articles/Printing/boxingcleverfujifilm-page2
Published 01/11/2009
Greenbox software application has also saved Susan Price-Williams time, money and heartache. With her business partner and fellow photographer husband, Nigel Williams, she runs a busy portrait and wedding studio, and does almost all of her own printing. "We also produce our own hybrid albums which we source from Australia," Susan said. "We used to have images printed at pro-labs 'down under'. The labs sent the images direct to the album manufacturers, so we wouldn't know if pictures had been delivered. We actually only saw the final images when the album came back, weeks later, with the image already bonded in."
The couple chose the Greenbox package because they desperately wanted to 'work smarter' and give themselves a higher degree of control over the printing process. They needed to remove the frustrating 'guessing game' from the equation. "Doing our own printing through Greenbox has given us back control and has dramatically accelerated the time taken for the album to get back to us. This means we can always deliver on time to our customers," she said.
"Now we do our printing at the end of a working day, and Greenbox enables us to place and manoeuvre images so speedily that we can disappear for a well-earned glass of wine while the system does the rest. When we start afresh in the morning, our top-notch prints are waiting for us."
But it's not just the hardware that makes the difference. Knowing how to deal with unavoidable print-related problems takes experience. Fuji's Greenbox comes with an extensive training program and DVD that's a proven lifesaver.
Susan went even further and described the Greenbox training as "essential". "We're photographers. We're not print experts," she pointed out. "The training bridged this gap in our knowledge and enabled us to operate the software with ease. Greenbox's support did not stop there, and when we needed it, we got 100% backup to ensure we got the very best out of the system."
Wayne Wilkins also experienced 'above and beyond' customer service from Fuji's support team. "Our Greenbox installation was handled by Mark Wade from Fuji - and his patience was immense," Wayne said. "When we had the initial training, Mark spent a good four hours going through what the Greenbox does: how you set out your profile for different media, how to get borderless printing, how to enlarge. It was almost endless.
During the first couple of months I contacted Mark with questions and problems - many of these could be resolved over the phone but on one occasion there was something that couldn't be fixed remotely, so he drove all the way to our studio in Pembrokeshire."
Jonny Cunningham at the Still Life Studio in Belfast, covers up to 150 weddings a year, and has recently opened a two-thousand sq ft studio for family and fashion photography.
Before switching to Greenbox he was using local labs and online ordering systems, with disappointing results. "We got so frustrated getting work back from labs that hadn't been colour corrected properly or was incomplete," Jonny said. "It was starting to affect our business. It meant we were not meeting our promised delivery times for our albums. Now we control our own output and when we print it's of an extremely high standard."
Jonny switched to Greenbox and hasn't looked back. He added: "It only took four months for Greenbox to pay for itself - measured against what the lab costs would have been. We now save more money every day and we can offer products with much-improved profit potential."
The included training was one of the main factors that drew Jonny to the package: "We have bought software in the past but having a trained professional come to the studio - and then not leave until the product is working and you feel confident in using it, was the big selling point for us."
"All our questions were answered immediately. We didn't have to email technicians and wait ages for a response." Now Jonny is a confirmed Greenbox evangelist. "Having control over the entire process ensures that the finished product is as good as the quality of the images you produce," he enthused. "And I make no apology for coming across here as an advertisement for Fuji and Greenbox. We really are impressed. We have saved money, improved our customer turnaround time and have yet to encounter an issue with the hardware or software. We even have a direct number of the trainer in case we ever experience problems. And there is no call centre to have to contend with. Hallelujah!"
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