Epson helps photographer Tommy Ødegaard cut both costs and 40,000 pictures

Portrait photographer Tommy Ødegaard no longer has the need for hired additional help for cutting pictures. He has invested in a SureLab D700, Epson's first compact photo production printer offering six colours.

Photographer Tommy Ødegaard has been in business in Norway for 35 years. Assignments include weddings and confirmations, as well as school and kindergarten pictures. Together with his colleague Yvonne Rosenvinge, Ødegaard produces pictures in different sizes and on a variety media. For the past 15 years he has exclusively used Epson printers, both at work and privately. The Epson Stylus Pro 4880 and Stylus Pro 7880 are among the total of six models the Fredrikstad photographer has owned.

A typical school class with 25 students means printing out 25 portrait photos and just as many group photos. These are packed manually in shipments to the individuals over the year, and it can add up to as many as 4,000 prints.

Until recently, pictures were printed out on traditional large format printers. Consequently all photos had to be cut before packing, a time-consuming process that often required hiring in extra help during hectic periods.

Ødegaard invested in an Epson SureLab D700 last year, which prints out photographs in a range of formats and media types. There is no longer the need for manual cutting before pictures are packed. It made life easier and reduced costs.

"As a small company we are vulnerable to costs. The investment in SL-D700 has paid off quickly and workflow is significantly improved," says Tommy Ødegaard.

The SL-D700 is Epson's first compact six-colour printer for production of high quality photos. It prints out pictures up to one metre long, and uses Epson's Micro Piezo printhead and picture-processing technology for sharp and lifelike results. The SL-D700 can print out pictures, cards, invitations, advertisements and brochures on a range of media in many formats, including glossy, shiny and matte paper rolls of 10-21cm width and 89-100cm length.

"The quality is absolutely superb. I actually cannot see the difference in the result between the compact SL-D700 and far more expensive printers with 12 colours," explains Ødegaard.

The SL-D700 uses the specially developed Epson UltraChrome D6-S ink and produces pictures with lifelike colours, intense blacks, sharp contours and even transitions. It has long service intervals, requires little maintenance and has a durable sheet cutter.

"The printing process is very stable and only six colours means lower costs for ink," Ødegaard comments. With tailored set-up in Photoshop, he has arranged that production can take place at night, without interrupting his sleep. "Everything is printed out automatically and cut to the correct sizes. Thus, everything is ready when I come to work in the morning," says Ødegaard.

When he needs to produce colour photos to the absolute highest quality, Ødegaard uses the Epson Stylus Pro 7900. It has 11 separate ink cartridges including green and orange, plus UltraChrome™ HDR-pigment ink gives a very broad colour scale and more even tones and transitions. The Stylus Pro 7900 has a resolution of up to 2880 dpi and speed of 40m²/hour with the new 10-channel Epson TFP™ printhead.

"It is always nice to deliver the end product to customers, especially when the pictures are printed out on the flagship in the studio. Colour reproduction, details and transitions are all impressive," concludes the Fredrikstad photographer.