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My PMA report can be summed up in one word "incredible!" I expected a big show, but it was actually much larger than I anticipated. I wish I had had more time to meet with new companies and the many friends who I've met over the years at trade shows, on Internet forums and other events.
Now for the standouts...
For this report, I've decided to focus primarily on just the digital output technologies that were impressive to me and that also had some fine-art component to them. PMA 2004 was packed with everything from tiny 4x6 inkjet printers to solvent-based billboard behemoths.
Let's start big--I had a private tour of the Vutek booth, and I was truly amazed at the UV flatbed printers that can image on virtually anything flexible or rigid, including wood, plastic and even glass. I was most impressed by the quality of the direct-printed images on Plexiglass, one of which was over 50" tall by more than 70" long (see image below). The technology is actually piezo drop-on-demand inkjet.
ABOVE: (left) The Vutek UV 180, capable of imaging at widths of 72"
and up to 1" thick. (right) A backlit finished piece from Vutek.
Sintra and other materials were also shown, and for fine art, I can clearly see many uses for the technology by artists with a unique imagination. www.vutek.com
Vutek also won the flatbed UV category at the DIMA Shoot Out. These Shoot Outs are essentially a collection of contests to see which camera or printer from a group of submitted entries performs best according to a group of judges.
Two aisles of the DIMA Shoot Out presentation.
There was an amazing assortment of Shoot Out prints from different output devices, and reading the individual charts, with many lines of judging criteria and scores, was quite enlightening. The cost of the respective printer or camera was also listed on each sheet. The advantage of seeing them in person was the ability to see the slight (or vast) differences between very similar devices. (Harald has prepared links to the results of the Shoot Outs in his Addendum below.)
DIMA print and scored sheet from a still photo taken with the Sony DCR-PC330 Mini DV camcorder.
The print had excellent sharpness and detail.
I was fortunate to have a few of my prints on display at the Arches Infinity booth during the show. I used the 230gsm textured paper since that is my favorite of their line, and I printed them on my Epson 7600 using Epson OEM Ultrachrome inks with the Bill Atkinson Enhanced Matte Profile. www.archesinfinity.com
Andrew Darlow with his print "Dalmatian Contemplation." Photo by Jeff Neumann.
Another notable item was the Bulk Feed system at Lyson's large booth. This one was filled with their "Cave Paint" inks and attached to an Epson 7600. It looked rugged, and the print samples were exceptional. www.lyson.com
Cave Paint Bulk Feed from Lyson for the Epson 7600
On the supplies front, there were many interesting players, with everything from canvas to paper made with stone! Encad (a Kodak Company) had a great display of their large-format printers, and one item that stood out was the inkjet backlit material made with Encad's GO (Graphic Outdoor) pigment inks. The quality was excellent, and I look forward to testing the media on my Epson 7600. www.encad.com
Kodak's indoor and outdoor inkjet supplies
ErgoSoft's StudioPrint RIP software had a corner booth with a stunning (and huge) photo on the back wall (see daisy image below) by Mark Rowe done on a Canon 10D digital camera, then enlarged using Genuine Fractals and the StudioPrint software. Peter Supry gave me an excellent demo and explained some of the advantages of the StudioPrint RIP. www.ergosoftus.com
An overview of ErgoSoft's booth
For more information about PMA and to read another review, feel free sign up for my personal newsletter at www.andrewdarlow.com. Other PMA news will appear in the Mar/April edition of Digital Imaging Magazine. Apply at a direct link for a free subscription here.
Happy imaging!
Andrew Darlow
Andrew Darlow is a photographer and educator based in the New York City area. His current work encompasses assignment photography, private consulting, and digital printing workshops. He has developed and taught numerous classes at the International Center of Photography in New York and he has been a guest lecturer at numerous venues, including the School of Visual Arts and Columbia University. He is Editorial Director at Digital Imaging Magazine and he publishes the Inkjet Tip of The Month Club Newsletter, available free to subscribers on his website, www.andrewdarlow.com. Andrew will be giving two seminars at the Photo Imaging & Design Expo in San Diego on creating the perfect inkjet portfolio, May 5-7, 2004. For more info, visit www.photoimaginganddesign.com.
