Tripods outlawed in London!

An extract from the “TalkPhotography” forum

I came out of Canary Wharf underground, and put my tripod on the ground. Took 3 or 4 shots, before an out of breath security guard approached...

Guard: "Excuse me Sir, what are you taking photos of?"

Me: "That big Sky Scraper, the HSBC one"

Guard: "Why?"

Me: "I'm from Edinburgh, we don't have Sky Scrapers"

Guard: "Is it commercial?"

Me: "I guess so, HSBC own it" ...

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MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC LAUNCHES ‘EASYPHOTO'

Mitsubishi Electric’s Visual Information Systems Division, a world leader in the innovative design and manufacture of high quality digital photo technology, is pleased to introduce Easyphoto!

A complete, flexible and affordable digital photo solution that has been designed with photo retailers, pharmacies and photographers in mind, Easyphoto is a complete all in one solution for your digital printing needs. Producing beautiful, clear, full colour bleed to edge photographs in a matter of seconds Easyphoto is quick and simple to set up and operate.

The sleek compact design would fit into virtually any retail application with the included Mitsubishi CP9550DW-S photo printer. The Easyphoto and printer can easily be situated neatly on the counter top or separated with the printer being housed out of sight under a counter. Convenient ‘over the counter’ payment is achieved with an optional ticket printer and wireless keyboard for order processing.

Easyphoto can be customized to offer a number of standard options such as instant printing, CD/DVD burning, brightness and colour adjustments, red eye reduction and composition prints.

In addition Easyphoto can be expanded to offer ID photos, calendars, collage and mosaic options. The ID option will include automatic biometric adjustments making the offering of ID easier than ever before! Just connect a standard digital camera or insert a memory card and upload the images to the ID option.

All photos will be printed on Mitsubishi’s market leading CP9550DW-S dye sublimation printer that can produce 4” x 6”, 5” x 7” up to 6” x 9” prints quickly and easily! Cost per print for a finished 6” x4” will be 8 pence per print to the retailer, this is for either finished photo or an ID print!

With an initial investment of around £1199 for a complete out of the box solution, Easyphoto provides a great return on investment that will literally pay for itself within months! Optional upgrades include an ID Photo module, wireless keyboard and ticket printer.

Paul Jones UK Sales Manager said “Easyphoto is the ideal choice for photo retailers; it is easy to set up and operate and is extremely cost effective! It provides a refreshing alternative to the Kiosk products that have been in the market for a number of years as it is a flexible and easy solution that provides a great return on investment opportunity”.

For more information on the Easyphoto, please call the sales team at Photomart on 020 8527 6006.
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DIY Colour Profiles!

A Colour Management solution for Event Photographers!

“The Colour on my photo is not the same as on the screen!”, sounds familiar? The solution to this age old problem however no longer falls within the dark realms of that mysterious science called Colour Management. X-rite have recently introduced a device called the ColorMunki that will take care of all your Colour Management woes.

The design brief was to come up with a solution that provides accurate colour workflow for photographers who have had very little or no previous Colour Management training. Developed with the input of Pro Photographers, the result was the ColorMunki “Photo” with it’s incredibly easy “step 1-2-3” wizard based software interface.

Profiling your Dye Sub or Inkjet printer as well as the display of your laptop or desktop is now as easy as clicking a single icon on your computer and then simply following the onscreen instructions!

Colour Management has never been this easy and it now means that within just a few minutes, you can create an accurate colour workflow at an event that will ensure that the colour displayed on your monitor/s will provide the closest possible match to the colour of the prints you are producing.

The ColorMunki “Photo” (There is also ColorMunki “Design”) is compatable with both Mac and PC platforms and retails for around £300.

For more information on the ColorMunki, please call the sales team at Photomart on 020 8527 6006.
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BREAKTHROUGH SENSOR TECHNOLOGY

A new type of material, accidentally discovered in a Harvard physics laboratory, could lead to an improvement in electrical devices such as digital cameras.

Black silicon is the material that has got people talking and the group who discovered it are now trying to commercialise it. ...
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Join the revolution

A look at the use of Dye Sub Printing in Event Photography

If you are in the business of photographing Events and still toying with the idea of buying a “Dye Sub” printer, then perhaps now is the time to take the plunge.

The advent of the Dye Sublimation photo printer made an enormous impact in the area of Event Photography, empowering Photographers with the ability to produce photo quality prints on site quickly and efficiently. This ability is essential to the success of Event Photographers because punters that do not buy the print on the night, usually don’t buy the print at all!

