A new craft trend, scrap booking, is expected to help drive sales of home scan, print and copy (SPC) devices, says Epson.
Scrap booking is a hobby in which photos, memorabilia and stories are combined in a scrapbook style album.
Epson says the SPC solution is becoming very popular in the scrap booking industry, as crafters can scan and print their old negatives at home.
The growth in popularity has been such that three SPC devices have been launched locally since the first consumer SPC solution was introduced to the local market just over a year ago. The newest addition to the range, the third generation Stylus Photo RX620, was launched recently.
"The SPC is proving to be very popular in the scrap booking industry as the craft is normally completed after hours when imaging outlets are closed," says Epson GM Hans Dummer.
However, Dummer doesn`t see the SPCs as a threat to the photo outlets at the moment as photo outlets are still cheaper in comparison to most home printers. A jumbo print on an SPC will cost around R4 a print, compared to the average R2 for a jumbo print in the photo outlets.
But what the SPC solution does offer is the ability to print digital or film images immediately in colour, black and white or sepia up to A4 size, says Dummer.
Dummer doesn`t see the huge increase in digital camera sales as a threat to the SPC either. Although the traditional film market is diminishing, there are still millions of film cameras in use and the SPC offers the option of reprinting old photos or additional copies in various sizes once the film rolls have been developed, he says.
"Boxes of old negatives can be revived by either reprinting them as colour images or burning them onto CD once they have been scanned, thereby increasing the lifespan of memories through digital archiving," says Dummer.
On the digital front, images can be printed directly from memory cards and a range of digital cameras with the USB direct print, PictBridge and Bluetooth support, says Dummer.
"And there is no need for a computer as the 2.4" screen allows images to be restored or cropped with the available software."
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