Huawei P9 and India Photo Project launch Monochrome award in India

Source: Instagram. Top posts at the time of writing for the contest hashtag #ipp_ma2016.

Huawei P9 and the Instagram-driven India Photo Project have announced the Monochrome award in celebration of World Photography Day (August 19). The hunt for India's best black-and-white Instagrammer will celebrate visions in monochrome from 20 August till 31 August.

The contest will be judged by Sumit Dayal, who was named CNN's Indian Instagrammer of the Year, 2015; Tara Bedi, India's first Instagram employee, Devika Daulet Singh, Director, PHOTOINK, a photography gallery; and Neeraj Priyadarshini, the Photo Editor at Indian Express.

"Capturing something in colour is to capture their appearance but capturing something in black and white is akin to capturing their essence," said Dayal.

Peter Zhai, President, Huawei India Consumer Business Group said, "Huawei is known for many firsts. With this award, we aim to lend our support to the India Photo Project and bring to light the beauty and essence of the black and white images. The recent launch of our Huawei P9 redefines the smartphone photography experience by leveraging the unrivalled capabilities of Leica, the leader in the world of imaging for more than 100 years, and this award helps us to curate such experiences." 

The winner of the award will walk away with a newly-launched Huawei P9, the first smartphone co-engineered with Leica that has a dual-lens camera, setting new benchmarks in smartphone photography. The two 12-megapixel rear cameras of the Huawei P9 work in tandem to enable users to create images of superior detail, depth and colour by capturing more light and stitching together both colour and monochrome images.

Interested?

Read the rules for the Monochrome award. Entries can be uploaded on Instagram with the hash-tag #ipp_ma2016. 

Watch the associated celebrity video for the Huawei P9

Konica Minolta picks up coveted BLI 'Line of the Year' award for 4th consecutive year

Buyers Laboratory (BLI), an independent authority and provider of competitive intelligence, testing and reviews for the imaging industry, has named Konica Minolta's A3 multi-function peripheral (MFP) family "Line of the Year" for a record fourth straight year.


"Line of the Year" is awarded once a year to vendors whose products are determined to be the best in their respective categories of models tested in BLI's two-month laboratory evaluation.

"What it boils down to with Konica Minolta is consistency," said George Mikolay, BLI's Senior Product Editor for A3/Copier MFPs. "Whereas competing lines may stand out in certain speed bands, or in either colour or black, Konica Minolta's engines stand out across the board - in reliability, ease of use and image quality - in virtually all speed bands in both colour and black. No other vendor brings the same quality of performance across its product line to the same degree."

He added, "The colour engines were found to quickly process and output users' jobs not only in BLI's real-world jobstream test, but also when printing sets and producing booklets, and scan speeds are the fastest or among the fastest in their respective groups. All of Konica Minolta's tested colour devices received high marks for both business graphics and photographic images, producing bright, saturated colour, natural flesh tones and smooth overall output." 

Konica Minolta's monochrome engines tested this year also earned high marks for printed image quality. "Even in copy mode, text was sharp, fine lines were consistent and halftone levels were distinct across all levels," noted Mikolay.
 

Source: Konica Minolta. The bizhub 554e.

Konica Minolta also elaborated on the BLI "Pick" award for Outstanding 51- to 60-ppm A3 Monochrome multi-function peripheral won by its bizhub 554e. BLI's "Pick" awards, presented twice annually, recognise the best performers in a comprehensive suite of tests that cover a wide range of the most important features and performance factors for buyers.

According to the BLI report, the Konica Minolta bizhub 554e won for superior reliability and unsurpassed image quality. 

"The bizhub 554e offers many great features, but above all, it's proven to be very reliable," said Pete Emory, BLI Manager of Laboratory Testing. The unit completed BLI's two-month, 200,000-impression test with only two misfeeds and no service required.

 

Konica Minolta's A3 business colour models include the "Pick"-winning bizhub C364e and bizhub C454e; the "Highly Recommended" bizhub C224e, bizhub C284e and bizhub C554e; and the bizhub C654e and bizhub C754e. Besides the "Pick"-winning bizhub 554e, Konica Minolta's A3 monochrome models include the "Highly Recommended" bizhub 284e and bizhub 364e, as well as the bizhub 654e and bizhub 754e, which are enhanced versions of models that earned "Highly Recommended" ratings.