Digital Print: Four Companies Propose Digital Print Order Format; New Format to Serve as Digital "Order Envelope" - Industry Trend or Event

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Nov 2, 1998

Eastman Kodak Company; Canon Inc.; Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.; and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., announced Monday that they have jointly developed a new digital print order format (DPOF) for direct printing from digital cameras. The format will record information allowing images captured by digital cameras to be automatically printed through photofinishing print services or home printers, functioning as a kind of digital "order envelope." The four companies will propose the DPOF to the industry in the near future.

As digital cameras continue to gain acceptance among business users and consumers, they have begun attracting a number of non-PC users as well. With this growth comes an increasing need for easily ordering prints at retail, a process as simple as the way consumers currently order photographic prints. In addition, as the storage capacity of standard removable memory media increases, there is growing demand for the capability to choose which pictures and how many of each picture should be printed. Some manufacturers have adopted their own specifications for recording such printing information; others offer no such capability. With the parallel moves to retail and direct printing, Kodak, Canon, Fujifilm, and Matsushita recognized a need for a standardized print order specification. The DPOF enables the user to order prints of specific pictures from all the files on the camera's storage card such as CompactFlash-TM, SmartMedia-TM, and floppy disk. The DPOF records the information for the specific images and number of each image that users want to print in a broadly recognized format. The four companies plan to promote wider adoption of the DPOF among the industry to establish a standardized print order specification. Adoption of the DPOF in digital cameras, photofinishing services, and home printers will give users several advantages, thereby spurring additional interest in digital capture and growing use of digitized pictures. o Widespread adoption of the format will enable users to get more reliable photofinishing services from removable memory media of DPOF-compatible digital cameras. o Users will be able to specify which picture and how many of each, they want to print when they capture images with digital cameras or when they view the images on digital cameras. This feature would eliminate the need for such operations as reviewing and specifying each image at the time of printing. o The DPOF will apply to home and retail systems as well, allowing for direct auto printing from removable media. Industry Support The companies will propose the DPOF as an industry standard to manufacturers of digital cameras, photofinishing equipment, home printers, and audio-video equipment. In addition, they propose to make the specification broadly available so that photofinishing labs can begin offering DPOF-based digital print services gradually as early as next spring. The following companies have already expressed their willingness to support the DPOF: Agfa-Gevaert AG; Asahi Optical Co., Ltd.; Casio Computer Co., Ltd.; Digital Print Corporation; Hewlett-Packard Company; ImageLink, Inc.; Kaga Electronics Co.Ltd.; Konica Corporation; Kyocera Corporation; Minolta Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Nikon Corporation; Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd.; Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Ricoh Company, Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co.,Ltd.; Seiko Epson Corporation; Seiko Instruments Inc.; Sharp Corporation; Sony Corporation; and Toshiba Corporation. About the DPOF Sponsors Eastman Kodak Company is the world leader in imaging, serving both consumers and imaging professionals. To meet the needs of these customers the company manufactures and sells a wide variety of products ranging from traditional cameras, films, papers and chemistry to digital cameras, thermal printers and media, and inkjet media. In addition, Kodak provides photographic processing and digital imaging services. FMI: www.kodak.com. Canon, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading manufacturer of professional and consumer imaging equipment and information systems. Canon's extensive range of products includes copiers, Bubble Jet and laser printers, cameras, video equipment, and semiconductor-manufacturing equipment. Consolidated sales for fiscal 1997 (ending December 31, 1997) totaled $21.24 billion (estimate based on 130 yen per dollar). FMI: www.canon.co.jp. Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of imaging and information products. The company is Japan's largest producer of photosensitized materials. Fujifilm's products include consumer and professional films and cameras, photofinishing systems, color papers, digital cameras and printers, computer data storage products, graphic arts films, plates equipment and chemistry, audio and videotapes, instant cameras and films, motion-picture films and X-ray films and equipment. Fujifilm website: www.fujifilm.co.jp. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., is a world leader in developing and manufacturing digital electronics and electric products for consumer, business and industrial use. Best known for its Panasonic brand, the company employs more than 20,000 employees in North America and operates manufacturing facilities in 24 sites here. Worldwide it employs 275,000 employees, and recorded sales of $59.78 billion in the last fiscal year. FMI: www.panasonic.com. Technical information on the DPOF will be available at http://www.panasonic.co.jp/avc/video/dpof/index_e.htm. Business operations for licensing for the DPOF will begin on October 27.