Читать книгу Collins Complete Photography Manual - Collins Dictionaries - Страница 46

Most photo printers use ‘inkjet’ technology. Tiny nozzles on a moving print head squirt dots of ink on to the paper as it passes through the printer. The dots are so small that they merge to form the appearance of a smooth-toned image. Some smaller printers designed for 6″ × 4″ snapshots alone use ‘dye-sublimation’ technology. In this case, the inks are supplied on a ribbon the same width as the paper. The inks are heated into a gas and permeate the upper layers of the paper.

There is little difference to choose between the two types in terms of picture quality. Inkjet prints may prove fractionally sharper, but dye-sublimation prints are dry as they emerge and are therefore physically a little more resilient.

These postcard-sized printers are inexpensive and very popular. Many contain built-in memory card readers so that you can print digital photos without a computer. The makers have adopted fixed-price ‘photo packs’ containing enough inkand paperfora specified number of prints, so that you can easily work out what the costs are per print.