I'm a wedding photographer by trade, but also do some photos for a local building company (completed houses for their portfolio / website)
Said company have asked me to photograph an annual dinner for them, which would mean hiring one of these dye sublimation printers to have the photos ready the same night.
Plus if anyone can tell me how easy they are to use, rough print times, and, most importantly of all, which colour space I should be saving to, that would be really helpful too.
Speak to Stuart at System Insight. He knows what he is talking about and can advise accordingly.
There are loads of ways to do it ranging from a laptop and a printer through to the it click systems.
I use a Mitisi 9550 and a macbook (windows would be better because picassa it actually ok for this sort of thing!!)
The main issue I have found is don't give the customer too much choice. it backs up the whole thing while they choose their shot!!
If they you are shooting randomly every couple that goes in then print the lot. They have no choice then and people tend to buy a picture when it is in thier hand.
I tend to only offer 1 size if i am printing on the night.... 9x6 works well as there is no need to crop and it speeds up your workflow.
Any issues or questions, pm me
The 9550 is dead easy 270 9x6 prints to the roll about 20 secs per print cost to you is about 30p per print (factor in plastic bags and folders my usual cost per print is £1 (thats everything included). if you are selling at £7-£10 a print then you only need to sell a few to offset the cost of printing everything and then you are in profit.
And the other good thing is that you don't have to spend the next few days sorting through photos, cropping and printing.
I am by no means an expert in this but have done enough christmas/summer functions to know what works for me. The first time was hectic but i walked away with over a grand profit and piad for the printer on its first use.
