Digital Home Thoughts: Photo Printing Paper Q&A Part 1: HP

DMT: One thing that has always baffled me is why so many photo paper sizes differ from the sizes of common photo frames available in North America. 4 x 6” paper is a given because it matches up with photo albums. HP offers 5 x 7” photo paper in limited finishes, which matches up nicely with photo frames available at retail – but where is the 8 x 10” paper? HP offers a variety of paper in 8.5 x 11” size, yet if you go into any retail store and look for frames in that size you won’t find anything other than document holders. 8 x 10” is the standard photo frame size, so where is the HP paper to match that? It’s equally problematic with the bigger sizes of paper as well: try finding a frame for a 13 x 19” print! As someone who enjoys making photo prints at home, this disparity between paper sizes and frames is a source of constant frustration – why aren’t there more choices for 5 x 7” and 8 x 10” paper?

HP: HP was a leader in first offering 5"x7" photo paper and concurrently offering snapshot photo printers with the capability to print up to this size. Today HP continues to be the market share leader in 5"x7" photo paper. Just as we are constantly tweaking and improving products we as well are always investigating solutions (such as additional sizes or finishes) to meet/exceed customer needs and expectations. We must balance that however with the reality of working with retailers. HP would love to offer every possible solution, but there is only a limited amount of shelf space.

DMT: Digital scrapbooking seems to be all the rage now, with all sorts of online communities and software offering creative ways for people to create digital scrapbook pages and then print them. Several HP printers seem technically capable of printing on 12 x 12” paper, which is the de facto standard for scrapbooking, yet the product pages don’t list 12 x 12” as a supported paper type, nor does HP offer any 12 x 12” paper for sale. Does HP plan to offer scrapbook enthusiasts any options in the future?

HP: A similar answer as the above. We are always investigating additional solutions to meet customer needs including this and other creative solutions. The complication with scrapbooking pages is that it's more than just offering the paper. There's also software and content and print formatting needed to deliver a complete solution.

DMT: What’s the long-term outlook for photo printing – does HP believe there will continue to be a strong drive for people to print photos are home, or have online photo printing services already significantly weakened the home printing market?

HP: According to industry analysts such as Lyra home printing is strong and continues to grow year over year. HP does believe that home photo printing is and will continue to be a strong solution for printing photos. Current HP home photo print systems actually deliver better image quality and better fade performance than online. HP photo value packs (products that combine HP ink and best matched HP photo paper) are competitively priced to online. Printing photos at home also brings print in hand immediacy, more creative control, and privacy. With that said, online does have a place in the market as well as retail/ in-store processing. All three solutions can co-exist. In fact HP offers all three with Snapfish online and our new retail in-store photo kiosks.

DMT: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Is there any way consumers can direct feedback to HP about paper finishes and sizes they’d like to see?

HP: Yes, there is. The best route is to actually contact the HP executive office. 800-756-0608 option 7. Or use our Web site.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He has a bit of a paper fetish.