Government

Air Force National Guard Adopts Wireless Passport Printing System

In the course of the the past six months, three units of the Air Force National Guard have adopted the new Sony UPX-C200 Digital Printing System to handle an increasing workload of passport photo production for thousands of service men and women.

At the Multimedia Division of the 193rd Special Operations wing, out of Middletown, Pennsylvania, for example, the UPX-C200 now provides a digital solution that supports 1800 people, producing as many as 400 new passport photos per year.

"We were trying to get away from using film and chemicals in the Air Force National Guard anyway, and we were actually instructed to eliminate our chemical darkrooms. It was also getting harder to obtain Polaroid film. So, when I saw the Sony system, I took advantage of the opportunity," explains base Multimedia Manager, Senior Master Sergeant David Hawkins.

The Sony system consists of a digital photo printer, which offers a 403 dpi resolution, and a 4 megapixel digital still camera. Images are transferred to the printer via state-of-the-art Bluetooth™ wireless technology - without a dock station or cables. The digital still camera features autofocus, gridlines to frame photos and a Quick Review function that allows operators to review and print images while in Camera Mode. It also comes with a software utility that lets operators archive the images stored in the camera to a PC. The software can print a mix of black and white and color images, as well as print up to 12 digital photos on one sheet of media, all captioned and dated.

In addition to producing passport photos, the Multimedia Division of the 193rd Special Operations wing offers a range of still photo, videography and graphic services, including recruiting displays, still photo portraits, historical documentation, and training productions.

"The Sony system has changed our passport workflow," adds Hawkins. "We are now able to take all the photos at one time, and store them in the camera to print at a later time. This helps us speed through the process, taking 60 or 70 individuals at must faster rates. We even went remote with the equipment and did all the printing back in the office."

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