If prints are a part of your service mix, you’ll want to check out a pair of new printers introduced at Photokina 2014 by DNP Imaging.
First up is the DS620 (pictured above), the company’s new flagship 6-inch dye sub photo printer. It will carry many of the features of the company’s DS40 (which will remain in the market) with a new media formulation to create a glossier print. Improvements to the print head will give the unit a longer lifespan, though precisely how long wasn’t released.
The DS620 will be 14 percent smaller and 14 percent lighter than the DS40 at 25 pounds. Other tweaks include reduced power consumption in standby mode and better print drivers. Print sizes and print speeds will be similar to the DS40. Pricing and availability will be announced later in the year.
Then there’s the DS80-DX, which takes the company’s existing DS80 printer and endows it with double-sided photo printing. In addition to being compact for a duplex printer, the unit can cope with single or double sided printing without changing paper. Single-sided prints are produced on roll paper while double-sided prints are fed through a cut sheet paper loader.
DNP hopes the double-sided printing will convince DS80-DX owners to make photo books and other photo merchandise that’s currently being produced using a lower quality, electrostatic process. The company is working on software applications, such as a hot folder for correctly ordering a batch of images for printing, that will enable photo merchandise creation using the DS80-DX. Pricing and availability for this model will also be announced a bit later in the year. Stay tuned.