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Despite today's options for viewing and sharing images on screens, many people still want or need prints. Kodak's expertise in color science and thin-layer coating is key to the technologies commonly used to print pictures and pages today.
Consumer Printing
In the digital age, consumers can obtain prints of their pictures at retail, on-line or by printing at home. Various options provide the level of convenience, creativity and control each individual wants. In addition to traditional prints, consumers can also create photo books, collages, calendars, and other items that turn their photos into personal, one-of-a-kind keepsakes.
Home all-in-one printers (inkjet technology)
Inkjet technology is commonly used to print photographs at home. Input starts as a digital photo, or a print scanned into a computer. A series of printheads sprays droplets of ink onto paper to re-create the image, typically using cyan, magenta, yellow and black colors. The printer electronics control the position of the printhead and ejection of droplets to dispense the ink in the right amount, at the right time, and in the right positions.
In 2007, Kodak introduced a revolutionary line of inkjet printers, inks and papers. KODAK EASYSHARE All-in-One Printers enable consumers to easily and affordably print crisp, sharp documents and photos at home using premium, pigment-based inks.
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KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 AiO Inkjet Printer |
The printers offer several advances in technology. First, they have a permanent print head, which the customer snaps in place once. That provides cost savings, as replacement ink cartridges do not need to include new print heads. Also, Kodak´s printers use inks that are pigment-based, versus the industry standard dye-based inks. Whereas dye-based inks are subject to fading, Kodak´s inks incorporate nanoparticulate pigments that deliver bright, colorful prints that last a lifetime.*
*under typical home display and dark storage conditions
Retail picture kiosks and home printer docks (thermal dye transfer technology)
Kodak uses thermal printers in its picture kiosks, which are found in thousands of retail locations around the world. The kiosks allow you to make prints and enlargements from digital memory cards and other electronic media, as well as existing prints. Thermal technology is also used in Kodak´s home photo printers, the KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Docks. These docks produce durable 4 x 6-inch prints from a digital camera--with or without a computer.
In the thermal process, a dye-bearing ribbon is placed on a specially coated paper and heated by a print head. The heat causes dye to move from the ribbon to the paper to reproduce an image.
The dye ribbon has four separate panels -- three contain dyes for the primary colors (cyan, magenta and yellow), the fourth contains a clear coating that is used to improve image stability and longevity. In fact--like silver halide prints--thermal prints should last for generations given the right storage conditions.
Because in thermal printing the dyes penetrate the paper instead of just being painted onto its surface (like inkjet), thermal prints don't require drying time, and tend to resist fading. Also, because the dye is continuously transferred to the paper, rather than laid down as individual dots, thermal produces images with finer density gradations, and a more photographic appearance.
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KODAK Picture Kiosk G4 |
Retail/on-line print orders (traditional silver halide technology)
Remember dropping off a roll of film at your local store and quickly getting back high-quality prints that would last a lifetime? Many digital images ordered through retail and on-line services are still printed using silver halide technology.
How does it work? Light is the key.
With film, light shines through a film negative to project a "positive" version of the image on a special paper. Today, digital images, and negatives that have been scanned, can be printed directly onto photo paper using lasers and LEDs. The photographic paper is coated with light-receptive silver crystals and compounds that, when mixed with chemical developers, form dyes to reproduce the image. In light or white areas, the silver is not activated and is rinsed from the print during development.
In black-and-white pictures, photographic paper includes a single layer of the light sensitive crystals and compounds. For color pictures, the paper includes separate layers for cyan, magenta and yellow -- the primary pigments that combine to print any color.
After the paper is exposed with an image, a series of chemical solutions are used to develop the image, stop development and fix the image for stability.
KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology can be used to digitally enhance pictures before printing to reveal more vibrant colors, richer detail and fewer dark shadows. This can greatly improve prints of poorly exposed or backlit pictures.
Commercial Offset Printing
Commercial users can choose from a variety of printing alternatives, based on the quality, size, cost and type of output needed for a job.
High-volume printing (commercial offset technology)
In graphic arts, images are often printed on presses using an "offset" process, which means an image is transferred to a series of intermediate drums and rollers before reaching paper.
In offset printing, an image is first formed on a thin sheet of aluminum known as a printing plate. This serves as a durable "master" that is used to transfer the image many times, making offset printing suitable for printing large quantities (usually more than 500) of an image at one time.
The printing plate is wrapped on a cylinder, and as it rotates, it comes in contact with ink. Based on the image, regions of the plate chemically attract or repel the ink. The inked plate then transfers the image to a roller, which finally transfers the image to a sheet of paper.
The same process repeats for each color in the printing press. Most colors are formed by a sequence of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black printing. By controlling the placement, size and intensity of the dots of ink being printed, this sequence can replicate most colors. Specialty colors, however, may be additionally printed.
Kodak is a leading supplier of printing plates for the commercial printing industry. This includes both digital printing plates, that are written (or "imaged") directly from a computer file, and conventional printing plates, that are imaged using traditional photographic processes.
Digital variable data printing
Increasingly, communications can be personalized for the recipient. This obviously includes transactional documents like bills and credit statements, but can also include advertisements, catalogs and books. The following technologies can be used for these products.
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Continuous inkjet technology
Continuous inkjet (CIJ) is a bit different than consumer inkjet printing. In CIJ, a fluid station feeds ink to an ink drop generator. At the bottom of the generator is a plate containing a row of orifices, or openings.
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KODAK VERSAMARK VX5000
Printing Systems |
A row of electrical leads – one for each opening in the plate – controls the drops of ink as they pass through the openings to reach the paper on which an image is printed. Each electrical lead receives data that turns it on or off. If the lead is turned off, an ink drop passing it does not receive an electrostatic charge, and continues through its opening and onto the paper to help form the image; if a drop is charged, it is recycled back to the fluid station to be used again. This happens very precisely. To create CIJ output of up to 1000 feet of images per minute, the CIJ printheads generate up to 165,000 drops per second for each orifice
Kodak customers realize the benefits of CIJ through the line of KODAK VERSAMARK Printing System products. Some VERSAMARK Products focus on applications like high-volume addressing and on-press personalization; others can produce fully digital direct mailings, or bills and statements that also include promotional ads or offers.
Electrophotographic technology
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Kodak´s line of NexPress digital presses can vary data on each page in a print run. This enables printers to customize advertisements and other printed pieces for individual customers.
A technology called electrophotgraphy makes this customization possible. Instead of using static printing plates as in offset printing, electrophotography uses a metal imaging drum that can be re-written with a new image for each print.
An LED places an electrical charge on the drum. The charge either attracts or repels colorant particles (dry powders of cyan, magenta, yellow and black colors) to create an image that is eventually transferred to paper. A separate laser/drum station is used for each color that will comprise the image. Once the toner has been transferred to paper, heat and pressure bond it to the paper surface.
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KODAK NEXPRESS 2100
Digital Production Color Press |
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