APPLICATION: Providing digital photo printers for on site event printing

CHALLENGE: Keeping up with customer demand during on site printing events

SOLUTION: Using Mitsubishi’s CP-9800DW

Across the competitive landscape of event photography, speed, reliability and picture quality are crucial to sustaining business. Nobody knows this better than Malcolm Ali of FINA Image in Los Angeles , who recently purchased Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America’s CP-9800DW digital color printer to keep up with demand for quality prints at high speeds.

A self-described “people photographer,” Ali covers all kinds of entertainment, sports and corporate events. If people celebrate a special occasion and want great photographs, Ali and his team will be there.

Over the course of his 25-year career in the photo business Ali has found one thing to be true: people want things fast. A photographer who can’t provide prints quickly for his clients is missing out—missing out on repeat business and missing out on the added revenue additional on-site printing can bring in.

As digital photography became more and more advanced over the years, Ali began to see bigger potential for on-site printing. But it took a long time for print speeds to catch up with his needs on the job. “The technology was there, but it wasn’t there,” he explains.

Ali tried a number of options in an exhaustive effort to find the right product for his expanding business. He experimented with many different printers, but none offered the speed he needed to make his clients happy. On a given job, he’d have a line of 20 people waiting for their prints—a logistical nightmare for someone tasked with photographing an event without ruining the fun. “At events, quality is important, but people also want speed. You can’t have them standing there all day waiting.”

After years of experimentation and subsequent disappointment, Ali has finally found everything he’d been looking for in the Mitsubishi CP-9800DW.

He first saw the CP-9800DW on a trip to his local photo equipment dealer. Excited at the prospect of firing out 4”x6” prints at a pace of eight seconds each, he decided to test the printer right in the store using a memory card he had with him. In less than two minutes, Ali had beautiful prints of all 20 images. “I bought the printer on the spot,” he recalls.

Later that week, Ali decided to take his new printer for its first field test. He brought the CP-9800DW to a 200-person birthday party. He was flying solo on the event and would have to do everything by himself—shooting, printing and handling the guests. The CP-9800DW’s blinding speed allowed Ali to print faster than ever before. “I had prints almost as fast as I could shoot them. Within the first hour about 75% of the people at the party had their prints.” It was at that point he decided, “This is the printer for me.”

Ali was impressed not only with the printer’s speed, but also its quality. “Each print comes out the same—beautiful,” he says. “Every picture is an excellent, sellable product.” The printer’s ease-of-use is a huge plus as well, as it doesn’t require any special software.