Useful links on dye sub printers.

Listing of links to dye sublimation printers and associated digital imaging: tests, examples, product reviews, recommendations, comparisons on dye sublimation printers and media for dye sub. A dye sub printer is a useful accessory for your computer system if you seek the highest quality, far superior to ink jet or color laser printers.

General information on dye sublimation printers.

Be sure to remember that many kinds of printed inks or toner will lift off if you put the page into a "protective" plastic sheet. I have lost countless xerocopy images when I put them in plastic sheets... the text stuck to the plastic, ruining both the plastic sheet as well as the page itself.

Dye sublimation prints face the same problem. Kodak solves this nicely by including an extra later of clear protective material. All my Kodak dye sub prints that I printed three years ago while Visiting Professor in digital imaging at Japan's National Museum of Ethnology are all still in bright original color. All are in plastic sheets.

Of course the kind of plastic sheeting may play a role as well as the kind of digital printing involved. I am not a chemist.

Note that laminating your print is a totally different process. In lamination the "plastic" overlay is permanent, so it is bonded, so to speak, with the color and the media. The lamination not only protects the print, the lamination enhances the colors and especially the contrast.

Rolling up a laminated print, however, can be a challenge if the print is large and the laminating material is too thick. Also, be sure to have a backup print. A percentage of prints come out of the lamination machine with air pockets or wrinkles. The quality of the lamination machine, size and shape of the print, and the experience of the operator all play a role as well.

If you wish to report your experiences with dye sublimation or other digital color printers, we welcome your information. We may select your report to on one of our appropriate web site, edited to reflect considerations of space and style. E-mail Flaar_Maya@yahoo.com (all lower case should be equally effective).

If you need additional information on computer peripherals and other kinds of computer printers, check out other sites, www.wide-format-printers.org, www.laser-printer-reviews.org, www.digital-photography.org, and www.cameras-scanners-flaar.org.

 

Most recently updated April 9, 2001.