Quality Your Way

The latest issue of After Capture magazine contained two articles on the Newsbytes page with these headlines:

Simply Color Lab Introduces Simply Vivid Prints!

DxO FilmPack 3 Recreates Classic Film Look!

Simply Color Lab is an Akron, Ohio based photo lab that serves professional portrait labs. Because the article references inks, rather than dye layers, it is clearly promoting prints made on a digital press instead of silver halide photo paper.  Since this could be perceived as a lower quality service, I think it is brilliant to address the perception head on by pointing out the ability of the press to produce more saturated colors across a wider color gamut.

A few years ago, most professional portrait photographers would have turned up their nose at prints that were highly saturated. The very definition of professional quality was subtle and accurate color reproduction with soft muted colors. It appears the definition has changed. Or has it?

The DxO Filmpack 3 is also targeted to professional photographers and it promises to recreate the magic of dozens of black and white or color film stocks on digital images with one click. DxO is targeting photographers who long for the soft muted colors of the film age.

So which company understands color quality? 

Both!

There is no longer one agreed upon perception of professional color quality. Each company can provide high quality results by consistently producing the results its customers expect. Finding a customer group whose quality preferences differ from the norm is one of the best ways to identify a new business opportunity.

Does your definition of quality match your customer preferences? 

Are there customers with a different preference you could serve with an alternative offering?