Linda Kurtzman proudly displays pictures of her children and grandchildren in the kitchen. But these are not printed pictures, nor are they being viewed on one of the several computers she has in her Buffalo Grove home.
Kurtzman’s family pictures rotate on an Internet-enabled electronic picture frame called the Ceiva Digital Photo Receiver. It downloads pictures sent nightly by her five children.
“I’ve had computers in the house as long as they’ve been around, but it’s the location,” Kurtzman said. “The kitchen is the focus of our house, and I look at these pictures every time I’m in the kitchen.”
The Ceiva frame is one example in an emerging market of innovative products, services and Web sites that take digital picture output far beyond the printed snapshot.
These days, digital photos can be turned into most anything, from greeting cards and postage stamps to professionally bound books and custom tiles for your walls and floors.
While some of these products have been available for years (the Ceiva launched its first digital picture frame about five years ago), experts say their popularity is growing because digital cameras have saturated the consumer market.
“These ancillary lines of revenue are manifesting because penetration has climbed to a point where there’s a critical mass of consumers with digital cameras and digital pictures,” said Steven Koenig, director of industry analysis for the Consumer Electronics Association.
And since about 6 in 10 consumers will have a digital camera by the end of this year, according to Weymouth, Mass.-based research firm InfoTrends/Cap Ventures, revenue from digital camera sales is expected to fall over the next few years.
The Consumer Electronics Association predicts digital cameras will rake in $6 billion in 2006 but fall to $4.9 billion in 2009. According to those close to the industry, the increasingly popular digital photography peripheral products and services will be making up for some of that lost revenue.
“The digital imaging industry has recognized that the great thing about digital photography is to give people lots and lots of choices about how they use their images,” said Stephen Baker, director of industry analysis for the Reston, Va.-based NPD Group.
For example, many consumers have turned to photo books, complete with hard covers, glossy pages and captions, as a way to show off their pictures.
Ritz Camera Centers, based in Beltsville, Md., sells such books for about $30. They include 10 double-sided pages that are laid out by customers choosing templates for each page.
“You can choose full-bleed pages, make collage pages, you decide,” said Chairman David Ritz. “And you can pick from among different cover fabrics.”
Of course, online and offline retailers offer items like photo calendars, T-shirts, mouse pads, greeting cards, cookie tins and Christmas tree ornaments emblazoned with pictures. In addition, many retailers offer photo-restoration services that turn old and battered family photos into bright digital shots.
“You bring in a photo that is stained, cracked or faded,” said Mark Long, president of Lehi, Utah-based Hollywood Fotofix Digital Studios, which handles restoration work for many U.S. photo shops. “It is scanned and uploaded to us. Our Photoshop experts restore the photos, and you get an 8-by-10 print as well as your digital file on CD.”
This service costs about $50 per picture through Ritz.
ShoeboxReprints.com offers a surprisingly affordable picture digitalization service. Using a super-high-speed commercial Kodak scanner, the company turns printed family photos into digital pictures at rate of 150 per minute.
The cost: about $50 for 1,000 different pictures.
“We’ve scanned over 100,000 photos in the past three weeks,” said Mitch Goldstone, president of 30 Minute Photos Etc. of Irvine, Calif., the site’s owner. “What’s better than digitizing generations of your family’s photos that are now being stored in shoe boxes.”
Digital cameras also are being enhanced to help consumers take advantage of their pictures.
Kodak’s recently released EasyShare One, for example, features built-in wireless Internet connectivity so you can upload and e-mail your pictures right from the camera.
“Sharing pictures is huge right now,” said Megan Schneider, worldwide marketing manager for Rochester, N.Y.-based Eastman Kodak Co. “We’re trying to let people share pictures when and where it’s most convenient to them.”
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Twists offered by Web sites give digital photos a new look
How do you turn a digital photo into an inspired gift? Try one of these Web sites:
PhotoStamps (www.photostamps.com): Turn a favorite family image into a custom postage stamp A sheet of 20 37-cent stamps runs about $17, compared with $7.40 for regular postage. .
Change Your Art.com (www.changeyourart.com): Turn digital pictures into custom wall or floor tiles. Available in ceramic and glass, you get to choose the number of tiles per photo. For example, you can turn a Parisian panorama into 12 8-by-8-inch tiles. Prices range from $2.75 to $45 per tile, depending on material and size.
MyPublisher (www.mypublisher.com): MyPublisher offers professionally bound albums in three sizes:
– A large, linen hardcover book opens to 32 inches wide. For about $60, you get 20 double-sided pages that can hold up 240 photos, depending on the layout. Each additional page runs about $3.
– A medium, linen hardcover book runs about $30, and a leather version is available for about $40. These include 20 pages that can display 120 photos. Additional pages run about $1.50.
– Small, paperback “brag books” run about $10. They hold 20 pages, or 80 photos. Extra pages available for about 50 cents.
IPod My Photo (www.ipodmyphoto.com): Apple’s famed iPod ad campaign features cool-looking silhouettes of people jamming to their favorite tunes. Now you can become a silhouette yourself. For about $20, this Web site will “iPodify” your favorite photo and turn it into another cool ad for the iPod (as if Apple needs the help).
— Alex Goldfayn
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MAKING COPIES
Latest wave of home printers creates sharp-looking photos
While there is an array of things to do with your digital photos, printing snapshots at home remains the most popular.
According to researcher InfoTrends/Cap Ventures, of the 10 billion photo prints that will be made this year in the U.S., 60 percent will be printed at home. An additional 27 percent will be printed at a retail outlet, and 7 percent will be printed using an online service.
The latest crop of printers, ranging from extra small to supersize, will help you create professional-looking snapshots without leaving the house. Using the recommended paper and ink supplies, all of these units create photos that look as good as, if not better than, professionally developed pictures from film.
Epson R1800
About $550
This mammoth printer is aimed at photo enthusiasts and scrapbookers. It can create borderless, poster-size prints up to 13 by 19 inches. It includes scrapbooking software that lets you lay out pages digitally, which the R1800 can output in standard 12-by-12-inch scrapbook-page size. Warning: This printer uses eight ink cartridges.
Canon Selphy DS700
About $130
On the opposite end of the size spectrum, this portable inkjet unit creates 4-by-6-inch glossy prints. It can connect directly to PictBridge-enabled cameras via a USB cable or accept memory cards. This printer can connect to a television for photo viewing.
Sony DPP-FP50
About $175
A dye-sublimation printer, this compact unit creates 4-by-6-inch shots by injecting dye into the paper rather than coating the paper like inkjet printers do. It accepts a variety of memory cards, as well as direct connections with PictBridge-compatible cameras. A built-in LCD display and a remote control (it connects to your television too) round out the features.
Kodak EasyShare Photo Printer 500
About $200
Released in September, this snapshot printer from Kodak accepts memory cards and direct USB connections from cameras. A large, bright, 3.5-inch LCD screen makes this printer stand out. Dye-sublimation technology uses a ribbon instead of ink cartridges.
— Alex Goldfayn
