Online Photo Printers vs 4-Color Printers

[BrandonSi]

I'm curious as to what the difference is between say MPix and an online 4-color printer. How difficult would it be to print my photographs with a 4 color printing press? Are photos normally done with 4 color? I'm curious because MPix is charging $15.99 for a 16x20, and I can get an 18x24 done at a 4 color press online for $9.00. Obviously that's a significant savings and would boost my bottom line, but I have no real experience with an actual printer.

[Headcase650]

What do you mean by 4 color press? If you are thinking its an offset ink press that uses CMYK inks I bet you are mistaken. I work in printing and have ran many different presses and 9 dollars wouldnt even cover the time it takes to hang a single plate let alone material costs. I would bet they are refering to a 4 color copier. If thats the case an online lab like Mpix is the better option. A chemical print will almost always look better than a 4 color copy. To compair have a digital print made at your local walmart or any place that makes chemical prints then take the same file into kinkos and have them whip one out of their 4 color copier on photopaper. I dont even like walmarts prints but I would bet it would look a whole lot better than a 4 color copy and should last longer and wouldnt be as fragile or scratch as easily.

[BrandonSi]

What do you mean by 4 color press? If you are thinking its an offset ink press that uses CMYK inks I bet you are mistaken. I work in printing and have ran many different presses and 9 dollars wouldnt even cover the time it takes to hang a single plate let alone material costs. I would bet they are refering to a 4 color copier. If thats the case an online lab like Mpix is the better option. A chemical print will almost always look better than a 4 color copy. To compair have a digital print made at your local walmart or any place that makes chemical prints then take the same file into kinkos and have them whip one out of their 4 color copier on photopaper. I dont even like walmarts prints but I would bet it would look a whole lot better than a 4 color copy and should last longer and wouldnt be as fragile or scratch as easily.

No, actually it is a CMYK press, they do "gang-runs" or something like that, a bunch of smaller jobs together, in order to decrease the price. This isalso not a single quantity order.. what is your opinion though, on a 4 color press.. can it come close to the color gamut of a chemical print?

[Headcase650]

The quality all depends on their pre-press standards. If they are running a 120-133 line screen then I would go chemical print for the quality. The company I work for uses a process called sticatto 20 witch uses random 20 micron dots to creat your 4 color image, there is no pattern to the dot, they almost look as if they are splattered from a paint brush compaired to a 133 line that has straight lines of uniformly sized dots. Sticatto 20 comes very close to an actual chemical print but when viewed under a 12x loupe you can still see that the chemical print is better. We are in the process of intigrating sticatto 10 witch uses a 10 micron dot and its so close to chemical quality print that you dont even have to worry about it (only 10 printers in the U.S. are using sticatto 10, its very difficult to keep the dots from plugging and to set your curves properly). I still think chemical prints are more durrable than an offset print.

As with any type of offset printing there are so many variables that will affect the final image, Paper brightness and finish, Inks used, the types of dryers used, wether you have an additional aquias coating applied, and most of all she skill of the guy running the press.