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Low Overheads
Since our test marketing a while back, with the explosion in the
digital camera business quality of printers has certainly increased much
further and prices have been greatly lowered again since our own test
phase so we are not in a position to recommend current model printers.
This is a
task more suited to a computer store, so we suggest
you shop around and ask about your printer capabilities.
The key factors are versatility, quality, speed, photo
quality and
economy both in price and replacement ink cartridges. Panorama capability
is also handy if you choose to market these but the huge variety of
other print and photo types available means this is not essential. Although most
ink
cartridges may seem expensive initially the per-print overhead is relatively low and easily built into your costing.
Non-Branded
On the latter subject
however, we would not recommend many non-branded colour cartridge
versions as the colour balance is sometimes inadequate and it needs to be
tried first. Black may be a
different matter generally, although we have not tested many ourselves.
One non-branded type may be worth trying if you want to save money as it
seems adequate in the limited trials we have given it. Details of
this, together with paper hints and tips also, come with the 'Quick Start Guide' accompanying any
Business
Package.
A Quick Word About Paper
The above question is often coupled with
another: "...and what type of paper would you recommend?" Again,
there is no particular need to use the best (branded) unless you are
fastidious and generally the heavier (thicker) the better as long as it's
at least photo quality.
With a little shopping around we discovered that of the various
non-branded versions on the market the range of both low cost glossy photo papers
and old 'print' type paper marketed by one major chain was quite suitable as well as being
economical (more info on printing and paper types and sources come with our
customer
purchases).
Further printing and
marketing tips for business users of our images are included with a purchase of our 'Complete Business
Packages' in a
handy 22-page
"Start-Up Manual"
provided on disc, although please note with our low
price structure we are unable to offer individual business advice and are not in a position to provide info internationally on prices/sources for items such
as frames.
There
are in fact a myriad possible ways to sell Prints so apart from a good kick
start, as with any wholesaler, we provide the stock (the images) - the
business part is left to you within the
Terms
of Use (copying or
distribution of our digital files/disks is of course prohibited and
carefully monitored).
OVERALL therefore, unless
you are already a professional 'Printer' equipment and materials can be as
economical as a Business Package itself - and easily and quickly absorbed
by your retail sales within the prices you decide to set. With regard to
the latter market research is a good business tool and this is a
relatively easy task nowadays via the internet. This is a first class
business based on sound reasoning so take advantage of our current
special price offers and launch an easily run business today
- for just peanuts!
*
For more guidance about panorama printing go
HERE.
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Larger
Size Prints?
WE are often asked 'how big can I print
these images'? Throughout the site we
have mentioned (with the exception of
England Photochroms,
Ireland,
Scotland,
Wales,
Western
Comics,
Detective Comics,
Large Format Engravings,
High Res. Panoramic Maps,
Humorous Lithos,
Seaside Scenes Vol.2
and Euro Street Scenes) that
the range is currently mainly marketed for users of standard size home
printers, which is an area we are happy to specialise in for
now. The above especially high res. subjects also offer plenty
of scope for use with large format printers too while nearly all
collections do also happen to include images suitable for larger
size printing.
Bargain Priced
The images are mostly supplied pre-sized
for the standard printer market (representing 99.9% of users) and they are certainly bargain priced
for that sector. It would be a little unreasonable for professional
publishers to expect such liberal rights on large collections of 'giant size'
images for just a few Pounds, but that often appears the case. In
reality many of our images are indeed suitable for larger size
printing but, again, that is not a size market we feel the need to
sales-test.
We make no claim to be a picture library -
neither do we charge their extreme rates. Although our images may be
manipulated to print any size, and many of them will
also be very suitable
for large printing, we cannot bend the law of physics which
governs that the larger the print, inevitably the lower becomes the resolution.
What then constitutes acceptable quality is a matter for
individual taste and the 'how big can I print them without losing
quality' type questions must of necessity be referred here for an answer.
Successfully Sold
We had to set firm limits when
doing our own prints test marketing to be sure of a fully viable business product. Our
prints were very successfully sold in the sizes supplied (mostly
10x8 inches plus panoramas) and on that basis of perfectly
acceptable quality that is the market we have so far been
very happy to aim at for the
business package overall.
No Uniform Resolution
Having said that, when our range has been
expanded sufficiently subject-wise and we have time to go back
over everything (there isn't just one standard resolution throughout
except for those subjects described as being 300dpi or more)
we intend to begin the long chore of testing
each of the many hundreds of images for suitability sales-wise for making
one or more further large prints collections. These will then be packaged and sold separately. See our info page
Here
for more on the subject of resolution/size/dpi.
Does What is Claimed
In the meantime, our product is
very successful as is and it undoubtedly does what is claimed for it in the size
niche market it is largely aimed at - as our very many successful
business customers will testify.
Accordingly, due to the large amount of
time it takes to answer e-mails on the subject of size we no longer have the resources to answer
questions relating to non-standard usage, i.e. non-standard size
printers.
A Fraction of the Cost
Consider
our current extremely low rates. As you are
probably already aware, or will be with a little research, they're
just a tiny fraction
of usual image library prices (with often hundreds being
charged for just a single image/single use) and if you do require
larger format sizes doesn't it make perfect sense therefore to buy at least
one collection to test image suitability for your own specific
larger format needs? You will probably be pleasantly surprised
anyway at how many ultra high resolution images are included! |
speed and output quality. Although it did not have panoramic
capabilities apart from their own folded paper range, panoramas were
initially marketed in 10x4 joinable sections (as per many of the archived
originals kept in sections in museums in fact).
Right: The HP 5550
feature was quickly churning out single
length panoramas*
as well as standard photos. Again, this is a very low
cost printer. A further HP 5550 was added later plus two more computers as sales continued to
quickly expand.
