Canon India

At Photofair, Canon displayed its DreamLabo 5000, which has been developed and designed for the photo industry. “Today photographers are looking for something different from routine digital prints. DreamLabo, being an inkjet technology, delivers the desired quality for the industry, which has been waiting for a replacement of the traditional silver halide technology,” says Gurjit Singh Dhingra of Canon.

Dhingra says at the show, Canon was successful in sending out the message that it has the true replacement for silver halide. “While print buyers were amazed at the quality, printers have started considering DreamLabo as the most futuristic technology for photo printing,” he adds.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions

Konica Minolta showcased its Bizhub Press C1100, Bizhub Press C1085 and Bizhub Press C70HC. “Digital CMYK is getting popular. This has some benefits over the traditional RGB process. We have a very successful model, C70HC, which has been appreciated and accepted by the customers,” says Manish Gupta of Konica Minolta.

Gupta says Konica Minolta customers are looking for faster machines so that they can increase their production and reduce the number of steps in the production process, right from design to the finished product.

Considering the fact that weddings are major events in India, Gupta says there is enough room for growth in the photo printing market. “The end-customers now look at photobooks as a piece of art, with high quality finishing,” says Gupta. “We also see a growth of interactive photobooks, where a customer will be able to share a link for a video linked with the images in the photobooks, through handheld devices connected to internet.”

KMI Business Technologies

KMI displayed C1085, an 85 cpm high-speed production engine, besides C70HC. For photographers, Nilesh Shah of KMI recommends its C224E, while for colour labs, he suggests C70HC, and for high volume or big colour labs C1085. “Some of our customers compare C70HC with HP Indigo. Looking at the price, and considering the value for money, our product has proved to be a great success with customers all over the country. Even many Indigo customers are using C70HC to better ROI,” Shah says.

About the size of the photo printing market in India, Shah sees a 5,000 machine market for colour digital segment engines. “Trends for digital machine are on the rise year-on-year,” he adds.

Fujifilm
 

At the expo, Fujifilm showcased live printing with Acuity LED 1600 UV inkjet printer. Also, in the instax range of instant print cameras, the company launched several cameras and photo finishing solutions. Fujifilm’s photo printing solutions include inkjet systems like Fujifilm Frontier Dry mini lab, and Acuity LED 1600 and Acuity Advance Flatbed; thermal technology like ASK 300 (dye-sublimation printer); toner technology like Xerox Color 550/560, Xerox Colour C75 press, Xerox Color J75 press, and Fujifilm Frontier Digital Minilab like LP 5500R and LP 5700R.

“We have the entire solutions for photo printing, from small format to large format. It depends on user and applications what kind of solutions he is looking at,” says Centhil Nathan of Fujifilm.

Nathan says at the Photofair, the company received good responses for special application and printing on metallic, canvas, leather media, raised effect printing, 3-layer printing, etc. “It seems customers are looking to do something unique in photo album business,” he says.

According to Nathan, the photo printing business consumes approximately 60 million sqm per annum. “The dry double-side printing technology option is available for wedding album businesses. Hence, the continuous tone silver halide printing with new surface like silk /velvet / canvas and linen and texture effect is encouraging the existing wedding business customers without additional lamination,” he says.

Monotech Systems
 

Apart from displaying its C1100 and C70HC, Monotech also displayed its flagship digital print enhancement press S75 with Rainbow. It also launched new W2P /Scodix tool solutions for it Scodix customers.

Amritpal Singh Bawa of Monotech, who recommends Scodix S75 with Rainbow for digital print enhancement, says customers need better online tools which can help them enhance the products fast.

Akash Kumar of Monotech, on the other hand, recommends C1100/1085 for volume of more than 50,000 prints per month and C70HC for volumes up to 50,000 prints per month. He says, these days, customers are looking for lower FSMA, consistency in quality and zero downtime.

According to Kumar, the size of photo printing market in India is more than 100 units (digital printers) per year. “The photobook market is likely to expand by 10 to 15% every year and it is likely to experiment with new technologies like enhancement to provide value addition to its customers,” he adds.

Kumar believes that the rise of smartphones in no way has affected the photo printing market. “People in India are still crazy about printed pictures,” he says. “In spite of the rise in smartphones, volumes of photo labs are only increasing. I do not see any changes in near future.”

Daya (Sheth Printograph)
 

At the Photofair, Daya’s new model Ultima was launched with double-side thermal lamination, window slitting, double-side texturing and online knife cutting for polyester films.

Talking about trends, Sonal Sheth of Daya says, earlier, being a new industry, customers were not ready to invest in high-end finishing machines. “Now, it has evolved and they are ready to invest in automatic version of machines. This is also because volumes are increasing,” says Sheth.

She says digital media cannot replace high-end photography. In photo printing, other than the photographs, a lot of work is required to design each page and make it presentable. “Lot of finishing, in terms of lamination, gloss, super gloss, matt, 3D, velvet, silky, is required to protect digital prints,” Sheth adds.

Sapphire Graphic Solutions
 

While he believes that the best method to print photographs is the conventional photo printing machine, Vikram Saxena of Sapphire thinks HP Indigo presses are the nearest and closest substitute that can give photo quality. Saxena says customers are now demanding variety in photo albums.

About the size of the photo print market in India, Saxena says it is a difficult question as it is unorganised sector. “People use variety of paper or consumables, so you cannot pick paper or consumables to gauge the market size. Even web-to-print internet hits are negligible,” he says. “However, from colour lab printing units point of view, there are around 3,500 colour labs across India. Noticeably, more or less all big colour labs have invested in “expensive” new presses. There is a huge demand in B and C class cities for alternate solutions of conventional photo printing machines and with low-cost investment options for alternate solutions one can still tap huge market potential.”