Part II: by Harald Johnson
Adding to what Andrew says above, the DIMA Shoot Outs (DIMA is a subset of PMA) at PMA are always interesting. This is one of the few places where comparisons can be made among vendors in a controlled environment. For the complete results of the 2004 DIMA Shoot Outs, click on the respective Word document link: 04printerwinners.doc (for printers), 04camerawinners.doc (for cameras), 04kioskwinners1.doc (for kiosks), and 04IDPwinners.doc (for innovative digital products).
Visionaries Panel: One of the highlights of this show for me was the "Visionaries Panel," which took place early on Thursday morning on the first full day of the show. At 8:30 in the morning, I thought it would be sparsely attended, but the giant room was standing-room-only. And if the title seems a little puffed-up, believe me, it delivered. You had sitting next to each other: the CEO of Kodak (Daniel Carp), the EVP of HP's Imaging & Printing Group (Vyomesh Joshi), the CEO of Fuji Photo Film (Shigetaka Komori), and the EVP of Seiko Epson (Norio Niwa), all being quizzed and moderated by former CNN host Stuart Varney. Talk about a high-powered group!
The PMA Visionaries Panel (from left): moderator Stuart Varney, Kodak's Daniel Carp, HP's Vyomesh Joshi, Fuji Photo Film's Shigetaka Komori, Japanese interpreter, and Seiko Epson's Norio Niwa. Photo courtesy of Photo Marketing Association International.
The overall theme was: "what's the imaging world going to be like in five years," and the discussion topics ranged from print-at-home vs. print-at-retail (not surprisingly, the panel split equally on this--can you guess how?), the surging interest in camera-phones and how that could affect printing businesses (everyone confirmed that Japan is 12-18 months ahead of the U.S. in high-tech adoption, and camera phones are THE thing there now), kiosks in retail stores, the decline of film (Kodak's CEO admitted that they are dropping 10-12% in film sales PER YEAR, but that this would soon level off), and the coming together of the consumer imaging and entertainment worlds (see Epson next).
All in all, it was an informative hour spent with the key decisions-makers at four of the most important companies in the digital imaging universe. It will be interesting what these same guys (or their successors) will be saying in five more years. The moderator joked that he had been there five years prior moderating the same event, and the big thing then was (1) the new APS film format (it died!), and (2) this new emerging thing called digital photography.
EPSON: While there were no large-format new-printer announcements from Epson, they were showing off their new home-printing solution: the PictureMate. Promoted as "your personal photo lab," the PictureMate is aimed at consumers and scrapbookers who want to make inexpensive ($.29) 4x6" prints and nothing else. PictureMate doesn't require a computer, it uses pigment inks, and it will be available Summer 2004 for $199.
The other really cool thing I saw was Epson's solution to one of the hot trends that a lot of people (including Bill Gates) are talking about: the merging of entertainment and imaging. Occupying a very large part of their booth was the Epson LivingStation (see image below). This is an Epson-branded flat-screen television using their projection technology, plus: (1) on-board DYE-SUB printer, (2) CD burner, (3) computer hookups, and (4) media card slots. The point, as they explained it to me, is to allow imagemakers to move from the office to the living room to do all their work, from computer to photo viewing and printing (wireless is coming soon).
At left: Epson's LivingStation
Hewlett-Packard: HP was in its usual spot upfront on the second floor. The first thing you saw was a gallery wall filled with HP inkjet prints, the most amazing of which were the new images from Mars. It turns out that HP large-format inkjet printers (HP Designjet 5500) were used by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena to produce huge, composite-view printouts of the images captured by the robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity. These panoramic prints, some 39-feet long, were then analyzed by the project scientists. Talk about a feather in your cap! As HP's U.S. commercial marketing manager Rob Wait put it: "It's a great day for photo imaging when you can closely support a scientific mission of this value and relevance to human kind."
