[Leica] Printing on plastic - take care!!

[Alex Hurst <corkflor@iol.ie>]

Hi LUGnuts.

For those of you who print digitally, I have long been a great fan of
plastic white glossy film as the ultimate printing medium:

a) The ink doesn't spread, as it's not absorbed - hence it does justice to
those Leica lenses. Prints are tack sharp.

b) It even saves you ink if you're using an inkjet. Epson obviously write
this in their driver software to achieve the best result.

However (and not a big one)......

If you're using an Epson Stylus Photo (any model) with this medium, which
prints in six colours (and thus layers of ink), photos on plastic media
take an age to dry properly because there is no absorption.. Allow 3 days,
repeat _3 _days_  for drying, and don't put printed plastic sheets on top
of one another in the interim. Otherwise you'll end up with some very
interesting offset and numerous ruined prints..

That non-withstanding, plastic is a great medium for digital prints. Beats
the bejaysus out of all that mucking about with drums........<g>

As a price guide, it costs about 50 cents a sheet. Add the extortionate
cost of the ink, and that's still a pretty reasonable price.

I'd love to hear experiences from other LUGnuts using this medium. Take my
word for it - it beats any sort of paper (photoglossy included) into the
ground.

Slan

Alex




Alex Hurst
Waterfall
Nr. Cork
Ireland

Tel: +353 21 543 328 (H)
       +353 21 270 907 (W)

Fax: +353 21 271 248
email: corkflor@iol.ie
Home website: http://homepages.iol.ie/~corkflor/
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