Kochi gets its first DreamLabo

“We are delighted to introduce the DreamLabo 5000 in Kochi. After its grand success in Bengaluru, this was a natural step towards expansion. The DreamLabo 5000 is a robust product that aims to revolutionize wedding photography in India,” said Kazutada Kobayashi, president and chief executive officer, Canon India.

The company sources said that this association will go a long way in strengthening Canon’s presence in the industry and digitising the Rs 3,300-crore commercial photo printing market in India. With the new installation, Edathadan will position the premium print version as HD prints.

The press announcement event was attended by EM Wilson and EN Vinod of Edathadan Digital Press along with Takao Hada, group executive, commercial inkjet product group, Canon, Tokyo; Kensaku Konishi, president and chief executive officer, Canon South and South East Asia; Kazutada Kobayashi, president and chief executive officer, Canon India and Alok Bharadwaj, executive vice president, Canon India.

Delivering a new standard of combined photo and text quality coupled with high productivity, DreamLabo 5000 revolutionises the photo printing industry by providing a high quality alternative to the traditional silver halide technology. In addition, the premium quality printing offers both the production photo and the small batch print-on-demand markets substantial new revenue streams.

“Over the years, photo capturing technology has grown by leaps and bounds. In order to keep up with these advances, India is undergoing a massive transition from the conventional analogue and silver halide technology to digital photo printing,” said Bharadwaj.

In fact, out of the Rs 3,300-crore commercial photo printing market in India, nearly 20% percent is digital, which is about Rs 700 crore. With growing customer expectation, there is an enormous scope for creating value in this space.

“DreamLabo 5000 exactly serves to do this,” he added.

“Since the lion’s share of the country’s multi-crore commercial photography print industry comes from wedding and travel photography, the digital production engine specifically targets the needs of these professional photographers. We have got extremely encouraging feedback from Bengaluru and hope to replicate the same success in Kochi.”

He said Canon is looking at capturing 10% of digital photo album print space in India in the next three years. South India, especially Kerala, will be a big driver towards this goal.

The DreamLabo 5000 features a newly developed high-density print head, enabling over 300 mm wide printing output. Incorporating Canon’s Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) technology, the print head enables the printing of high-quality photos and detailed text to support a variety of high-value-added output, from premium photo albums, photo books, photo calendars, photo collages and other merchandise to high-quality print-on-demand (POD) items, such as bespoke brochures.

DreamLabo 5000 uses a seven-colour dye-based ink system that delivers smooth gradation.  Employing image processing technology that makes use of the full range of Canon’s unique inkjet printing colour gamut, the new printer enables the output of photo images with a level of colour representation which comprehensively surpasses that of conventional silver halide.