New equipment developed to accompany digital photo trend

Drug chains and other retailers have been investing significantly in photo departments to keep a traditional operation viable during the switch to digital photography, and a new generation of equipment promises to help expand services and lower costs.

Kodak, for example, has launched APEX, a photo-printing system that demands less training, operational attention and space to maintain than wet labs, said Rowan Lawson of Kodak’s consumer digital group and worldwide kiosk marketing. The system frees personnel to help customers choose among the more sophisticated products, such as DVDs that provide soundtrack-enhanced photo presentations using software that keeps faces featured as the production progresses.

“We’ve seen an uptick in the growth of premium products when staff is available to spend more time at the counter,” Lawson said. “That’s why the consumer got into digital photography in the first place—to do more with the pictures.”

APEX systems start at less than $22,000 and offer a low cost of operation, as they don’t require the expenditures surrounding chemicals. Additionally, the eco-friendly thermal printing system APEX uses consumes 70% to 90% less energy than wet labs and less even than ink-jet printer dry labs.

Kodak first launched APEX in Europe, and it’s applying what it learned there to improving the U.S. start-up.

Ken Strait, managing director of Strait Photography in Morpeth, England, has installed an APEX system in his business and said it’s better on the balance.

“The way the store operates with an APEX is radically different,” he noted. “You have much less housekeeping to do, with no chemicals, no waste, no need for darkrooms and no process control.… The day-to-day function of the machine is so easy, with the APEX being ready for use in two, three minutes from throwing the power switch, and also minimum training is needed to operate the system.”

Fujifilm’s latest entry into the dry lab market is the Frontier DL42SD, an ink-jet minilab designed for easy operation and to produce high-quality, double-sided borderless prints that have particular application in producing custom photo books.

The Frontier DL42SD was introduced with the DL430, a dual-paper roll upgrade to a line that has evolved successfully from the DL400 to the DL410, which on April 1 received Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Award in the electronics category, based on its reduced water and power consumption and the elimination of photo processing chemicals.