Canon India has strengthened its foothold in Digital Photo Printing with the 4th installation of its stellar product DreamLabo 5000, a commercial inkjet printer at the Capital Color Lab in Mysore. With this installation India has emerged as the country with the largest number of installations in South Asia and the second highest in printing volume. South India has emerged as the fastest growing market and a hub for superior image quality printing. In India, the demand for better printing output is being fuelled by the fast changing taste of discerning consumers and the manner in which they want to capture and treasure their memories.
Mr. Kazutada Kobayashi, President & CEO, Canon India, said, “We are delighted to partner with Capital Colour Lab in Mysore and launch the 4th DreamLabo 5000 in the country. India is undergoing a massive transition from the conventional analogue and silver halide technology to digital high definition photo printing. The DreamLabo 5000 is a robust product that aims to revolutionize wedding photography in India. The commercial photo printing market in India is worth Rs.4000 crore, of which nearly 20% is digital, which is about Rs. 800 crore. With this addition, we aim to capture 15% of digital photo album print space in India by end of 2018”.
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 (POD) markets substantial new revenue streams.
Mr. Puneet Datta, Director, Professional Printing Products division said, “DreamLabo 5000 is a very ambitious product of Canon. With this product we aim to change the way photo printing industry perceives the quality of photo printing especially wedding photography. This 4th installation in Mysore signifies that the understanding and therefore the demand for HD quality photo printing in India is increasing rapidly. There is vast opportunity for premium photo printing in the country and this product in terms of quality and quantity justifies the requirements of the industry.”
Leveraging and extending Canon’s existing inkjet technology, which it has successfully deployed through its PIXMA desktop printers range, the DreamLabo 5000 features a newly developed high-density print head, enabling over 300 mm wide printing output. Incorporating Canon’s FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) 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 POD items, such as bespoke brochures.
The wide print head delivers high-speed One-Pass printing, requiring only a single pass of the printing paper while the print head remains in a fixed position. When used in combination with the automatic Double-sided printing function up to 12×25’size, the DreamLabo 5000 is capable of printing approximately 1000 pages of A4 size content and 2300 pages of 4×6’ size content per hour. Canon offers exclusive high quality inkjet papers for DreamLabo 5000 which are like Luster, glossy satin and metallic in different sizes. Canon DreamLabo 5000 can print RGB/SRGB files directly with resolution up to 1200x2400dpi. The system also attains high productivity by enabling paper and ink tank replacement during printing, supporting the extended operation time required for production printers.
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.
The retail price of DreamLabo 5000 in India is approximately INR 4.5 crore. Canon India, in association with its channel partners has big plans to work towards realising the full potential of this advanced technology.
Canon India is a 100% subsidiary of Canon Singapore. Set up in 1997, Canon markets over 200 comprehensive range of sophisticated contemporary digital imaging. The company today has offices in 14 cities, warehouses in 14 cities across India and employs over 1000 people. Canon has 550 primary channel partners, 14 National Retail Chain partners, and over 6000 secondary retail points. Canon has 168 own retail stores called the Canon Image Square across 80 cities in the country. Canon’s service reach extends to over 5000 towns with 18 Canon camera service centers and 37 Canon Printer Care Centers. Canon India also has 141 authorized service centers for printers and 175 camera collection points.