Epson prints magical dinosaur moments

The Days of the Dinosaur is a 3600 square metre exhibition that introduces visitors to the lost world of dinosaurs. The exhibits have been designed to be respectful to research, while providing a fun and interactive way for visitors to ‘experience’ what it was like to live among these extinct creatures.

The event includes two locations for visitors to be photographed in a prehistoric context – one on the back of a tyrannosaurus rex, and the other popping out of a dinosaur egg.

Hundreds of visitors were expected at the exhibition’s show days in Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa during 2014, and the organisers sought a printing solution that was easy to set up and use, cost effective to run, and that would print memento photographs quickly and efficiently, so that visitors could collect their photos as they left the exhibition.

“We recommended the Epson L800 ITS photo printer to the Days of the Dinosaurs organisers for the photo station because it offers excellent photo quality prints, affordable running costs and high volume prints, thanks to Epson’s integrated ink tank system (ITS),” says Clive Barnett of Colour Corporate Cape Town, who supplied the eight Epson L800 ITS photo printers for the printing station, three of which were used at the Cape Town show.

“We consulted several experts before we set up the photo station, and they all recommended the Epson L800 ITS photo printer for its fast print output and outstanding picture quality and ease of use. The photo station was operated by students hired for the duration of the event, and they managed the devices with no problems at all,” says Edmund Beukes, Head of Marketing of Huisgenoot, You and Drum magazines, and headline sponsors of the two events.

Responding to customer demand for low cost, hassle-free printing, Epson has launched its first inkjet photo printer that features an integrated ultra-high-capacity ink tank system in South Africa.

The L800 photo printer is one of Epson’s first ITS printers designed to offer reliable, high quality and cost effective colour photo printing.

Supplied with six individual 70ml Epson genuine ink bottles – black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan and light magenta. The high capacity ink tank is fully integrated into the printer, making it easy to top up the various colours when required.

With its high capacity ink tank and high volume bottles for easy refills, the team that was running the photo booth could rest assured that they would not have to stop often for consumables refills on days when they were printing more than 500 photos that had to be ready for collection in record time.

Indeed, with each set of ink refill bottles able to print up to 1,800 photos, they could be certain of virtually uninterrupted service for the duration of the event.

The Epson L800 is equipped with Epson’s Micro Piezo print head technology that delivers unrivalled durability, quality and reliability.

The printer is also capable of printing high- quality borderless photos up to A4 size, and can print directly onto printable CDs and DVDs with life-like, long-lasting results. 10 x 15cm photos take as little as 12 seconds to print.

“The photographs were ready to be framed in a Days of the Dinosaur frame within five to ten minutes. Visitors had the choice to either wait for their prints or collect their photographed memories as they left the exhibition. This process of printing the images worked well at both shows, as there was constant flow with little or no queues.” said Beukes.

The photo booth at both the Johannesburg and Cape Town event was considered a huge success by the event organisers, and visitors alike.

Between 500 and 700 photographs were printed each day at the Johannesburg event, and the Cape Town photo booth printed an image every two minutes.

The service was clearly popular with visitors, who included Hollywood celebrities Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem and their family, who took time out of their Cape Town-based filming schedule to visit Days of the Dinosaurs – and have their photos taken with the T-rex!