Spectacular images from Mars at the HP booth were printed on HP printers.
HP was also introducing their new Designjet 30 and 130 large-format printers (13x19" and 24" wide respectively) with the "durable dye" inks that have a Wilhelm rating of 70 years when used with matched HP media. With some of the best-looking inkjet prints I've ever seen coming out of these printers, HP was putting everyone on notice that they are definitely playing in the super-high-quality, larger-format digital output game (the smaller 8-ink-with-3-blacks Photosmart 7960 is already turning a lot of heads). Prices of the Designjets 30 & 130 are unknown at this writing.
HP's new Designjet 130 inkjet printer.
CANON: For printers, the two big Canon introductions were the i9900 and the W6200:
-- The i9900 (below) is a dye-based, 8-color (CMYKcm + R + G !!!!!!), 2 picoliter, 13x19, dye-based inkjet printer. It replaces the i9100, and it has 6,144 nozzles total in a very large printhead. This means it's VERY FAST! It's supposed to be available in the U.S. in May for around $499.
The new Canon i9900 inkjet printer with added Red and Green inks
-- The W6200 is a new 24"-wide (roll and sheet) inkjet printer using pigment inks. It's 6/color (CMYKcm) with 1200x1200dpi max resolution. Even better than the i9900, this printer has 7,680 nozzles total, which again, makes it very fast! This is more of a commercial, production printer. It's available in the U.S. now for about $3,495.
-- While I was checking out the printers, Canon's Geoff Coalter gave me a private sneak peek at the new EOS-1D MARK II, the world's fastest digital SLR camera. Did I say fast? It can capture 8-megapixel JPEG images at 8.5 fps in continuous bursts of up to 40 frames and RAW images in continuous bursts of up to 20 frames. It's got an extra-large (28.7 x 19.1mm and 34.5mm on the diagonal), high-resolution, 8.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, and it's set for delivery to dealers in April with an estimated selling price of $ 4,499. (BTW, a whole slew of 8-MP dSLRs made news at PMA, including: Nikon Coolpix 8700, Sony DSC-F828, Canon PowerShot Pro 1, Konica Minolta Dimage A2, and Olympus C-8080.)
ENCAD: Encad introduced its new NovaJet 1000i (thermal) inkjet printer at a press conference at the PMA show. This is the first printer jointly developed by Encad and Kodak, and it's selling points are speed (up to 220 square feet per hour), image quality (up to 1200x600 dpi), two new Quantum inks (dye and pigment), a Rapid Evaporation Drying System, and low cost-per-print.
ENCAD's new 1000i thermal inkjet printer
This is a production machine meant for commercial print-for-pay shops. It comes in 42" and 60"-wide models that are priced at about $11,995 and $16,995 respectively. (One open rumor at the show was that Kodak itself is planning to re-enter the consumer inkjet printer market. No details yet.)
A FEW FINAL NOTES...
Gregory Schern was busy expanding his digital domain at the Moab Paper booth. He was announcing his new Kayenta™ Photo Matte paper to "fill the void for an everyday photo job" paper. Greg said the dual-sided, acid-free, lignin-free paper is perfect for portfolios, scrapbooks and other general print jobs. In addition, the low-price point makes Kayenta Photo Matte a perfect proofing paper for Moab's Entrada™ line. www.moabpaper.com
Continuing with paper, the ILFORD booth was jumping as usual. Wendy Erickson pointed out that ILFORD is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year (1879-2004). Here's a 2004 calendar with milestones in the company's history: www.ilford.com/html/us_english/calendar/index.html. ILFORD also won one of the DIMA Shoot Out Awards for inkjet printing (8.5" wide or less - $99 or less) with its Ilford Galerie Classic Pearl (using the HP 5550). Other news: announcing three new additions to the ILFORD Galerie professional inkjet line with Smooth Fine Art, Smooth High Gloss, and Smooth Heavyweight Matte paper; and upgrading the popular ILFORD Studio System RIP.
