Digital Camera News
InfoTrends: Online Photo Printing Market Needs Innovation
Feb. 1, 2008 - The digital photo printing industry only has about two to three years to gain back customers who are moving away from printing toward online storage and sharing, according to InfoTrends Associate Director of Photo Printing David Haueter. Although the volume of images printed every year is still growing, from 18 billion in 2007 to an estimated 19.7 billion images in 2008, users are moving more toward electronic viewing online, in digital photo frames, and in HD televisions.
Online photo printing site Snapfish recently dropped the price of 4 x 6-inch prints to $0.09, a move Haueter said could spark other similar sites to do the same in a few months. This downward pressure on print prices, however, is unlikely to effect retail printing or online-to-retail printing for the time being, Haueter said.
For now, he said the digital photo printing industry must look toward new innovations to keep users from drifting away from printing their photos.
"What can we do to make printing more appealing to users?" Haueter asked.
He said photos are currently stored haphazardly by users – scattered on online sharing sites, computer hard drives, memory cards, and digital photo frames. The industry could use archiving services and high-quality paper to entice users to print their photos – some high-quality paper has a long shelf-life than DVDs and CDs, he said.
In addition, he said "photo books will become the new photo album," encouraging users to print their images in a convenient, compact form. Photo books, now often used by professional wedding photographers, have seen a 48 percent growth year over year in 2008, Haueter said.
While Internet-to-mail printing services like Snapfish have died down, Internet-to-retail services, like CVS’s online photo ordering with in-store pickup, is the fastest-growing printing industry. It’s expected to close in at 50 percent of the printing market by 2012, said Alan Bullock, InfoTrends associate director of Internet imaging trends.
Latest News
& Reviews
-
07-Feb-2012
Olympus OM-D E-M5 First Impressions Review
We’ve gotten our hands on Olympus’ latest bit of retro flavor, the E-M5. The camera will revive the famous OM line of interchangeable lens cameras with a digital spin. Read on for our full impressions after spending some time with this mix of old school and new. Read More...
-
07-Feb-2012
Olympus reveals two new point-and-shoot models
Olympus has announced two new fixed lens models today, the long zoom SZ-31MR iHS and the durable TOUGH TG-820 iHS. This news arrives alongside the announcement of Olympus’ impressive new E-M5 which, conveniently, we’ve already had our hands on. Read More...
Top Rated Digital Cameras
-
Digital SLRs
Point & Shoots
-
$1,049.951Canon EOS 60D
The Canon EOS 60D is a top-notch camera in terms of performance, handling and flexibility. However, the performance of the kit lens leaves something to be desired. Read full 7-part review
$1,049.95
$462.251Panasonic Lumix FZ150
Excellent image quality, speedy performance, and a great design add up to the best superzoom that has ever graced our labs. That distinction seems to change hands every week, but trust us when we say that the FZ150 is a truly great camera. Read full 16-part review
$462.25 -
$589.952Nikon D5100
The D5100 is the latest entry-level DSLR from Nikon, with full 1080/30p video, an articulated LCD, and the same image sensor as the D7000. It lacks an internal focus motor, but we found it produced some of the most accurate colors we've seen yet. Read full 7-part review
$589.95
$378.892Canon PowerShot SX40 HS
Canon's SX30 got a CMOS makeover that resulted in the SX40 HS, an impressive ultrazoom that captures beautiful shots in almost any scenario. Read full 16-part review
$378.89 -
$1,329.953Canon EOS 7D
The 18-megapixel Canon 7D delivers high resolution stills and full HD video in a well-built camera designed for serious photographers without the desire (or budget) for a full-frame model. Read full 7-part review
$1,329.95
$428.003Sony Cyber-shot HX100V
This professionally-geared ultrazoom offers some of the best color accuracy we've ever seen. It's a shame the other scores weren't quite so strong. Read full 16-part review
$428.00 -
$1,199.004Nikon D7000
The Nikon D7000 is a powerhouse camera at an excellent price. It offers a huge range of features that will make shooting quicker and easier for the experienced shooter, with lots of customizable options and quick control access. Read full 7-part review
$1,199.00
$362.594Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ47
Panasonic resists the urge to cram more megapixels and more focal length into their latest ultrazoom. The FZ47 instead focuses on image quality and features, resulting in an incredibly strong camera that we loved shooting with. Read full 16-part review
$362.59 -
$698.835Sony Alpha SLT-A55V
The SLT-A55 is a well performing SLR, with a wide ISO range, good color and relatively low noise. . Read full 7-part review
$698.83
$429.005Canon PowerShot S100
Canon's PowerShot S100 improves on the popular S95 and takes its place at the top of the point-and-shoot food chain. Read full 16-part review
$429.00
Find the right digital camera for you.
