HP Expands Leading Photo Merchandise Printing Portfolio

HP has unveiled an expanded portfolio of digital presses – including the industry's largest-format, most productive sheet-fed platform – enhancing its leadership position in photo applications.

The new HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press is a new B2 size format press (750 x 530 millimeters [mm] / 29.5 x 20.9 inches) that enables new oversize photo applications and efficient production of standard-size photo products.

The HP Indigo 10000, along with the entire extended portfolio of HP Indigo digital presses, will be displayed at drupa 2012 (May 3-16 in Düsseldorf, Germany).

Other new HP Indigo photo solutions include:

• The HP Indigo W7250 Digital Press, a high-volume, roll-fed device offering 33 percent faster throughput and new color management features.
• The HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press, a sheet-fed device that features new unique high-value effects for creating differentiated offerings and a new Light Black ink for higher-quality black-and-white photo printing.
• The HP Indigo 5600 Digital Press, a new press that can produce photo products on synthetic, colored and transparent substrates.
• The HP Indigo WS6000p, a web-fed press with new finishing solutions to replace production of silver halide cut prints and portraits.

Digital printing and photography in the social media age

"Thanks to the immense popularity of smart phones, photo apps and social networks, people are now taking and sharing more digital photos than ever before, creating huge portfolios of images they can use for photo books, cards, calendars and keepsakes," said Christopher Morgan, senior vice president, Graphics Solutions Business, HP.

According to industry reports, social libraries will hold about 140 billion photos by the end of this year, and 25 percent of social media users say they would buy a printed photo product.

"HP Indigo presses continue to be the leading choice for the photo specialty market because of our superior image quality and reliability, which becomes especially critical during peak holiday periods," Morgan added. "With the improved productivity of our new solutions, our photo customers will be able to handle growing print volumes and reach untapped new markets."

HP Indigo W7250, the solution for the highest volume photo customers

Building on the success of the HP Indigo W7200 in the photo space, where the press has been deployed by five of HP Indigo's largest customers, the new HP Indigo W7250 offers incremental value to photo customers.

For photobooks, typically the most quality-demanding photo specialty product, the new press includes new color monitoring technologies for greater color consistency between the press's two print engines.

For other products, the option to produce color jobs with 33 percent higher throughput using the HP's Enhanced Productivity Mode (EPM) can increase job volume per shift, better handling production peaks.

Designed for printing up to 10 million full-color, A4/letter size pages per month, the 340-mm (13.4-inch) wide roll-fed press offers the exceptional quality and productivity needed for dedicated, high-volume photo applications.

The press will be available worldwide in June. Existing HP Indigo W7200 users can add EPM and other HP Indigo W7250 features through an optional upgrade that will be available this summer.

Improved grayscale imaging and new special effects

The HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press prints 120 A4/letter-size pages per minute (ppm) in its standard production mode, but can also provide 33 percent faster throughput of 160 pages per minute using EPM. It is based on the popular HP Indigo 7000 series sheet-fed press platform used by many leading photo merchandise providers.