PRESS RELEASE: Enhancements to KODAK PROSHOTS System Provides Broader Print-Ordering and Creative Options for Pro Photographers and Labs
Greater Product Range, Overall Ease-of-Use Contribute to Improved Workflow
ROCHESTER, January 25, 2005 ¾ Eastman Kodak Company today introduced new versions of KODAK PROSHOTS Studio Software Suite v6.3, KODAK PROSHOTS Basics Software v2.0 and KODAK PROSHOTS Online Services v7.0 that, via labs, will provide photographers with a broader range of templates for their print ordering process. Photographers will also have improved tools for previewing and selling their images to customers in-person or over the Internet.
The KODAK PROSHOTS System, a powerful set of image-management, design and ordering tools, serves professional wedding, social and portrait photographers whether they work with film or digital cameras. PROSHOTS System Participating Labs use hybrid and complete digital lab workflows to offer a broad range of products and services to photographers through the PROSHOTS System. The KODAK PROSHOTS System is the industry’s most-used service of its kind, with more than 40 labs, 11 album and frame companies and two studio management software companies integrating it seamlessly with existing lab products.
“We’re providing photographers and labs with tools that give them more control of their images and products, as well as greater online sales options with their customers,” said Guy Smith, KODAK PROSHOTS System manager, Professional Output. “The KODAK PROSHOTS System has always offered great features that save photographers time and that help them increase sales. With the latest releases in the PROSHOTS system, we continue to improve the options for photographers, whether they are looking for a feature-rich or a simple, streamlined solution.”
PROSHOTS Studio Software Suite v6.3
Available as a free download to photographers with a current version of PROSHOTS Studio Software Suite ¾ or for US$249 for new users ¾ version 6.3 includes enhanced proof book options with a variety of selectable background colors and definable cover pages. Additional improvements include enriched digital product ordering and presentation features:
- Lab templates now can be organized into categories, e.g., “Weddings,” “Sports,” etc., for easier navigation.
- More sophisticated lab products, e.g., templates with images displayed on an angle or customizable text, can now be displayed and cropped as “what you see is what you get” for better previewing and ordering.
- Enhanced slide-show options to play music through a PC, and a slide show that can now easily be saved to be burned later to CD or DVD.
The album and frame interface definitions are streamlined, further enhancing Kodak’s full-featured software product for both photographers and labs.
PROSHOTS Basics Software v2
Already a catalyst for improved workflows for photographers and labs, PROSHOTS Basics Software now includes additional features to simplify the image-ordering process. As with the PROSHOTS Studio Software Suite, PROSHOTS Basics Software now allows the organization of lab templates into categories, and enhanced proof book options are now available. The features are all available in the intuitive, easy-to-use interface for which PROSHOTS Basics Software is known.
In addition, key selling features have been added to PROSHOTS Basics Software. With version 2, users can for the first time:
- Preview and order a broad range of lab digital products in a “what you see is what you get” manner.
- Access the capabilities of PROSHOTS Online Services to create product and price lists, post images and take orders over the Internet.
- Use a new built-in slide show capability for reviewing images with customers.
“With the latest round of enhancements, PROSHOTS Basics Software is not only a great image management and lab print ordering tool, but also an additional way for photographers to benefit from posting their clients’ images online,” said Smith.
For PROSHOTS System Participating Labs, PROSHOTS Basics Software expands the potential printing volume by providing a solution for the estimated one-third of professional photographers who are MACINTOSH OS users.
PROSHOTS Basics software is free, runs on both MACINTOSH OS X and WINDOWS 2000 or XP platforms, and is available as a download at www.kodak.com/proshots/basicsinfo.
KODAK PROSHOTS Online Services v7
The award-winning PROSHOTS Online Services have been redesigned to enhance the image viewing and ordering experience for the increasing number of consumers using the Internet. Redesign features include:
- A modern, sophisticated look and feel with a cleaner shopping cart and checkout process.
- Improved slide show with faster refresh and improved navigation and speed controls.
- Increased image-zoom capability to better view image details.
Access to PROSHOTS Online Services is integrated within PROSHOTS Studio and PROSHOTS Basics Software so photographers only need one piece of software for lab print ordering, in-studio presentations and online selling. A new rewards program provides benefits to photographers the more they make use of PROSHOTS Online Services.
The latest enrichments to the PROSHOTS System continue Kodak’s long-standing commitment to the professional lab and photographer markets and represent an extension of its investments in developing a comprehensive, modular pro lab output system. The PROSHOTS system serves as a gateway for photographers to reach a broader set of customers through the Internet and to access the broad range of products and services that pro labs can offer through the open-architecture, highly productive KODAK PROFESSIONAL Digital Print Production (DP2) software digital and hybrid lab production system.
The PROSHOTS System software updates will be available in March. For more information on the KODAK PROSHOTS System and membership benefits for photographers ¾ including Web site and other training resources ¾ please visit www.kodak.com/proshots/membershipinfo.
About Eastman Kodak Company and infoimaging
Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, print and view images – for memories, for information, for entertainment. The company is a major participant in infoimaging, a $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras and flat-panel displays), infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and services & media (software, film and paper enabling people to access, analyze and print images). With sales of $12.9 billion in 2003, the company comprises several businesses: Health, supplying the healthcare industry with traditional and digital image capture and output products and services; Graphic Communications Group, offering on-demand color printing and networking publishing systems consisting of three wholly owned subsidiaries: Encad, Inc., NexPress Solutions, and Kodak Versamark; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and storage products and services to businesses and government; Display & Components, which designs and manufactures state-of-the-art organic light-emitting diode displays as well as other specialty materials, and delivers imaging sensors to original equipment manufacturers; and Digital & Film Imaging Systems, providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services.
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(Kodak, Kodak Professional and ProShots are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.)
(First posted on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 at 02:57 EST)