Camera Press is a commercial printing company based in Johannesburg and a specialist provider of one to one customer communications. It’s been servicing the direct marketing industry since the business started with three multi-colour litho presses and has now taken personalisation to the next level with the Xerox Iridesse Production Press.

Camera Press’ relationship with Xerox started 10 years ago when the company first purchased the Xerox X5000, which was followed by a Xerox X1000 four years later.

Camera Press was looking for a digital printer that could produce quality prints in a short time, using specialty inks and on a variety of substrates especially folders.

“We had the opportunity to research the market before making our decision and looked at multiple brands”, says Kevin Hellyer, co-owner of Camera Press.

“After extensive research and in-depth comparisons, we migrated to the Xerox Iridesse Production Press. It was a natural progression for us to upgrade to the latest technology – Xerox is ingrained in us and the Iridesse is a show-stopper. Digital print production has continued to improve, and we are excited about what we can achieve with the Xerox Iridesse.

“This, combined with the level of service that we receive from Altron Bytes Documents Solutions and Xerox distributor, Digilogix, helped us make our decision,” remarked Kevin.

40 years

Two old school friends, Gavin Stapleton and Hellyer, founded Camera Press in January 1980. The two school mates were both motorsport enthusiasts who spent most of their free time at racing circuits. Kevin raced motorcycles while Gavin loved taking photographs, which later became the inspiration behind the name Camera Press. Gavin’s photographic background led him to the business in lithography, and 40 years later is one of the biggest names in the commercial printing industry.

David Stapleton, Gavin’s younger brother, soon joined the business and has remained an integral part of the company since then. Sadly, Gavin passed away in 2008, leaving Kevin and David to run the business. In celebration of Camera Press’s 40th birthday, the company held an open house where the Xerox Iridesse was officially unveiled.

“It took a lot of hard work, realistic expectations and extreme sacrifice to get to 40 years. We have been self-funded from the beginning. We have never splashed out on material things that were not essential to the business. For the first five years in this business, we did not even draw any salaries. We have always tried to remain innovative and adapt to industry trends. That is why we have stayed relevant and successful for so long”, said Kevin.

Both Kevin and David see the Xerox relationship as a true partnership, and they have never looked back since beginning their journey with the Xerox brand.

“We are quite impressed with the Iridesse. The beauty of the Iridesse is that it produces great quality work. Once customers understand and see the Iridesse’s capabilities, it’s limitless because we’ve been able to do larger brochures and short runs, which opens up enormous marketing capability. Things in the printing industry have changed a great deal — customers no longer ask what day they can get it, it has become ‘what time?’” explains David.

Range of features

The Xerox Iridesse offers a range of features that make it the perfect choice for Camera Press. One of the biggest attractions is the option to use specialty dry inks such as gold, silver, metallic and clear. The press can take a maximum paper weight of 400gsm, which is important to Camera Press’s business as they print a large number of business cards.

It also takes a variety of substrates, which can be coated, uncoated, textured or dark stocks, labels, business cards, window decals, durable/synthetic papers, greeting cards, tabs, embossed, polyesters and custom solutions. Another important offering the press has is the fact that it can also print on long sheets which allows Camera Press to maximise its use of the machine as the company is now enabled to print folders more efficiently.

The new press has opened new revenue streams for Camera Press and facilitated its entry into the print-on-demand market. The company is looking at ways to offer its customers a faster turnover including same-day deliveries depending on the time the order was placed. “The speed of the machine is just incredible. We got a job approved for 100 copies of a 108-page book in the morning and by the afternoon it was done and ready for delivery. This will definitely help us on the short-run side,” David continues.

“Print is a great industry to work in, according to Kevin and David. There is always something new and exciting happening. The industry has proved itself to be able to adapt to all kinds of challenges especially working with new and different technologies.

“The Xerox service and support has been excellent. They have helped take our business to a new level and allowed us to offer our customers exceptional image quality and jaw-dropping embellishment effects, making it easier to achieve remarkably brilliant results, “concludes David.

About Altron Bytes Document Solutions
Altron Bytes Document Solutions is Africa’s leading document management technology and services company and the largest Xerox distributor in the world. It is the authorised Xerox distributor in 26 sub-Saharan countries offering the complete range of Xerox document equipment, software solutions and services. ABDS forms part of JSE-listed Allied Electronics Corporation (Altron).