Sony Introduces Perforated Paper for Photo Booth & Novelty Photo Markets
Update March 8, 2010: Perforated media now in stock! Order online or call 800-342-9294.
Great news from Sony this week! A new media has been introduced for the photo booth and novelty photo markets. This innovative print pack will be available for the Sony UPCX1 and SnapLab 10L printers in March. The new “Tear and Share” media will make two 2 x 8 inch strips of photos (see diagram below). This media is perforated in the center, so the 4 x 8 print can be separated into 2 strips after printing.
Sony sent me some of this product to test a few months ago and I shared it with a couple of our photo booth accounts. The feedback was all positive and we have started to take pre-orders for this product. I expect this to be a big hit with photo booth accounts that are looking for a unique professional product offering. One of the things that impressed me most is how smooth the perforated side of the print is. The perforation is not visually apparent after the 2 strips are separated! Sony really hit a home run with this product! When the product arrives I would be more than happy to send some samples to you. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Thanks! Steve
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Comments
Steve, this is great. If you’re close enough to Sony to suggest improvements, I would suggest that they give us a 5×7 strip or a 4×6 strip instead of 4×8. 2″ wide by 8″ tall is pretty narrow for a standard 4-shot strip, so we might end up with a lot of extra white space or a strip with 5 pics to fill in the extra. Not that 5 pics per strip is so bad, but it will slow down the booth operation and is a an extra shot that most people may not want.
I’ll still order a set when it comes in. How will this compare in price to the 4×6 paper?
I just want to echo Jason’s comments. A 5×7 or a 4×6 would be more in line with what we normally offer, and would be more appealing to me as well.
4×8 does seem a little too big, but I would need to look at some samples from other photo booth companies that we have somewhere. We have done 2×6 prints and sliced them down the middle, but not a 4×8. I would assume that if Sony can perforate a roll for 4×8 pictures, then doing a perf job on a 4×6 should use the same machinery. Lets see what happens and hopefully we can get some more options. Craig and Steve, thanks for the great support tech support! We don’t call too often for tech support while doing a gig, but the times we have y’all have been awesome!
I’m very excited about this new product. I’ve been asking around to see if any company sold the perforated paper. I agree that a 4X6 or 5X7 would be more appealing. Thanks Sony!
@Scott, @Jason, @photobooth and @Kara.
Thanks for the comments!
The pricing will be the same as the current “non-perf” 4×8 media. As a point of reference the current 4×8 non perf media is around 53 cents per print (cost less per than 5×7). Still working on a special “photobooth” price, TBD.
Sony has no plans right now to have “perf” in other formats. If we hear of anything we will let you know!
I have about a dozen sample prints from different booth companies with a wide variety of formats and sizes. Typically the 8 inch strips have 4 images per 2 inch strip.
Some have 3 with a logo (i.e. wedding name and date, coorporate logo, product promo, etc.)The “arcade/retro style” booths favor this type of format. With that said, the 4×6 (4 up with logos) has been popular with the portable booths.
Your feedback is very much appreciated and will be shared with Sony!
Thanks again.
I own a Sony Snaplab 10L & a 20L. The 10L has the split pictures that produce 4 wallets edge to edge with the same image on a 5X7. The 20L has one too but it is designed for 4 separate images and it is a big pain to print 4 border less wallets with the same image when you have to place the image in it 4 times. IS it possible to come up with one for the 20L like the 10L has?
I like it. Still drooling over the UPR DR200 print driver that will enable 2 X 6 strips. (I love that printer because it never runs out of paper during the night, and at a glance it tells you how many shots you have left) Please keep leaning on them to develop it (or if there is anyone else out there that has a solution, would be happy to pay for it).
@Scott and @Brian,
Thanks again for the feedback! Your comments are noted and passed on to Sony. As soon as we hear of any changes we will let you know.
I would like to see some postcard stock on the 4X6 print size. I photograph at a large military base and the PX is always asking for postcard. It would be very easy to print such on site and fill the rack. That way I would not have to buy a large quantity that didn’t sell.
You competitor does sell this for his machine, why not sony. I have 2 snap labs and they have made ton’s of money doing candid at other events.
The reason for the larger size is to be able to have 4 shots and include some text below those. I have been doing photo strips on the 5×7 paper and I can only fit 3 pics if I want to add the bride and grooms name and date.
Steve,
Having problems with this paper. I finally found the firmware update which is 3.5. Unfortunately when i try to print now the windows driver won’t recognize the paper size. It tells me to check the print drivers and select the correct size. 4″x8″ is not a selectable size. I downloaded the latest driver version (1.21). This still doesn’t allow for this size. What next? Sony snaplab 10L
Allusion,
Thank you for the note. I will call you shortly. Sony has enabled the 4×8 printing from the screen view on the kiosk, but last time we checked they had not enabled it in PC mode. Sounds like you are printing in PC mode.
Talk to you soon.
Steve
Hi-
Does this media allow you to have mulitple/series of shots on one strip when using the Snaplab 10L? It states one print into 2 2×8 prints but I saw an image online with a series of photos and wasnt sure if it was from the same machine. I am wanting to purchase both and I didnt want to assume before I do. If not, how do you suggest achieving this result.
Thanks!
Pamela,
The 4×8 perf media is disigned to produce 2 2×8 strips out of 1 4×8 print. The media was originally designed
for use in the UPCX1 printer for the photobooth market. If you are going to use the media in the SnapLab 10L, Sony has provided a template in the software/firmware to split images into a sequence for the strip printing. You can also get a similar result using a photobooth software program and the UPCX1 printer.
Please feel free to contact me at 800-342-9294 to discuss in further detail. Not sure of your application and would like to ask you a few questions before I make some solid recommendations. Thanks again.
Steve
Does anyone know if it is, or ever will be, possible to print to the 4×8 perf media with a UP-CR10L via PC Mode? I bought a UP-CR10L with the intention to use it with this media. While I realize I can technically print on 4×8 media via the console, not being able to print from a PC makes the media almost worthless to me. I talked to a tech rep from Sony and after the standard trouble-shooting was informed that the PC driver doesn’t support 4×8 media (although 4×6 perf media is being considered). Do I have any options other than: A. Forget about this media and get by with 4×6 or 5×7. B. Buy another printer (i.e. UPCX1). C. Transfer photos to a flash card and manually print from the console.
Joel,
Thanks for the note. We always pass on customer feedback to Sony so they are aware of future product requests/needs. Your three options are correct.
The Sony UPCX1 is still the most popular printer for photobooth applications.
The Sony product manager reads this blog so your comments are appreciated.
Thanks again.
Steve
Steve, Very interesting product. Do any other manufacturers have this perfed product available or is this a first?