On photobooks, other than wedding albums, Saxena says there is a huge opportunity for amateur photobooks, which need to be tapped properly. “One can offer soft cover photobooks of 400-500 photos at an economical price. It’s a mass appeal product which can be sold like FMCG in huge volumes,” he says. 

Ricoh India
 

Ricoh recently signed up Jindal Photo Limited, a well known brand in the photo industry, as a master distributor for photo lab segment and participated in the exhibition jointly. “We received overwhelming response, almost 1000 + visitors from various parts of the country,” says Anjana Shah of Ricoh.

The company displayed Ricoh colour production printers, Taurus and Charis, along with various applications like marriage album, photobooks, etc. “We booked orders for 5 colour production printers,” Shah adds.

Xerox India
 

According to Balaji Rajagopalan, executive director, technology, channels & international distributor operations, Xerox India, CEIF Photofair 2015 was a great success for the company. “There was huge attendance. In addition to the display of our latest digital presses, we also had one of our customers, Sood Laminate, display their range of photo albums on the Xerox stand,” says Rajagopalan.

At the exhibition, the company organised live demos of its recently launched Xerox Versant 2100, the Xerox Color C60 & the Phaser 7800.

Rajagopalan says Xerox is seeing a huge opportunity in the digital photo printing segment. “Our newly launched Xerox Versant 2100 and Xerox Color C60/70 can address the entry and mid-segments requirements for photo album printing. The top of this segment can be addressed by the iGen 150 digital press,” he adds.

Versant 2100 is the first of its kind digital press with servers for a 10-bit processing for addressing 1024 shades of grey. This 10-bit processing capability is unique to Xerox and most suitable for photo printing.

Rajagopalan says the Xerox Color C60 is also a good fit at the entry segment of photo printing. “This entry-level digital press gives the customer a choice of three print servers/controllers from Xerox and EFI that enhance productivity, reduce time-intensive tasks and deliver high impact vibrant images,” he says.

According to Rajagopalan, customers are constantly demanding higher quality, faster turn-around and the ability to print on a variety of media. He says Xerox presses with their unique and highest image quality printing and automation are the best fit for such demanding requirements.

The photo printing market in India has emerged as one of the most promising markets of digital printing. “It is certainly growing and we are looking to tap the marketplace aggressively. According to industry experts, commercial photo printing market in the country is estimated atRs 3,300 crore and of this, 20% is digital, which is to the tune of Rs 700 crore. This tells you that the opportunity in this market is immense,” he says.

On the rising trends, Rajagopalan says, with the growth of e-commerce, personalised printing is also on the rise. “There are websites that print your favourite pictures on your phone cover, coffee mugs and T-shirts,” he says. “In an attempt to increase revenues and expand reach in a growing digital printing market, online photo-sharing and printing services start-ups are experimenting new models beyond consumer photo printing. They are trying to tap into a unique opportunity India offers: a large event photography market, created by a near-obsessive need in India for pictures taken at weddings, engagements and family functions.”

On the issues of click rates, Rajagopalan says print buyers are driven more by quality than the lowest price points. Customers are ready to pay more for a superior quality output.

Epson India
 

At the expo, Epson launched the world’s first original ink tank photo printers – Epson L810, Epson L850 and Epson L1800. These printers offer high print volume and low cost per page, high-speed printing, PC Free Printing (selected models), CD printing capability (except L1800) and convenient ink refill. “Apart from this, we also displayed the Epson Mini Photo Lab SL D700, Epson Epson PM245, Epson L800 and Epson perfection V800 Photo Scanners,” says Siva Kumar, deputy general manager, IJP, sales & marketing, Epson India.

Kumar says the customer demand for Epson is primarily double-sided photo printing, low cost of printing for album and after sales service.

On the size of the photo printing market, Kumar says for professional graphics printers it should be about 300 units and the inkjet photo market is around 1,23,000 units. “The new trend in photo printing is double-side printing and the demand for double-side photo printers are growing,” he says.

HP India
 

At CEIF Photofair 2015, HP showcased the HP Indigo 7800 Digital press and its applications for the first time in India. The press provides photo labs and photo finishers features like simplified colour management, improved productivity, enhanced speed and an expanded application range.

Additionally, HP also showcased the HP Indigo 5600 digital press and its applications. “Also, throughout the length of CEIF 2015, 48 HP Indigo customers showcased their work on HP Indigo technology on a wide variety of substrates, including glossy, matt and textured papers, as well as photo or other non-paper substrates,” says A Apadurai, country manager, Indigo, GSB, HP India.

Apart from HP Indigo, HP also showcased the applications of the industry’s fastest 60-inch large-format inkjet printer, the HP Designjet Z6800 photo production printer, and the HP Designjet Z2100 photo printer, HP Designjet Z5400 PostScript ePrinter and the HP Latex 300 printer series.

Apadurai says there has been a shift from traditional photography towards more premium photo applications with enhanced features like special effects, lenticular, use of metallic substrates, B2 sized photo applications, etc. “With the changing consumer lifestyle, photo labs and photo finishers are turning to technology that reflects that change. Photo album manufacturers and printers today are demanding premium photo applications with enhanced features like special and 3D effects, use of newer substrates, including metallic, clear ink, etc. The consumer demand is also shifting towards light weight non-tearable albums and B2 sized photo applications, helping them make their memories larger than life and all this in a short turnaround time,” he adds.

Consumers want to preserve their special life moments for as long as possible and the best way to do so is by getting quality photo prints of them. “Another trend which is picking up fast is that of more photo-based applications are finding their way into home décor space in India. Customers are experimenting with their photographs and related applications, unlocking new opportunities and capabilities for photo finishers and professional photo labs,” Apadurai concludes.