Eastman Kodak Company
Enhanced Kodak ProShots System Gives Pro Photographers More Tools That Improve Connections with Customers, Labs
Software, Training, Online Service Improvements Speed Studio Workflows
LAS VEGAS, February 3 -- Professional portrait and wedding photographers will find it much more easy to work digitally with their imaging laboratories and customers when they use the latest and most advanced version of the Kodak ProShots system, announced today by Kodak Professional, a division of Eastman Kodak Company.
Kodak ProShots System v6.0 is the most easy-to-use version to date of Kodak Professional's suite of software and online tools to help studios and their labs increase sales and productivity. It more fully connects wedding and portrait studios to their customers as well as to their labs to create more sales opportunities and to simplify imaging and business workflows.
"The improvements in our newest version of the ProShots system reflect significant feedback from both labs and studios,said Jeff Gunderman, U.S. Marketing Manager, Photographer Segment, Kodak Professional. of learning and ease of use particularly for digital capture workflows, improved training and documentation, and some new online features were the focus of Kodak ProShots System v6.0 enhancements in order to simplify both the art and business of digital imaging.
This new ProShots system upgrade means greater ease of use and time savings for photographers when uploading images, placing orders and following the progress of orders they've transmitted to their lab. The system also now offers check and credit card payment options for greater customer access and convenience.
In addition, Kodak Professional is making available to studios and labs new training programs and improved product documentation, as it continues to enhance its ProShots system based on customer comments and new advances in technological innovation.
The new ProShots system is fully integrated with Kodak Professional's PhotoDesk software, digital camera backs and SLRs (including the new DCS Pro 14n digital camera), as well as its ML-500 and 8500 thermal printers. It also is compatible with Kodak's lab digitization workflow software and hardware powered by Digital Print Production (DP2) software.
Streamlining the Studio
Kodak ProShots System v6.0 offers a number of important enhancements:
- Batch order proof prints - Proof prints or proof
pages for digital camera files can be batch-ordered in a single
transaction for increased efficiency in the studio.
- Combine, split and reorganize
proofs - This function increases studio efficiency,
especially for high-volume portrait applications such as high
school seniors.
- Background
ordering - Photographers or studio personnel can
continue to work on their computers while their images and
orders are being transmitted to their lab.
- New training programs and
improved documentation - These tools will help studios
quickly experience the productivity and sales benefits of the
ProShots
system. A quick-start
guide has been developed to assist new users in learning the
ProShots
system.
- Direct upload and publishing
of online albums - Photographers can choose to upload
images and publish online albums directly and conveniently,
without having to burden their professional lab to post the
images.
- Larger images, zooming
capability - The studio's customers will be able
to see finer detail in online images before placing an order,
enhancing the likelihood that they'll buy.
- Payment by check or credit
card online - Payment to studios by check is supported
so even studios that don't accept credit card payment can
still utilize the ProShots
system's online services to increase sales per event or
sitting.
Other improvements allow zooming and cropping within digital templates. Templates and images in the album builder are available to create and present digital albums to customers. Better navigational features permit faster toggling between screens for greater productivity. New on-screen status bars allow photographers to check the progress of order transmissions, which provides confirmation that the order has been successfully received.
"These enhancements help portrait, wedding and other photographers reap the greatest benefits from their ProShots system, and grow their businesses," Gunderman said. Kodak ProShots System v6.0 represents the most comprehensive, easy to use digital workflow for the studio available today.
For labs, the software CD distribution, installation and registration processes have been further streamlined. And importantly, labs will not have to distribute lab catalog files to their current users because version 6.0 is backward compatible with version 4.x and 5.x. lab catalog files.
Kodak ProShots System v6.0 will be available in March in the United States.
For information about Kodak Professional, customers may call: 1-800-235-6325, or visit the Kodak Professional web site at: http://www.kodak.com/go/professional.
Eastman Kodak Company and infoimaging
Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, enhance, preserve, print and enjoy pictures—for memories, for information, for entertainment. The company is a major participant in $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras and PDAs), infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and services & media (software, film and paper enabling people to access, analyze and print images). Kodak harnesses its technology, market reach and a host of industry partnerships to provide innovative products and services for customers who need the information-rich content that images contain. The company, with sales last year of $12.8 billion, is organized into four major businesses: Photography, providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and storage products and services to businesses and government; Components, delivering flat-panel displays, optics and sensors to original equipment manufacturers; and Health, supplying the healthcare industry with traditional and digital image capture and output products and services.