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Digital camera makers back direct print format
By Yoshiko Hara
EE Times
(10/28/98, 1:48 p.m. EDT)
TOKYO ‹ A quartet of camera makers is taking steps to establish the
platform for direct printing of digital still-camera pictures. Canon,
Eastman Kodak, Fuji and Matsushita have proposed a scheme called DPOF
(Digital Print Order Format) as a format for digital printing using
removable media such as CompactFlash, SmartMedia, PCMCIA cards, and
floppy and magneto-optical disks.
The format specifies which frames are to be printed, how many copies of
each picture to make and some print-control information, such as
trimming and rotation. DPOF-compatible home printers and photofinishing
print systems would automatically print frames based on the DPOF
information embedded in the media.
Twenty-one major digital still-camera vendors and photofinishing labs in
Japan, the United States and Europe have come out in support of the
format. Discussions on DPOF started in April.
"There is no counterproposal, so we believe it will be the standard for
direct printing," said Nobuaki Sakurada, general manager of digital
imaging product development at Canon Inc. "DPOF is a simple format, so
venders will introduce DPOF-compatible cameras and printers to the
market soon-probably by next spring," he said.
The four companies project that the digital still-camera market will
comprise about 4 million units worldwide this year, and will expand to
more than 10 million units around 2000. With that expansion, digital
still cameras will morph from PC peripherals into common cameras for
non-PC users.
"An easy way of printing will be more and more in demand," saisaid that higher-resolution
charge-coupled devices have already made the picture quality of the
digital still camera satisfactory for home use.
Indeed, "after we introduced a 1.5-megapixel camera, orders of printouts
of digital still-camera pictures at photofinishing labs increased six
times in just six months," said Shigeo Tanaka, chief technical associate
for electronic imaging products at Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd.
Ordering printouts at a photo lab, however, is now a cumbersome process
of specifying each picture that is to be printed with a directory name
and a file name. A DPOF-compatible camera will allow specifying the
"keepers" when shooting or playing back the images. The specified
pictures can then be automatically printed at a home printer or at a
photofinishing lab. |
