Q&A: Orbitvu (photography equipment)

[intro]Jewellery Focus chats to Andrew Dibben, owner of AJ’s Studio & Camera Supplies, the official supplier of Orbitvu in the UK, on what makes this innovative photography technology so unique.[/intro] Could you tell me a little about Orbitvu, how it works, and what it does? The Orbitvu Alphashot Micro is a state of the art hardware and software photographic solution, that allows anyone to capture high quality and professional looking images of their jewellery, both easily and affordably. Orbitvu has created the Alphashot Micro that combined both hardware and software in a way that they seamlessly work together to help the user create professional looking images of their jewellery, for both print or web use. The Alphashot Micro can also easily create 360-degree web presentations that can be placed online. This allows online sellers to better show their products, which, in return, increases sales and reduces returns. The advantage of this is that the operator only needs basic photographic knowledge. The system and the software are designed to allow the user to put an item inside the box, close the door and hit ‘go’ on the software, though some setting up may be required. It has live video functionality for composition, precise focus checking and easy on-screen lighting control. The system and the software are designed to allow the user to put an item inside the box, close the door and hit ‘go’ on the software How does the technology of Orbitvu differ from similar products on the market? Lighting is naturally the most important aspect of any image and the Micro is the world’s only solution that offers perfect lighting conditions. This is because the Micro has hundreds of built-in LED lights, split into six individual internal panels (each individually controlled using our software), that can produce as much as 20,600 lumens mimicking a well equipped traditional professional photo studio. We also supply a precision LED vary focus spot light that can be used to precisely illuminate selected areas of jewellery or precious stones such as diamonds. What would you say the unique selling point of the product is? This is a hard question, but personally I would say the software. It can be as simple or as powerful as the user needs it to be. But that said, rather than have one unique selling point I would say the Micro has many unique selling points from construction through to output. Starting with construction, Orbitvu has put a lot of thought and investment into an incredibly well designed and extremely well-built machine that uses modern materials and state of the art LED lighting. The Alphashot Micro offers an advanced, but easy-to-use integrated software package for single and mass image editing, other image editing programs are often no longer required. A short amount of training would be enough to use all the features the software provides, allowing users to produce 360 degree web-spins or static images in any size and a variety of formats. This is all achieved from a standard Nikon or Canon DSLR camera. These formats include .jpeg, .png, animated html5, animated .gif, Video format and Flash. This is all done quickly, and impossibly easily, using our software. The captured image or 360-degree presentation has no limitations and can be output at full resolution in a variety of formats from web to high-end printing. Who would you consider your main competitors in the market? We do have competitors, but I guess our greatest competitor within the industry has to be the amateur photographer who thinks he can easily capture images of jewellery with basic equipment. There’s an old saying that goes 'buy cheap, buy twice' and it’s usually true, along with 'you don't get owt for nowt'. What makes Orbitvu different to its competitors? Our intelligent Mask feature automatically detects and removes the background from the jewellery and can speed up the traditional method of running clipping paths, saving massive amounts of time. With the background removed, the items can easily be placed onto any colour background within our software at the click of a button, or any image of the clients choosing. It’s also easy to apply drop-shadows and auto-cropping. This is all done quickly, and impossibly easily, using our software. The Orbitvu Alphashot Micro is a solution which allows people without any photographic knowledge to achieve results far greater than their current experience level would allow, using traditional photographic methods. This means anyone, no what experience they have, can capture professional looking 2D or 360° presentations of their products quickly, easily and affordably. What is Orbitvu’s real benefit to retail jewellers? In the current day and age online presence is of key importance for both sales and company branding. The main advantage of the Orbitvu Micro is that it allows you to quickly and easily create a highly detailed and accurate representation of your products, resulting in more sales and fewer returns. What has the take-up been like in the UK market, is demand increasing? It’s still early days, but I have to say that this sector in particular has really understood the need for high quality online images and interactive web content. Take-up has been very good and we believe it will continue to grow strongly. This means anyone, no what experience they have, can capture professional images What does the future hold for the product, and where do you see the technology going in terms of innovation? I see a good future for Orbitvu within the UK. We’re lucky to have a very strong economy and the jewellery sector in particular is right up there. The demand for quality jewellery and watches is massive and growing, which is increasing the need for images. Orbitvu will continue to improve its software and will branch into other sectors over the coming years. [alert type="success" main_text="This article was originally published in the February 2015 edition of Jewellery Focus." show_close="true"]