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So you have decided that you need to get a dye sub printer for your organisation/business, a very wise decision if you are a Portrait or Event Photographer, you offer a Photo Retail Service or if you need to be able to make photo-quality prints in your office. You have heard of a few of the few top brands – DNP, Fujifilm, HiTouch (HiTi), Kodak, Mitsubishi, Shinko, Sony etc. but you don’t know which one is the best for you.

Here are 10 points you should consider when deciding which dye sub printer to buy.

1. Comparing Print Quality

The most popular and also incorrect way of comparing print quality is to take prints from one printer and compare it with the prints from another. The problem is that you can either use the prints supplied by the manufacturer for comparison, in which case you are not comparing prints taken from the same image, OR you can supply the image, in which case it will be a lottery that will only produce a winner on the basis of which printer’s print settings happened to match your test image and your subjective preferences, at the time of testing.

Both of the above methods of comparison are inaccurate and mean absolutely nothing. The only way to get a fair and accurate comparison is as follows:

• Prints must always be compared under controlled and consistent lighting conditions.
• A colour target with known values should be used as the image source.
• The test image must contain measurable colour patches of colours & tones that represent natural objects and objects of interest such as human skin tones, plant foliage, blue sky and a range of neutral tones.
• All colour reproduction must be accurately “colour managed” throughout the comparison process.
• Colour patches must be accurately measured with a calibrated colour spectrophotometer and compared with measurements taken from the comparison prints.
• Qualitative factors such as neutral grey balance, saturation, shadow depth & quality, highlight detail, tonality, flesh tones, hue shift, dynamic range etc. must also be compared but as objectively as possible.
• Text clarity can be compared by using a resolution target.
  

  Always look out for the DIMA Awards Logo

Of course not everyone has a colour spectrophotometer lying around and that is why certain independent bodies exist that conduct similar comparisons on a scientific basis. One such body is the Digital Imaging Marketing Association (DIMA).

Once a year, DIMA conducts tests of various different printers submitted by manufacturers for testing and award a prize for printers that perform the best in terms of print quality and under a controlled testing environment.

Another interesting feature to consider is “internal print path” as found on DNP DS-40; DS-80 & Mitsubishi CP3800 printers. This ensures that the print is not exposed to external elements such as dust during the different stages (CMY & lamination layer) of printing. This not only reduces the effects of dust on the print but also helps to extend the life of the thermal print head as dust and other foreign objects are not drawn back into the printer during printing. In addition, a lesser though of benefit of the “internal print path” is that the customer can only handle the print when it is ready. Printers with “external print paths” push the print in and out of the machine during the print process, which can lead to customers (and in-experienced sales staff) pulling the print out before it’s ready, damaging the machine in the process.

2. Print Size & Print Finish

DNP’s award-winning DS-80 “portrait” printer.

DNP’s award-winning DS-40 “event” printer.

With regards to print size, professional dye sub printers are generally divided into two categories; “Event” or “Retail” printers AND “Portrait” printers. As the name suggests, Event/Retail printers print sizes that are suitable for Retail & Events. These usually include 3,5”x5”; 4”x6”; 5”x7”; 6”x8” and/or 6”x9”. Portrait printers generally print sizes 8”x10” and 8”x12”.

It is worth noting that certain Event printers on the market do not support the 6”x9” format. Also note that some Portrait printers will print full bleed, whilst others will only produce prints with a white border. Some manufacturers also give a little more flexibility when it comes to choosing print sizes, although flexible sizes are simply derived from standard print sizes using a fixed print width and then varying the length or vice versa.

Due to the technology, dye sub printers are only capable of printing on very smooth surfaces. This is a rather limiting factor when it comes to offering a range of print finishes and is also the reason that until now, dye sub printers have never been very successful at printing anything other than “glossy finish” prints.

Manufacturers have however started figuring out ways of producing relatively acceptable “matte” finish prints (although in my opinion it’s more of a semi-lustre type print). Check the manufacturer’s specification and remember to ask your dealer to show you an example of the printer’s “matte” printing capabilities.

3. Print Resolution

For a satisfactory print, a dye sub printer’s print resolution should be just a bit higher than 300dpi (dots per inch), usually around 320-350 dpi. Less than this and your prints will appear fuzzy and un-sharp (not to be confused with pixelated – see image, right), more and you start to sacrifice print speed. Some printers also give you an option to choose the print resolution you want. You may see settings like draft (low), standard and high for example. Of course the manufacturer is actually referring to print resolution and not print quality and no matter which of these settings are selected, there will always be the trade off with print speed.

In some cases, printers with resolution higher than 300dpi do offer improved tonal transition but do not think for one minute that if a printer can produce a print with a higher resolution that it is necessarily a better printer. This is a myth that was born in the early days of desktop printing and then later further perpetuated by clever camera & printer marketers.

Sometimes print resolution can also be expressed as 2000 x 3000 pixels for example but then it can only be for a specified print size.