Did you know that Arches Infinity's Jeffrey Neumann is an accomplished painter? I was surprised when I saw a blurb in ART BUSINESS NEWS magazine about him, but when I stopped by the Arches booth he showed me examples of his oil and watercolor paintings of roadside cafes, welcoming hotel signs, and blue-collar burger joints. Check out his work at: www.neumannfineart.com and Arches Infinity at
www.archesinfinity.com.
And last but certainly not least when speaking of paper, Diana York and George Coon were friendly faces at their Hawk Mountain Papers booth. They were introducing Osprey Natural, in both Velvet and Textured finishes, Condor Natural, and Kestrel Natural - all archival-quality printing papers. In case you didn't know, these papers are 100% cotton with inkjet-receptive coatings that have been re-formulated to be free of Optical Brightening Agents (OBAs). Diana was also revealing their U.S. paper making sources: Monadnock Paper Mills, Inc. of Bennington, NH and Crocker Technical Papers of Fitchburg, MA.
www.hawkmtnartpapers.com
It's always a pleasure to see Norm Levy of MediaStreet.com at these shows, and he usually has a surprise for me. This year was no different as he informed me (and the rest of the world) that Hasselblad USA is now the exclusive U.S. distributor of Media Street inkjet inks and papers to the photographic world. Will Media Street and its popular Generations inks and Royal papers also continue to be at www.mediastreet.com? Click on the link and see.
Robert Eversole also showed me around the ErgoSoft booth and pointed out that their StudioPrint RIP software -- optimized for photography and fine-art reproduction -- now came in "scalable" versions. This means there's a version for each printer-size grouping. StudioPrint Desktop supports the Epson 2200, 3000, and 5000 ($600). StudioPrint Desktop XL supports all those plus the new Epson 4000 ($800). Etc. While at the booth, I got to meet fine-art portrait photographer Marcia Dolgin, who was showing some of her digitally captured and inkjet-printed images. www.ergosoftus.com and www.dolginimaging.com
Walking by the Durst booth (the makers of the Lambda printer), I had to go over and investigate the new Durst Rho 160W Plus Flatbed UV Inkjet Printer/Press, the world's first production inkjet printer to offer white ink. Let me say that again: WHITE INK! What does this mean? According to Durst, "White ink for the Rho 160 Plus means users can create a white background on non-white and clear media. Users are also able to overlay white areas or detail, produce cleaner backgrounds, create more contrast in images, and give colors added 'pop.'" Now if Epson, HP, Canon, and the rest can just be convinced to do the same.
www.durstus.com
Gosh, that Sony Artisan sure is one beautiful monitor, isn't it? Sony had one set up in this little dark room the size of a phone booth, and I could barely squeeze inside, but when I did, tech expert Carl Lang explained -- and showed me -- why this monitor is so good. Internal adjustment of the display and not the video LUT, built-in sensor for calibration and profiling, wonderfully smooth and neutral grays... I'm sold! www.sony.com
And finally, over at the LexJet booth, inventor Chris Daniels was proudly demonstrating his baby, the LexJet 2700C cold-pressure laminating and mounting machine. It's a solid-looking machine made with anodized aluminium, stainless steel, and silicone rubber rollers. This may be the first laminator specially made for photographers and others doing high-quality digital imaging and printing. You can read more about it at here:
www.lexjet.com
A proud Chris Daniels and his baby, the LexJet 2700C cold-pressure laminator
Next year... it's Orlando, Florida, for PMA!
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2004 SHOW DETAILS:
PMA Annual Convention and Trade Show
Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas, Nevada USA
February 12-15, 2004
2005 DATES: February 20-23, 2005
Orlando, Florida
www.pmai.org
Harald Johnson is a digital printing and imaging consultant and the author of the book Mastering Digital Printing. He can be reached at harald@dpandi.com.
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