Duplex Epson D1060 'missing piece in photo book puzzle'

Independent Photographic Supplies is positioning the new duplex-capable Epson Surelab D1060 photo printer as the long-awaited solution for in-store production of premium quality photo books.

‘The missing piece of the puzzle was always high quality duplex photo printing, and now its’ here with the D1060,’ said Stuart Holmes, managing director, Independent Photographic Supplies.

He said that the duplex model D1060, combined with Dakis photo book making software and the new range of IPS Pinchbind binders, allows photo specialists to offer their customers a world class solution for a little over $8K including book binders and consumables.

‘The D1060 is the missing link. Until now, everything else has been a compromise from a print quality point of view.

The HP Indigo ‘digital press’ and other toner-based ‘electrophotographic’ duplex printers have been co-opted for photo book production, but the six-figure capex for an Indigo printer, combined with only moderate image quality has retarded the development of the photo book as an alternative to individual prints and photo albums.

‘That’s not to say that these systems are no good, but they have not been designed with photo books in mind,’ said Stuart Holmes. ‘They are designed for other printing and publishing applications, and they’ve been put into service to do a job they aren’t really meant for.’

By comparison the Epson D1060 produces true photographic quality duplex output with a vastly wider colour gamut and higher resolution than toner-based printer-copiers.

The Pinchbook binding solution is simplicity itself. Straighten and order the double-sided print pages, staple them if you like, then place the pages in the spine where the jaws bind them securely, and its done. The whole process takes around a couple of minutes.’

Louise Miller, Griffith Camera House was an early adoptor of the Epson D1060/Dakis/Pinchbook combination, and has had the system up and running for five months. Prior to acquiring the D1060, she initially produced photo books in-house, and then switched to an outsourced solution.

‘We stopped producing in-store as our laser printer was not good enough quality, so we’ve been outsourcing for the last 5 years or so,’ she told Inside Imaging.

‘My reasoning for purchasing this model was to offer both quality photo books and greeting cards in-store with a shorter turn around than I could previously offer.

‘Customers who require a photobook or card can order them through Dakis (online software) and we can offer a 24-hour turnaround. The speed of the printing has improved over previous models and the quality of printing is exceptional.

‘The driver of the printer can also take a number of file formats other than jpg, catering for files from other websites like Canva and Etsy that customers regularly bring in for printing.

‘We offer the IPS Pinchbooks for the photobooks, as they are simple to assemble and we sell them for a base price of $39.95 for an A4.’ (IPS price to retailers is $12.95 ex-GST for an A4 binder.)

Epson also offer a range of papers sizes, both single and duplex, to produce greeting cards for invitations, announcements and thank you cards.

‘I’m very happy with the Epson D1060 and it has opened up a new line of revenue for quality photobooks and cards that I can now offer my customers with a short production time.

She said the only tweaks needed to get the system running smoothly were ‘a couple of updates needed to the pages on the back end of Dakis for it to work correctly, through the Job Downloader.’

The D1060, the fourth generation of low-medium volume inkjet photo printers, prints at a resolution of up to 1440 x 720 dpi. It features an upgraded 6-colour ink set that is applied using Variable Sized Droplet Technology (VSDT), for outstanding image quality with an enhanced gamut and dMax.

It can produce up to 460 4×6-inch borderless prints per hour, using sheet or roll-based media that comes in sizes ranging between 3.5-inches to A4, with a variety of surface finishes.

Epson Australia has made the rare decision to approve the use of a non-Epson media duplex card stock – Hahnemühle Photo Matte Fibre A-4 DUO 210gsm – for use with the Surelab D1060 duplex printe, adding further versatility.

This high quality duplex card stock is available from Independent Photo (iPhoto): Contact [email protected] for more details.