“Through the depth and breadth of our offerings, Kodak strives to provide all our customers, ranging from consumers to professional photographers to retailers, with the best solutions to capture and tell their stories,” said Grant Smith, General Manager, Consumer Digital Group – ANZ,  “We’re thrilled that an organisation as prestigious as TIPA recognises the importance of supporting all these markets and has given our APEX system and T-MAX Film these awards.”

TIPA’s Best Retail Finishing award recognises the ease of use, flexibility, scalability, low cost and high quality photo products offered to retailers by APEX, Kodak’s new behind-the-counter thermal dry lab solution. This award continues industry recognition of APEX, which earlier this year received Digital Imaging Marketing Association’s (DIMA) Innovative Digital Product Award.

“The KODAK Adaptive Picture Exchange provides retailers with unprecedented ease-of-use, flexibility and scalability, enabling them to produce profitable, high-quality photo products while minimising cost and complexity,” said the TIPA jury. “APEX is a totally new design in dry lab systems, designed to meet the evolving needs of retailers of any size in any channel. Retailers can connect current KODAK Order Stations to the Adaptive Picture Exchange to fulfill consumers’ standard print orders, and can also tap APEX’s ability to accept, manage and produce premium product orders like posters, single and double-sided photobooks, calendars, collages, greeting cards, and KODAK Picture Movie DVDs.”

The TIPA award for film recognises the fact that Kodak’s improved T-MAX 400 Film is now the world’s finest-grained and sharpest 400-speed black-and-white film, offering photographers a level of clarity normally only available from a 100-speed film.  This marks the second industry award for the new T-MAX Film, which also received Professional Photographer’s 2008 HOT ONE Award. 

“The latest version of Kodak’s famous black-and-white emulsion proves that film still has much to offer photographers,” said the TIPA jury.  “Its ISO speed is fast enough for quick-fire reportage work in low light, yet its fine-grain emulsion yields the detail required by landscapers.  It’s an excellent film that will be enjoyed by monochrome devotees across the board.”

The TIPA Awards 2008 presentation will take place on the opening day of Photokina 2008 in Cologne, Germany.