Kodak Celebrates Anniversary at Photokina

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In the year of its 125th birthday, Kodak showcased its new photo book printing solution at Photokina.
 
The Nexpress Photo Platform was used at Photokina to print a keepsake calendar marking Kodak’s history and its continuing contributions to the field of imaging.
 
Photo books are among the fastest growing photo merchandise segments, with revenue representing roughly half of all revenues in the category year over year.  Kodak say their photo book solutions help photo merchandisers across the value chain expand beyond traditional photo services and differentiate their businesses. The company’s focus is to enable an exceptional consumer experience at a variety of touch points including in-store, online, and at the desktop; with full-featured creative tools and simple intuitive ordering interfaces, plus multi-channel production and fulfillment options.
 
The photo platform can produce printed photo products, including hard and soft cover photo books, calendars, greeting cards, 4x6 prints, magnets, and other photo products. It is designed to deliver certain special effects, such as raised printing and matte or gloss coating.
 
“The demand for high-quality photo products certainly is on the rise and the business opportunities for photo service providers are exciting.” says Stephen Fletcher, General Manager, Electrophotographic Printing Solutions, Kodak. “With the advanced features of the Nexpress Photo Platform, printers are able to deliver unique services that differentiate them and open new revenue streams.”
 
Other features of the platform include new small particle-sized dry inks that increase quality and reduce ink usage, a higher density black dry ink for darker blacks, a new matte fuser roller option for a matte finish that enables smoother tones and less gloss, and the ability to print on longer sheets, up to 26 inches. Longer sheets enable larger book covers and more impositions per sheet for higher productivity (up to 131 ppm).
 
“In the photo market, colour is critical,” added Fletcher, “and the true photo quality output from this new device meets or exceeds consumers’ expectations. With the explosion of affordable, high-quality digital capture devices, there are more photos than ever in the market. People are looking to create and preserve memories with a variety of photo-based applications.”
 
The platform is designed to have minimal impact on the environment. Prints are de-inkable using standard industry processes, and Dry Inks do not contain lead or phthalates above limits for children’s products established by section 102 of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.
 
The company has also been exploring software improvements, and their latest innovation is Smartfit Technology – an auto-fill system designed to organize and lay out a photo book in minutes.
 
The software automatically arranges pictures based on event and date creation, and adjusts to accommodate landscape, portrait and panoramic shots. The customer can choose page themes, write captions and add personal touches. The new technology also provides a multi-page view of an entire photo book, allowing users to drag and drop photos to give the book a personalised feel.
 
“With the touch of a button, Kodak Smartfit Technology instantly brings your story to life. Photo Books with Smartfit Technology changes the photo book creation process with an intuitive, fun and time-saving tool that helps to create a beautiful book of memories instantly” said Victor Cho, General Manager of Kodak Gallery.