Are colour laser prints good enough?

[gordon_dooley]

I'm looking into producing fairly large quantities of SRA3 (or Super

A3) prints comprising mostly photographic images but also containing

some text. I currently use both an Epson 2100/2200 and a 1290 so am

familiar with the type of quality obtainable from an inkjet. However,

the cost-per-page and time to print larger quantities makes inkjet

out of the question for this project, while the runs I anticipate do

not really warrant full offset printing.

 

I know that colour laser printers in the past have produced results

that barely border on mediocre, but I have started to look at higher-

end modern lasers and would like now to tap into this forum's

expertise. In particular, I am looking at the Xerox 7300 (LED

technology) and 7750 (laser technology), which claim interpolated

resolutions of 2400 and 1200 dpi respectively. I have received some

samples from Xerox which look OK (as opposed to "fantastic") but I

would be interested to hear from real photographers rather than

office suppliers trying to sell me their product.

 

So, in order to avoid rehashing the arguments against low-end colour

lasers, can anyone on this forum report their specific experiences

with these or directly comparable models, with particular attention

to photographic quality compared with, say, an Epson 2100 print?

 

Thanks

 

Gordon

[scott_eaton]

No. Not even close.

 

They're better than they used to be, but no where near a modern Ink Jet.

[kelly_flanigan1]

In a color copier; such as a print shop uses; their is usually a maintenance aggrement; and the machine is kept in working condition. Here we have owned about 3 machines; each costing from 25 to 50 thousand dollars. Most shops dont calibrate their machines; and the digital printing is good for pie charts; and poor for color. The fiery RIP server on ours has a several color calibrations; and the print engine; and scanner does to. Their are about 5 different calibrations; some closed around standard Kodak greyscale targets on the scanner; some closed around the scanners own output; some closed around canned internal images. I seriously doubt that most folks understand that a color copier can be calibrated with 6 different calibrations; and the work is worlds better than most crap passed off as normal. Many folks just do part of the calibrations; the easy ones; that make the colors alot better; but dont get the shadows or highlights correct. Typically; the shadows get blocked up; or highlights; with a poor calibration. Some printing modes actually purposely do this too. <BR><BR>Even if all calibrated; the drum can have streaks.<BR><BR>Even if calibrated; the paper can have moisture; and prints will be blotched. <BR><BR>The fun thing is that the calibration needs to be done after doing some printing; so the machine gets into a groove; and then the calibration can be very good. <BR><BR>Here we do alot of digital printing of digital photos; BUT we spend the time to calibrate the machine; so output is way better than the other guys. <BR><BR>Some color copier users NEVER calibrate their machines at all.<BR><BR>Color copiers even have removable and replaceable glass on their scanners. Our machine 15 years ago had this too. Just cleaning the glas will effect the calibration of the scanner; it also increases the Dmax of the scanned file too. It is interesting that the scanner glass of a copier is removable; cleanable; and replaceable; but the flatbed scanners of most users is often hard to clean.

[www.naturesfinestimages.co]

Gordon,

 

You might take a look at Costco if you're near one. They currently have the Noritsu and Fuji Frontier machines that print on Fuji Crystal Archive in two finishes. They constantly calibrate their machines. Profiles can be downloaded from Drycreekphoto.com. Price for an 11x14 is $2.99 and if you stack two 8x10's on a single sheet, the 8x10's come out to $1.50 each. If you have a rush order and are friendly with the manager, you can probably have your order done in an hour.

[Ed_Ingold]

I have a Tektronix/Xerox model 740P Color Laser Printer, which is compable to the printers you mention. I chose this model upon reviewing samples and specifications of several printers.

 

Tektronix/Xerox seems to have cornered the market on photo proofing quality laser printers for the moment. Other manufacturers in the <$10K market lean toward business graphics, and the colors are too strident for photos.

 

I also have an Epson 2200, which is the US version of the 2100. There's really no comparison in quality. The Epson produces truly photographic quality, whereas the Tektronix is reasonably close to offset printing. With the right paper (e.g., 100# Glossy Text), the laser printer makes high-quality brochures at reasonable cost. I use it mainly for CD jackets.

 

It's possible to calibrate the Laser Printer quite well. It is a CMYK printer, however, and responds differently to corrections than RGB until you get use to it.