Event Photographers have also found ways of “adding value” to these instant type prints enabling them to charge very healthy margins. A 6”x8” print of a couple for example with a fantasy background, presented in a nice folder and clear fronted bag easilly sells for a tenner and costs less than a pound to produce. Now imagine if that were a group of say twenty people?

Photomart became aware of the demand for instant type printing very early on selling it's first dye subs in 1999, and have carried on developing this important market, introducing new brands and innovative solutions.

Photomart now supply a complete range of portrait and event printers employing dye sublimation technology from respected manufacturers like Copal, Fuji, HiTi, ICI Imagedata (Olmec), Kodak, Mitsubishi and Sony. A very large number of the machines that are being used by Event Photographers in the UK were supplied by Photomart and they are also still supplying a very large proportion of the print media being used.

“The interesting thing we have found is that there are still quite a large number of Event Photographers who are not exploiting this technology” says Photomart Senior Sales Manager Mark Amies. “Some photographers are using inkjet printers and others are not even printing on site, opting to send their orders to a photo lab instead”.

If you fall into this category then you may be losing out on an enormous opportunity and you may not even realise that the profit from only one or two events may be enough to cover your initial investment.

There is a great deal of money to be made from Event Photography but an essential part of that solution is the ability to offer your customers prints on site. The team over at Photomart are experts in their respective fields, eager to help and also very generous with information and advice. For more information on Dye Sub Printers or Event Photography you can call the sales team at Photmart on 020 8527 6006

Why not give it a go, join the revolution!
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EVENT PHOTOGRAPHER CONQUERS SEVERN BRIDGE

When you wish upon a star” is the children’s charity that grants wishes for children between the ages of 2 and 16 with terminal illnesses. To make their dreams a reality the charity relies overwhelmingly on the generosity of their supporters and donations from members of the public.

It was after watching a report about the charity on GMTV that children’s photographer and a long time customer of Photomart, Pete Norton decided to embark on a sponsored mountain bike ride from Humber Bridge to the Severn Bridge near Bristol, almost 210 miles away! “As I run a successful chidren’s photography company it made me think really hard that as I earn from children then it is only right I should give something back” says Peter.

Pete set off on Tuesday July 22nd and after a gruelling 11 hour first leg, he stopped over at the Warwick Tea Rooms where he stayed overnight and enjoyed the hospitality of his brother Kevin and wife Karin. Kevin and Karin are also the owners of the Warwick Tea Rooms.

Early the next morning Pete departed on the second leg of his journey, meeting several well wishers along the way and riding through picturesque towns and villages. Pete says he nearly packed it all in when the pain from sitting in the saddle for hours started becoming unbearable but after stopping in at a Brewers fayre pub in Cheltenham for a soft drink he decided to soldier on to his final destination.

Three and half hours later Pete was enjoying the view from the Bridge Services overlooking the Severn Bridge although he says he was totally worn out from the journey and still suffering with that bad pain he got from the saddle.

Despite all that, Pete says that he was very pleased that he had decided to go through with the ride as it means so much to the children. “I'm already planning next year’s event” says Pete when he intends to kayak from his home town of Boston Lincolnshire down to London and says that any sponsorships or donations will be greatly appreciated. Pete can be contacted via his website, www.nortonphotography.co.uk.

Anyone who would like to donate to the charity or find out how they can get more involved can also visit their website at www.whenyouwishuponastar.org.uk.

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The Latest Money Spinner For Your Business.

Photomart are the exclusive suppliers of the exciting new Mini Binder! The Mini Binder is a machine that makes the increasingly popular Mini Photo Books. The smallest of these Mini Photo Books are no more than an inch by an inch and a quarter and are the latest craze among teenagers to hit the shores of the UK!
These attractive looking mini albums come in various different designs and are incredibly easy to make. All it takes is a print with a series of thumbnails of your customer’s favourite images. Punch it, fold it and stick it into the mini cover and hey presto, you have something to sell for at least a fiver and it hardly cost you 80p to make!

“I’ve shown just a few samples of these Mini Photo Books to my daughter who also showed it to all of her friends and now they won’t stop hounding me for theirs” says Lewis, Managing Director of Photomart. “…and now my wife wants me to do one for her as well!”
If you don’t get yourself one of these machines, you will be missing out on an enormous opportunity but also make sure you don’t leave any samples lying around or else you will wish you had!
For more information on the Mini Binder, please call the Photomart order line on 0208 527 6006.
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And The Lucky Winner is Issac!

We are very happy to announce that the winner of the Olmec OP1000 printer is Issac from 50-50 Photo.

Issac is one of Photomart's great success stories. He came to us nearly six years ago, when he was still using a Polaroid camera for event work. We introduced him to the then current Mitsubsihi Click system. He didn't look back. He very quickly established himself with African Event Photography to be one of the top guys in his field. He now has eight Mitsubsihi Clicks and six Sony SnapLabs. He has over twenty photographers working with him.

Not bad from a man with a Poloroid camera six years ago, and it shows how a good relationship with a supplier can pay dividends.

Well done Issac!!

Record Attandance at Autumn Show

Photomart once again hosted an extremely successful day of workshops at their showrooms in London last week. Delegates were treated to some of the finest seminars in the country and left feeling satisfied that it was a day well spent.
“I would very much like to thank the sponsors and the presenters and also the Photomart team who made a spectacular effort to make the day such a tremendous success. To the delegates who attended, thank you for all your positive comments, without you guys none of this would have been possible,” says Photomart Managing Director, Mr Lewis Martindale.

The day kicked off with a series of workshops and demonstrations presented by acclaimed photographers David Burlison, Bjorn Thomassen, Keith Trainor & Mike Weeks. Other key speakers included Peter Lovelock from Colour Confidence and Bertus Vos from Fujifilm UK.

Photomart Senior Sales Manager, Mark Amies, who also attended Autumn Show says “These days are all about giving back to the industry although it is also very encouraging to see that serious photographers are still investing heavily in kit, clearly proving that the industry is very much alive and kicking”.

Photomart’s next workshops will be held at the SWPP & BPPA tradeshow from the 16th to the 18th of January 2009. The next bumper day is still to be announced.

Please click here to see more pictures of the day.
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Mike Weeks expands network of photographers.

Highly successful event photographer Mike Weeks is currently expanding his current network of event photographers. Many event photographers in the UK now canvass for most of their business through networks like UKPhotoEvent (UKPE). Other benefits include being able to “farm out” work to other photographers in case of double bookings for example, or for whatever other reason.

Photographers looking to join UKPE can visit Mike’s website, or they can come along to Mike’s workshop, “The Event Photographer’s Kitbag” being held at Photomart’s Autumn Show. Mike will cover things like equipment redundancy, printer & cable selection, easy colour management at events, custom white balance techniques and lots more.

New 5p per print drylab available soon!

Photomart will be launching the Protechnik MLS Drylab solution in the UK in early 2009. Based on the latest environmental printing technology from Fuji and print management software by Bulgarian software developer Odessos, the MLS will offer vendors a comprehensive modular print solution that can be individually configured to suit the specific demands and requirements of customers.
Developers are tight lipped about the project but PhotoWeek has been assured that the new drylab is going to be a real little gem!
The low print cost of 5p a print will make the MLS a popular choice with labs & retailers making it likely the most competitive photo finishing drylab solution in the UK market.

Print capacity of the machine will be up to an impressive 2500 prints per hour depending on the chosen configuration but can also be configured at 800 prints per hour for smaller labs. The MLS will also feature:

• Back printer as standard
• Optional sorter
• Small footprint
• Automated CD/DVD burner
• Easy operation with touch screen
• Multi display
• Various editing functions
• Automatic red eye removal
• ID photos, mini portraits, frames, calendars text, business cards etc.

Although proprietary consumer work stations and online ordering systems will also be available with the MLS, the open system architecture will ensure easy integration with other systems and networks.
The software was also something quite incredible to see. Designed specifically with the operator in mind, the interface is incredibly intuitive and menu’s easy to navigate saving further costs by reducing & optimising operator intervention.
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Exciting New Mini Kiosk to be unveiled at Autumn Show!

Sony’s new UP-CR20L mini kiosk, which was launched at Photokina recently, will be shown for the first time in the UK at Photomart’s Autumn Show to be held on the 15th of October.
The UP-CR20L, affectionately known by it’s Japanese developers as “Snaplab San (father of Snaplab)” will be known in the UK as the “Super” Snaplab. The Super Snaplab is an all-in-one, turnkey mini kiosk solution incorporating a 10.4 inch colour LCD with a friendly graphical user interface (GUI) to help customers print high quality photographs with ease.

Apart from the standard features like value-added print options, high volume printing and easy operation, the Super Snaplab now offers a number of interesting new features, making it also a very attractive option for the UK Event printing market:

• prints up to 6”x8” size prints
• ”pro matte” or glossy prints from the same paper roll
• CD-R/RW and DVD-R/RW
• can output to other Sony printers
• wireless shooting option

Photomart was invited to have a sneak peak at this amazing little piece of kit at Photokina and it certainly gets the thumbs up from us!
To come and see the Super Snaplab at our Autumn Show event please call a member of our sales team at: 0208 5276006 or click here for further details.

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