing standard 6 x 4 inch digital pictures start at just 20 cents per image.
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers