The text below is my reply to a private e-mail from Mike making the same claim: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------
Yes, Mike, your digital printer does use a halftone screen for anything other than line graphics. It is built in. Newer ones select the screen lpi based on what kind of paper you select. Older ones like mine only have one screen. A photo quality printer should be using a 200 line halftone for glossy papaer anything less, and I personally wouldn't consider it photo quality. Further the pixels per inch of you image should be 1.5 to 2.0 times the halftone lines, not the dots per inch, of you printer. The DPI is the stepping rate of the print head; the ink dots are larger than that giving overlapping spots of ink. What makes determining the best PPI for your image difficult is that almost none of the printer manufactures tell you what halftone screen their printers use. So you kind of have to guess. BTW that halftone screen is not a physical screen but is generated by the printer firmware. With a Postscript printer you can generate that halftone screen in software and send the halftoned image to the printer as line graphics. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- --graywolf ------------------------------------------------- The optimist's cup is half full, The pessimist's is half empty, The wise man enjoys his drink. ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Johnston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 10:17 AM Subject: Re: The PDML Digital Print Challenge > Graywolf howled: > > > but I can tell you to rate an E (excellent) I will > > not be able to see any sign of the halftone screen with my naked eye. I kind > > of feel that is a requirement for a print to be truely considered > > photographic quality. > > > Um, but can't you see grain with the naked eye in a lot of actual > photographic-quality photographs? What's the difference? > > BTW they're not strictly speaking "halftone screen," just ink dots. > --Mike > - > This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, > go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to > visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
