Printing from digital cameras has failed to make up for the decline in film-based d&p despite a Japanese campaign to encourage consumers to print from camera phones.
Though printing from digital cameras in Japan has grown around 20%, this has failed to compensate for the 30% fall in traditional d&p, reports Japanese trade publication PEN News Weekly.
So, Fujifilm Japan has embarked on a fresh advertising campaign to help boost prints from camera phones at retail outlets, which stand at 10% of total digital prints, the report claims.
Though Fuji already airs commercials to encourage consumers to print their camera phone images, users apparently complain that the quality of prints made at retail outlets is ?unsatisfactory?, states PEN, in an article drawn from Photo Trade Express.
?Photo dealers on their part found that most camera phone users do not know how to use the camera function properly for making prints by, for example, setting resolution to maximum or transferring image data to a memory card, and they have to teach the users accordingly.?
Photo dealers in Japan have reportedly called for a ?print? mode to be installed on phones but camera phone makers rejected this suggestion, saying that a print mode would be ?impracticable due to the problems of phone design involving size and battery capacity, as well as the fact that carriers would like to keep the size of image files small, enabling swift transfer?.
Fujifilm?s latest adverts – to be aired in Japan from 11 August ? are also set to highlight the ability to create ?photobooks? and postcards from images captured by camera phones.
?With those three boosters we will make best efforts to raise overall amount of prints at retail,? said an industry official. ?At the moment retailers on their part will have to do consistent user education on the use of cameraphones to get better prints.?
