Laser Printer? Ink Jet or both for film positives?

[Aces Inc]

My mentor has a Xante screenwriter laser printer for basic prints that do not require fine halftones. He has a Epson 1430 inkjet for prints with halftones. I already have a Epson 1400 that I will use with AccuRip for halftones.

My question is do you use a laser printer? If so why and how do you like it? Lastly what brand and model do you use and which would you recommend.

Thanks in advance! 

[Frog]

Laser printers (at least the big boys) have (had) two things going for them;
Real postscript eliminates the need for a third party rip needed to take advantage of halftone settings in graphics programs, and the "films" they produce can be pretty cheap.

The negatives on lasers are, if used for halftones, lousy dot shape, and except for some printers with built-in compensation, difficulty in registering multi color films due to the shrinkage from the fuser heat. The high d-min (actually low light transmission ability through the clear sections) of the vellum paper leaves a lot to be desired as well. Sometimes, even the d-max  (opacity of image area) often needs the benefit of a spray to darken it)
The printers themselves can be costly as well.

If my Minolta QMS had not bitten the dust, I might still be using it for simple. blocky single color jobs, but damn, even a cheap ink jet can make some nice films!

[blue moon]

inkjet is the way to go. your 1400 can produce some nice positives.
the downfall is the speed, possibly opacity (Are you using inks specifically designed for film positives?) and service life. If you are looking to upgrade, EPSON 4800 can be had for under $500 right now and it is a workhorse!

pierre

[Aces Inc]

@frog Thanks first and for most. Yes that was very technical but that's how you learn! I do believe most of the printing he does on the laser printer is simpler designs, the main thing he stresses is the toner for the laser cost $240 and lasts 2 years roughly....while we all know what the ink costs are on a ink jet printer... I am at the low end of the curve and most of the jobs I farm to him are simple designs, a few are multi-colored.... I am willing to invest in the laser printer if the long term costs will off set the initial costs..

[Aces Inc]

@blue moon  Yes my 1400 is dedicated strictly for film printing and I will be using a BlackMax type system of all black inks. So do you feel I should not invest in a laser printer then?

[blue moon]

@blue moon  Yes my 1400 is dedicated strictly for film printing and I will be using a BlackMax type system of all black inks. So do you feel I should not invest in a laser printer then?

correct, the cost of ink per print is so small that it's not worth going into a laser and all the potential problems. Please note, I am not saying it's impossible just that there could be issues that would force workarounds that would be counterproductive (i.e. wasting your time). The 1400 is a nice printer with very high resolution. Running it with AccuRIP will yield good results. If you start getting busy and get tired of feeding the individual sheets you can upgrade to a 4800/4880.

As far as all black, I am not a fan. You get head alignment issues, but not sure to what extent. Going with one head only will give you cleaner prints at the expense of taking longer to print. . .

stick with you 1400, make sure you use good ink and you'll be golden.

pierre

[Frog]

I think that most folks who use laser printers, are those who have had them for years.
I wouldn't plunk down $2000 on one just to save twenty or even thirty cents a film. Also, with bulk ink and refillable carts or CIS systems, the ink costs have come way down.

[Aces Inc]

Okay. So look into bulk ink or ink feeder systems and stick with the 1400. Got it. Also thanks for the info about the all black ink, I was positive that was the way to good now I see different. Time for more research!!

[blue moon]

do you already have the AccuRIP? If you don't, get a copy of T-RIP from Scott Fresner/T-Bz (check the banners up top for email). It is about $100 less and is a far superior product. It's what we use here and beats the other RIPs I tested.

pierre

[screenxpress]

Man, Andy, been so long now I forgot about the need for Toner Aid to get em darker.

I think by now the vote is in on inkjet.  I remember when the LaserJet was the ONLY printer I had and had to keep printing and trashing films that did not register cuz the fuser unit stretched em.

[islandtees]

do you already have the AccuRIP? If you don't, get a copy of T-RIP from Scott Fresner/T-Bz (check the banners up top for email). It is about $100 less and is a far superior product. It's what we use here and beats the other RIPs I tested.

pierre

Fresner rip is made by CADlink which is great with inkjet printers.

[Frog]

Man, Andy, been so long now I forgot about the need for Toner Aid to get em darker.

I ended up using just about anything clear in a spray can that was cheaper than the real Toner-Aid: lacquer, enamel, even hairspray if not full of water. All worked similarly by apparently slightly dissolving the particles and allowing them to flow closer together, becoming darker.

[Aces Inc]

I don't have AccuRip yet but it was on the list and things I haven't gotten yet (trying to make the final push) are getting ordered tomorrow, hence my activity on here tonight. I will look at T-Rip! I mentioned AccuRip because it was the name I saw the most.

[blue moon]

I don't have AccuRip yet but it was on the list and things I haven't gotten yet (trying to make the final push) are getting ordered tomorrow, hence my activity on here tonight. I will look at T-Rip! I mentioned AccuRip because it was the name I saw the most.

go with T-RIP!

AR is a good product and it would be easier to start with, but TR has many options and features that are not available in the AR. It also seems to generate slightly better dot and transitions. The differences are really minimal and in some cases not visible without the microscope, but are there none the less. Saving $100 and getting a better product is a no brainer though. 'just be ready to spend few days learning it unlike the AR which can be up and running in 30 min. Scott is pretty good at supporting it and from what I understand he has a decent manual with it.

pierre 

[MrBreeze]

We have a Xante that we have used every day for 8 years because of the sheer speed of the printer. We have no problem with registration on 99% of the stuff we do even with halftones. For really highend stuff (4 color process) which we only do occasionally, we get positives from a local guy with an imagesetter.  We do our art inhouse so our people know how to make adjustments (overprints at .5 or .25 points) to compensate for any possible minimal shrinkage.  We like laser because we produce film for about 20 plus jobs daily and the speed of an ink jet would really slow us down. That being said if I was a startup and only had to produce a few films daily I would go inkjet because of initial cost. That's my 2 cents.