B/W Laserjet Printer shadings
Paul
How many shadings is available in a black
and white laserjet printer such as the
HP Laserjet 1010? For example, I'm
printing a photo that has 16 million colors.
Using the black laserjet... how many
shadings would it convert it to? 256?
1024? 50K? or 16 million shadings??
Now a color inkjet printer with separate
black and tricolor cartridge such as the
HP Deskjet 2560. How many colors would
it produce in the paper? 16 million colors?
J
Bob Larter
> Hi,
>
> How many shadings is available in a black
> and white laserjet printer such as the
> HP Laserjet 1010? For example, I'm
> printing a photo that has 16 million colors.
> Using the black laserjet... how many
> shadings would it convert it to? 256?
> 1024? 50K? or 16 million shadings??
64 shades, if you're lucky.
> Now a color inkjet printer with separate
> black and tricolor cartridge such as the
> HP Deskjet 2560. How many colors would
> it produce in the paper? 16 million colors?
Maybe, but I doubt it.
--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------
Paul
> Paul wrote:
> > Hi,
>
> > How many shadings is available in a black
> > and white laserjet printer such as the
> > HP Laserjet 1010? For example, I'm
> > printing a photo that has 16 million colors.
> > Using the black laserjet... how many
> > shadings would it convert it to? 256?
> > 1024? 50K? or 16 million shadings??
>
> 64 shades, if you're lucky.
How using an inkjet printer with pure black ink
only. 64 shades too? Or is the 64 shade
only exclusively for laser jet black printers
of any brand?
P
Paul
> > Hi,
>
> > How many shadings is available in a black
> > and white laserjet printer such as the
> > HP Laserjet 1010? For example, I'm
> > printing a photo that has 16 million colors.
> > Using the black laserjet... how many
> > shadings would it convert it to? 256?
> > 1024? 50K? or 16 million shadings??
>
> 64 shades, if you're lucky.
But 8 Bit Greyscale can produce 256 shadings.
How come the HP Laserjet 1010 can't produce
256 shadings? How did you calculate the 64
shades thing? Is this 64 shade limitation also
true in inkjet black only printing?
P
Mike S.
In article <1e4a9123-df8c-4450...@f1g2000prb.googlegroups.com>,
In the early days, people like Don Lancaster published tons of stuff on
this. In short, the number depends on the resolution of the printer and
the type of pattern (arrangements of dots) used by the printer driver to
generate grayscale. There are different patterns, including random dot and
various ordered patterns, each of which has different tradeoffs with
respect to balancing the rendering of detail and of number of shades.
An inkjet printer which can regulate the amount of ink delivered by each
dot, has an advantage over laser printers which can only regulate the size
and placement.
J. Clarke
> On Apr 5, 8:18 pm, Bob Larter <bobbylar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Paul wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>
>>> How many shadings is available in a black
>>> and white laserjet printer such as the
>>> HP Laserjet 1010? For example, I'm
>>> printing a photo that has 16 million colors.
>>> Using the black laserjet... how many
>>> shadings would it convert it to? 256?
>>> 1024? 50K? or 16 million shadings??
>>
>> 64 shades, if you're lucky.
>
> But 8 Bit Greyscale can produce 256 shadings.
> How come the HP Laserjet 1010 can't produce
> 256 shadings? How did you calculate the 64
> shades thing? Is this 64 shade limitation also
> true in inkjet black only printing?
Think about how the two work--a laser draws dry toner powder onto the paper
by electric charge, with the toner then melted to fuse it to the paper,
while an inkjet shoots wet ink onto the paper that soaks in and dries. So
which one do you think is going to give you more levels of gray?
Bob Larter
> On Apr 5, 8:18 pm, Bob Larter <bobbylar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Paul wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> How many shadings is available in a black
>>> and white laserjet printer such as the
>>> HP Laserjet 1010? For example, I'm
>>> printing a photo that has 16 million colors.
>>> Using the black laserjet... how many
>>> shadings would it convert it to? 256?
>>> 1024? 50K? or 16 million shadings??
>> 64 shades, if you're lucky.
>
> How using an inkjet printer with pure black ink
> only. 64 shades too? Or is the 64 shade
> only exclusively for laser jet black printers
> of any brand?
This is where it starts getting dependent on your drivers & whether they
dither, etc.
Bob Larter
> On Apr 5, 8:18 pm, Bob Larter <bobbylar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Paul wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> How many shadings is available in a black
>>> and white laserjet printer such as the
>>> HP Laserjet 1010? For example, I'm
>>> printing a photo that has 16 million colors.
>>> Using the black laserjet... how many
>>> shadings would it convert it to? 256?
>>> 1024? 50K? or 16 million shadings??
>> 64 shades, if you're lucky.
>
> But 8 Bit Greyscale can produce 256 shadings.
Sure, in theory. Actually producing 256 shades on paper is another story
altogether.
> How come the HP Laserjet 1010 can't produce
> 256 shadings?
See above. It's due to the practicalities of dithering or halftoning.
> How did you calculate the 64
> shades thing?
It was a guesstimate from memory. It might be fewer shades than that,
but I think 64 shades is roughly correct for most laser printers.
> Is this 64 shade limitation also
> true in inkjet black only printing?
Ink jets can probably produce more shades than that.
Don Stauffer
Assuming the inkjet uses only the black catridge, not complementary
mixtures, a laser printer should have the same number of shades as the
inkjet of the same pixel density- assuming a similar dot gain (which
might, of course, NOT be the same).
Keep in mind that different colors might have exactly the same
luminance. That is, there will be a certain shade of blue that has the
same reflectance as a certain shade of red. So it would not take as
many shades as the number of colors.
Doug Jewell
> Hi,
>
> How many shadings is available in a black
> and white laserjet printer such as the
> HP Laserjet 1010? For example, I'm
> printing a photo that has 16 million colors.
> Using the black laserjet... how many
> shadings would it convert it to? 256?
> 1024? 50K? or 16 million shadings??
0% black (ie white of the paper). No more, no less. To
achieve something looking like grey they dither. The number
of acceptible looking shades you get will depend on the
resolution of the printer, and the dithering function within
the driver. Since these are variables you have no control
over, there is no one simple answer.
If I wasn't happy with the default output from the printer
driver, I'd convert the image to a B/W image in photoshop,
and play with the dithering settings until I got something
respectable. Important to make sure the image is at the
printers ACTUAL print resolution when doing the conversion.
Be aware that some printers claim figures like 2400dpi or
more, but it is not real dots per inch, it is "perceived" -
IOW, marketing speak. Most laser printers are 600dpi actual
resolution.
>
> Now a color inkjet printer with separate
> black and tricolor cartridge such as the
> HP Deskjet 2560. How many colors would
> it produce in the paper? 16 million colors?
Most of the modern inkjets are capable of a few techniques
to extend the number of colours/tones an individual dot can
hold. A basic printer, or a colour laser can deliver
2^[number of colour inks] distinct colours at a dot. However
techniques such as variable droplet size and/or layering
extend this somewhat. Most modern printers are capable of
between 3 and 9 shades of each colour on a single dot
(counting 0% or white as a a shade), so the number of
distinct colours of a single dot increases to [no of
densities]^[no of colour inks]. Once again to increase the
number of perceived colours they employ dithering. In most
cases the standard dithering algorithms in the drivers are
capable of delivering true photo quality output. Another
thing to be wary of with inkjets is that again their print
resolutions are more marketing speak than actual resolution.
"9600dpi" doesn't mean it puts down 9600 distinct dots in an
inch, instead it means that over an inch it may have fired a
nozzle 9600 times. It's probably more like 1200 actual dots,
but it layers each dot up to 8 times, giving the 9600dpi figure.
>
> J
--
Have you ever noticed that all legal documents need to be
completed in black or blue pen, but we vote in pencil?
sligoNo...@hotmail.com
the end, for real life answers, do some real life test and see which
ones do the job best for you. Remember my choice of what is best will
not likely be your choice.
Photography is an art and a science. For some people it is a
science first, but for others it is an art that uses science.
Dudley Hanks
"Paul" <jones....@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1e4a9123-df8c-4450...@f1g2000prb.googlegroups.com...
I haven't stopped to check the exact figure, but I use an HP Laserjet 1020
which does a nice job of BW pics on glossy paper.
I've printed a number of pics straight from files in the 5meg to 12meg
range, and most people like them as much as BW shots done conventionally.
Good Luck,
Dudley