Laser or Dye-Sub - which way to go?

Bokeh_Hunter

@spraynpray - Sounds like you have most of the difficult things worked out. on-site 8x10 printing - I'm not sure what I would do for that - Sub-dye would be the preference for sure. Maybe you can find a place to rent one? It's all about offsetting the cost for the printer in my world. The move to 8x10 adds a ton of cost. HiTi has some great event 4x6 printers for under $400ish. I know they have some for larger formats as well. Might be worth a look.

The thing is, at events, giving something to people instantly is 50% of the product you're selling. It makes a huge difference.

I agree 100%. My hang-up is the payment system to use. There is everything available to take CC payments and everything else, but nothing connecting them together with e-mailing photos, receipts, capturing info and the like. OR I haven't found a reasonably priced one yet. I have seen high volume programs but the cost is generally well above $1,500 with annual service fees, and are not open to different payment systems. Add that cost to a good Sub-dye, pay for an assistant, media, etc. the payoff (to when I have it paid for) for me is over 1-year which is a no-go for me. With the events I do, and the frequency (low) vs. "lost sales" the math doesn't allow me to spend much over $1,000 for a full system. A price point of $5 is about max for no-brainer purchases and $10 per shot would be max to get a decent volume. for anything in the market where I'm at. Many of my recent clients when asked don't want someone "selling" at their events. It's frustrating to say the least.

spraynpray

@spraynpray - Sounds like you have most of the difficult things worked out. on-site 8x10 printing - I'm not sure what I would do for that - Sub-dye would be the preference for sure. Maybe you can find a place to rent one? It's all about offsetting the cost for the printer in my world. The move to 8x10 adds a ton of cost. HiTi has some great event 4x6 printers for under $400ish. I know they have some for larger formats as well. Might be worth a look.

I'll take another look at HiTi but I couldn't see any that did 10X4 - sounds promising if they do.

The thing is, at events, giving something to people instantly is 50% of the product you're selling. It makes a huge difference.

I agree 100%. My hang-up is the payment system to use. There is everything available to take CC payments and everything else, but nothing connecting them together with e-mailing photos, receipts, capturing info and the like. OR I haven't found a reasonably priced one yet. I have seen high volume programs but the cost is generally well above $1,500 with annual service fees, and are not open to different payment systems. Add that cost to a good Sub-dye, pay for an assistant, media, etc. the payoff (to when I have it paid for) for me is over 1-year which is a no-go for me. With the events I do, and the frequency (low) vs. "lost sales" the math doesn't allow me to spend much over $1,000 for a full system. A price point of $5 is about max for no-brainer purchases and $10 per shot would be max to get a decent volume. for anything in the market where I'm at. Many of my recent clients when asked don't want someone "selling" at their events. It's frustrating to say the least.

I'm thinking on-the-spot Paypal or cash with the ability to buy from website at a premium if after the event. $5? Not worth all the effort, that's a tough market. Anyway - enough about business, back to printers.

FlowtographyBerlin

Sorry, @spraynpray, just one more comment on the business side: It makes a difference if you actually sell the images to people individually at the event, it's a completely different business model. The one-and-a-half events that I did were paid completely by the event people, as in: They paid me as a photographer and then paid for the material to get the images printed out. I wasn't running a "business on-site" like you guys seem to (want to) do.

That of course takes it all to a different level of challenges.

spraynpray

Sorry, @spraynpray, just one more comment on the business side: It makes a difference if you actually sell the images to people individually at the event, it's a completely different business model. The one-and-a-half events that I did were paid completely by the event people, as in: They paid me as a photographer and then paid for the material to get the images printed out. I wasn't running a "business on-site" like you guys seem to (want to) do.

That of course takes it all to a different level of challenges.

I'm going to be quiet for a while as I have a lot to learn and practice before the first gig. The first gig is on a Saturday and I have a big wedding on the Sunday.... Who's idea was this exactly! :-/