Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (
More info?)
Dye sub printers have a different technology than that used for inkjet.
With dye-sub, each image pixel is represented by one pixel or dot on
the printed page. They typically have a resolution of between 250 and 400
dpi.
How they differ from inkjet is that the pixel of dot is made up of an
overlay of colors (usually CMY and sometimes K (black) in usually 256
levels, making for up to 16.8 or so million colors. This makes the
color accuracy and gradients very smooth and potentially accurate.
Inkjet printers have "higher" resolutions, in that they can address up
to nearly 6000 dots per ink, however, they cannot be directly compared
to the dot create din a dye sub printer. In inkjet printers, the ink
dot can usually only be on exact color, that of the ink. That is why
inkjet printers have been adding more ink colors, densities and dot
sizes to create the illusion of more colors. Inkjet printers create
colors by dithering processes which alternate the dots of the actual ink
colors to give the appearance of many more colors, because the dots are
very small, our eye perceives them as a variety of colors. Without a
loupe, you probably wouldn't see the individual dots anyway.
Dye-sub printers are usually faster as a result of needing to lay down
less dots, but since each dot is so much larger, so in areas line
diagonal lines which have contrast to surrounding areas (as they often
do) there can be a problem with "jaggies". The inkjet printer uses
their ability to print very detailed dot placement to their advantage
here, with careful driver design the diagonal lines are printed in a
manner to lessen jaggies by filling in those steps by moving dots
around. A good driver on a dye-sub printer can lessen that as well, but
a poor driver will make it even more obvious on that type of printer.
I would agree with you that waiting for future releases may be
potentially dangerous, because it may never occur. In general, promises
of improvement with the "next" driver release should be considered with
some suspicion.
Art
Scott wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 20:24:37 -0700, "Bob Headrick" <bobh@proaxis.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>"Scott" <holdencaufield@anonymous.net> wrote in message
>>news:jdmmi01gtcgklqubl17i66c5lcp9jcgd0q@4ax.com...
>>
>>>I purchased an Olympus P-10 4x6 dye sub printer a few weeks ago, and
>>>am now asking that Olympus provide me with a refund. All of my prints
>>>have "jaggies" or a notched effects, particularly notable on diagonal
>>>lines and features. Olympus now tells me that new drivers,
>>>availability date unknown, may address this problem. Going back to my
>>>Epson R800 - beautiful prints.
>>>
>>>Anybody else have seen this problem (or did anyone else but me buy
>>>this printer?)
>>
>>I am not familiar with the details of the P-10, but dye sub printers are often
>>relatively low resolution (206 ppi?), with a very large color depth at each
>>pixel. Low resolution/high color depth is best for faces, landscapes and other
>>images that do not have sharp lines, especially diagonals.
>>
>>Regards,
>>Bob Headrick, not speaking fro my employer HP
>>MS MVP Printing/Imaging
>>
>
> Bob,
>
> Thanks for the response. The P-10 has a resolution of ~314 (depending
> where one reads it or whom one speaks to at Olympus.) Interesting
> idea about the cause for the "jaggies" I am seeing. It is definitely
> the sharp diagonals that appear to suffer the most.
>
> Scott
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram