Where do I go for information on professional type printers?

[orfajackson]

Where do I go for information on professional type printers? I possibly want to print my own 300 page book which has over 100 full color images.

QUESTION: Where can I go to get no BS expert advice on which printer to buy? I know the results I want but am ignorant regarding the equipment. The specs on these new high end printers (the $1,500 to $5,000 range) are bewildering. I want a heavy duty printer (not an All In One) that:

#1 Prints very high quality hi resolution color images & black and white text
#2 Can duplex
#3 Can switch from thick high quality paper to thick high quality glossy paper automatically
#3 Be 100% consistent with regards to color, resolution, sharpness, and tint..The images must never change - lighter, darker, more yellower, less redder, bluer, etc, etc. as the printer runs
#4 Has a huge onboard memory so I can print 400 pages with many high resolution color images………with no sweat
#5 Not breaks down every 50th sheet
#6 Paper supply of over 500 sheets +
#7 Be able to crank out 10 books per day without a sweat

Want does 1200 by 1200 mean? Is this better than 1200 dpi by 600 dpi?

How do I determine the sharpness and quality of color?

How do I determine that the color on the screen of my PC is exactly what will come out on the printed page. Can I calibrate the screen on my PC and the printer so they are identical?

[freebird73717]

Where do I go for information on professional type printers? I possibly want to print my own 300 page book which has over 100 full color images.

Not really what you want for an answer but how about print on demand books.

www.blurb.com
www.lulu.com

Both are reasonable costs and quality looks good. Mind you I have not tried either service but I did read an article about them both in pcworld.

Just something to consider

[prouton]

I would start by looking for websites/forums catering to higher-end photographers. Those are the type of people printing their own stuff at a quality level you are talking about. But if you're asking "can" you calibrate the screen to the printed output, then you're way behind the learning curve on this topic. I would seriously investigate having a professional printer handle the job. I understand the cost problem inherent in short-run printing, but but this may not be a do-it-yourself kind of thing.

And yes, 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi is better than 1200 dpi x 600 dpi, but whether it really makes a difference depends on the printer, paper stock and image.

[orfajackson]

This is good advice. Thank you

orfa

[Nelson37]

#1 - get a black and white laser and a color printer, aside from the quality issue, the ink costs alone will sell this one.

#2 - For the added cost, and additional jamming problems, you can easily flip the paper over yourself - manual duplexing.

#3 - Anything with two paper trays.

#4 - Not relevant. 400 color images will outstrip any possible onboard memory. There are some models with on-board hard drives but can you say "rediculously expensive"

#5 - Quality, name-brand printer

#6 - Supplemental paper tray, not available on all models but most in this range

#7 - meaningless question without page count

1200x1200 is often interpolated from 1200x600 and not mechanically derived. A "fake" spec.

Calibrating screen color and print color requires a "spider" or similar device. Approx $200.00.

Be prepared to try different paper types for a particular printer.

For B&W printing, I happen to be an HP fan, this is what I was trained on. Got many HP printers with page counts up into the millions still going strong. For color, I don't have any field experience in this type of quantity printing and haven't seen any color printers that are likely to hit one million pages, or even half that.

[minidv2dvd]

orfa - have you thought about your end user(buyer)? i know i wouldn't be very happy if i ordered a book and got a laser or inkjet printed mess. the paper and quality just isn't the same as a page off a printing press with real ink. a pamphlet maybe, book no.

[orfajackson]

I had meetings with many commercial printers who can print a hardbound book with hi res images on heavy quality glossy paper (since every page has at leat one color image) Average Cost $39,400 for 1,000 books or $40 per book

I can print the book myself and take it to a bindery at a cost far, far less. And when I am done I own my high end printer



When I ask ......I need a printer that Prints very high quality hi resolution color images & black and white textYou answer........get a black and white laser and a color printer, aside from the quality issue, the ink costs alone will sell this one
What do you mean by that?


What is the fundamental diffeference between a $500 color laser printer and a $3,000 color laser printer?


Does the printer have its own software for loading, paper type, resolution, sharpness, calibration, margins, speed, options, etc?
Do all printers work with Windows VISTA 64 bit and WINDOWS 7 64 bit?

[bendixG15]

Sounds like you never owned any kind of printer.

[TBoneit]

If I were you I would look at the Okidata Business printers or HP Business printers, or Samsung or Lexmark business Printers. For example I know that Oki has printers with hard drives in them as I ran acrss them when I was takinh the certification courses as part of becoming a factory warranty repair center. Some can be used to store address books and as I recall it other models can store things that get heavy repeat printings to avoind having to send from the computer every time.

Do some research, a home printer will not handle the load you are talking about.

Things to look at include Duty cycle = how many pages printed in a month as well at one time.

Cost per page for paper, toners, paper, binding. $$$ Consumable costs will vary depending on page coverage percents. With Color being the most costly. Are you planning on printing at Letter size or will the paper need to be resized when done?

3,000 pages per day 60,000 to 90,000per month means you will want a in home service contract $$$

Bottom Line you are looking at a expensive printer and high material costs.

[orfajackson]

Can you recommend any particular model?


Do all business printers come with an elaborate software package? VISTA 64 bit or Windows 7 64 bit?



orfa

[TBoneit]

I had meetings with many commercial printers who can print a hardbound book with hi res images on heavy quality glossy paper (since every page has at leat one color image) Average Cost $39,400 for 1,000 books or $40 per book

I can print the book myself and take it to a bindery at a cost far, far less. And when I am done I own my high end printer



When I ask ......I need a printer that Prints very high quality hi resolution color images & black and white textYou answer........get a black and white laser and a color printer, aside from the quality issue, the ink costs alone will sell this one
What do you mean by that?


What is the fundamental diffeference between a $500 color laser printer and a $3,000 color laser printer?


Does the printer have its own software for loading, paper type, resolution, sharpness, calibration, margins, speed, options, etc?
Do all printers work with Windows VISTA 64 bit and WINDOWS 7 64 bit?

$500 color laser printer Vs a $3,000 color laser printer is easy.
It breaks down to how many pages at one time and how many pages a month.


resolution, sharpness, calibration, margins, speed, options, etc? is usually set in windows with the page setup off of the applications file me menu.

I've never tried to set different pages to different settings in one document. I suggest you call the printer makers pre-sale support for your needs and get their recommendations. Be sure to mention your required duty cycle, print quality, Paper type and thickness needed.

Most of all be prepared for sticker shock. Your proposed usage would tear up a home or light business model in short order.

[TBoneit]

Can you recommend any particular model?


Do all business printers come with an elaborate software package? VISTA 64 bit or Windows 7 64 bit?



orfa

Sorry I can not reccomend any models, that is why I suggested calling the makers pre-sales support.

[Nelson37]

Elaborate software package? What, are you joking? Drivers, that's about it. Some will work in Vista, fewer will work in 64 bit OS.

You need to get a serious handle on your consumables costs. Printing large quantities of BW text on a color laser will quickly cost some serious cash, dramatically cheaper on a standard black and white laser.

This would require seperating color and BW pages.

You may want to just look into getting the binding equipment and having the printing done either professionally, or at Kinko's or some such.

Something like an HP 8000 series would handle the BW printing, even a 5000 series. Monthly duty cycle is 250,000 pages. Get an extra fuser unit, easy to replace.

[edDV]

You should sample the best service bureaus in town and note what they are using. You may be able to hire away one of their key operators because it will take lots of training for you to come up to speed on pre-press.

[edDV]

Where do I go for information on professional type printers? I possibly want to print my own 300 page book which has over 100 full color images.

You should be using external services, not go through the training and expense for one book.

[rallymax]

This free magazine talks about this sorty of thing all the time.

http://www.lexjet.com/lexjet/go/index.html

[lingyi]

I used to work at an office supply store's print department and had some basic introduction to 4 color printing.

We used several $50,000 plus B/W and color laser copiers and even they won't provide the kind of quality you're asking for.

Answers to some of your questions below:

#2 Can duplex

Generally not a problem, unless you're combining it with #3

#3 Can switch from thick high quality paper to thick high quality glossy paper automatically

Use cardstock any type of glossy stock and you're guaranteed to get a jam. Even if you're able to get a few pages to duplex, you still have the problem of ensuring the back and front align correctly. It's really embarassing to thumb through a book and see the page numbers or page headers jump up and down or left to right.

#3 Be 100% consistent with regards to color, resolution, sharpness, and tint..The images must never change - lighter, darker, more yellower, less redder, bluer, etc, etc. as the printer runs

This was a running inside joke with our color printers. Even the techs would tell us that the color we got in the morning would probably be different in the afternoon because as the machine warms up or cools down the color would change.

The only way to get consistent accurate color is through 4 color printing. The biggest part of the cost is setup, someone has to create and test the plates and inks for accurate color and registration.

#4 Has a huge onboard memory so I can print 400 pages with many high resolution color images………with no sweat

Our copiers / printers had their own dedicated Fiery Servers that would be able to maintain jobs on their internal harddrive. I don't know exactly where the conversation was done, in the PC we sent the job from or the Fiery, but I know that a single high res (300x300 dpi image) could easily balloon to several hundred megs in the server and take a long to to start printing. Once the image was in the server, additional prints were pretty quick.

How do I determine that the color on the screen of my PC is exactly what will come out on the printed page. Can I calibrate the screen on my PC and the printer so they are identical?

There are specialized monitors $$$$, that are capable of being calibrated to pre-press specs. When I did non color critical full color work (i.e. just needed to make sure fleshtones were pink and not green and the sky wasn't purple!), I used to explain to the printer that I knew my monitor's color was off and I had a pretty good idea of what I needed to tweak to make sure the print was pretty close.

What is the fundamental diffeference between a $500 color laser printer and a $3,000 color laser printer?

Generally speed, networking capabilities and reliability. As mentioned, we used $50,000+ machines and while they were fast and pretty reliable (able to run 24/7 with constant watching and paper refills), the color accuracy was a joke!



edDV: You should sample the best service bureaus in town and note what they are using. You may be able to hire away one of their key operators because it will take lots of training for you to come up to speed on pre-press.

edDV:You should be using external services, not go through the training and expense for one book.

Great advice from edDV! I'm sure I just lucked out, but for <$3,000 print job, I was given the VIP tour of a multi-million dollar print house and learned so much about what was required to get a good print.

Hope this helps!

[orfajackson]

I had no idea of the utter complexity of trying to print your own book!

I have went to 4 professional print houses with large - very large - commercial presses. All of them quoted me in the range of $40 per book for 1,000 books minimum = $40,000. That is an enormous amount of money! And with a plain black hard cover!

I am determined to print my own book. But from all you are telling me.........the obstacles are enormous. The problem seems to be the color pages. The black and white seems much easier.

My big #1 is the depth, and accuracy of the color……I want beautiful color images.

Another issue - the are big shops that sell warranted rebuilt printers. They offer service contracts just like with a new printer. Maybe I should consider this?

[Nelson37]

I think you may be starting out with too big of a hill to climb.

Consider getting a good quality, decent laser plus perhaps one of the better inkjets and make a small run of 10-100 books, getting them bound, then marketing them at some related event. "hand-signed by the author".

Then use that to both evaluate the market and boot-strap yourself up to the better equipment.

It may not be ideal but to produce better output requires a large investment either way. A good HP or OKI laser printer is handy to have and has resell value, and fairly nice inkjets are pretty cheap. Probably won't last much more than 100 books at 150 pix per book, but still cheaper than alternatives. Generally better at handling heavy stock than most types of laser printers, BW or Color.

[minidv2dvd]

have you looked into the online self-publishing sites? some will print copies for you at a reasonable cost.

https://www.createspace.com/Author.jsp;jsessionid=416E3CB6886DADA7E642C7A838E8E531.cspworker01