Stinky Ink News

New from Kodak – the G Series Docks

As well as the EasyShare camera range, Kodak also markets a range of home photo printers that are also designed for easy home use. All the cameras in the EasyShare range are sold with a simple plastic adaptor, which fits into a socket on the top of the EasyShare printer and allows the camera to dock with the printer directly via a special USB connector socket in the underside of the camera. In some case it also charges the camera battery. The “Share” button on the camera is used to tag favourite photos for printing, so when the camera is docked to the printer these files can be printed quickly and easily.

The G600 and G610 are dye-sublimation printers, and limited to 6 x 4 inch paper size. Dye-sub printers usually produce very high quality long-lasting prints, but because they use a non-refillable ribbon cartridge and special paper they can be expensive to operate. Replacement paper and ribbons are sold in packs, the G-100 costing £29.99 for 100 sheets, or the G-200 is £39.99 for 200 bought direct from Stinkyink.Com. This works out at roughly 20p per print, which is expensive even for a dye-sub. The G610 printer itself costs £129, although it is available for just £49 if bought as a bundle with a Kodak camera. Considering you can get a good inkjet photo printer for about £80, which can also print photos at A4 size, as well as printing out letters and other documents, what possible reason could anyone have for buying the G610?

Simply this: get it out of its box, and without even glancing at the manual you can slot in the paper and ribbon cartridge, stick the camera on top and print out a photo, all in about five minutes, and that includes the one-and-a-half minute printing time. It really is almost ludicrously simple. The G610 is designed to operate as a stand-alone unit, and does not need to be connected to a computer. It does have a USB socket on the back, and can be hooked up to your PC if you want, and comes with the easy-to-use EasyShare software suite that is also included with the cameras, but it doesn’t have to be used with a PC, which is a big benefit if you just want some photos printing without fluffing about with your PC!.

Eastman Kodak has announced a new development in digital image sensor technology which improves sensitivity and may reduce or even eliminate the need for flashes.

Kodak’s new sensor technology adds “clear” panchromatic pixels to the traditional red, green, and blue color capture elements in a traditional image sensor array. Since the clear pixels are sensitive to light at all wavelengths, they collect more of the light which makes it through to the sensor, enabling a camera to take clear images in low-light conditions without increasing exposure time. Overall, the technology offers a 2× to 4× increase in sensitivity.

“This represents a new generation of image sensor technology and addresses one of the great challenges facing our industry—how to capture crisp, clear digital images in a poorly lit environment,” said Chris McNiffe, Kodak Image Sensor Solutions group’s General Manager, in a release. “This is a truly innovative approach to improving digital photography in all forms, and it highlights Kodak’s unique ability to differentiate its products by delivering advanced digital technologies that really make a difference to the consumer.”

Most digital camera sensors are built on what’s called the Bayer design, a two-by-two pattern developed by Kodak researcher Bryce Bayer in 1976. It contains four sensors—one red, one blue, and two green—and uses the green pixels to capture most of the luminance information for an image. Kodak’s new technology uses a four-by-four grid in which the arrangement of the photoreceptors can be changed, if desired, and which is interspersed with the “clear” panchromatic pixels to create a more sensitive luminance channels that is sensitive to all visible wavelengths. The technology can be applied to both CCD and CMOS image sensors.

Kodak expects to being sampling the new sensor technology in the first quarter of 2008, and says it is working with other leading companies to implement the technology across a wide range of industrial, special-purpose, professional, and consumer products.

The new sensor technology represents a public step in Kodak’s current strategy to embrace digital technology and largely leave behind its traditional film-based imaging business. The company says it will be able to fuel the transition by leveraging its existing patent portfolio, which it has traditionally guarded very closely. Its new image sensor—combined with a recent venture into the ink-jet printer market—may represent the first visible moves in a new long-term strategy for the company.