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Dye Sublimation Trumps Inkjets in Photo Printing

Aug 1, 2008 Printing Technology

We have photo printers in the market that are built on two main technologies; standard Inkjet and Dye Sublimation technology. It is hard for consumers to delve into the technology layers before purchasing a photo printer. This article should help you choose the right photo printer next time.

Inkjets have existed for a very long time and the technology has evolved but not enough to meet the requirements of the day. Inkjet technology presents limited gamut of colours with the cartridges containing as many as eight different colours. In the dye sublimation (dye sub) technology, a cellophane ribbon is employed instead of inks from cartridges and offers 16 million colour gamut.

As the dye sub technology doesn’t use any liquid means to print photos, the question of prints smudging does not arise. In an inkjet printer, tiny dots of different colours are placed very close to each other to provide a dithering effect. Hence, there is a better chance of ink smearing on your hands while handling prints.

The only advantage that an inkjet printer offers is the flexibility of printing on various sizes of paper and also different types of paper. Dye subs are limited to any one size of paper (usually 4” X 6”). This arises from the limitation imposed on the length of the ribbon employed.

Most printer manufacturers offer dye sublimation technology on their photo printers. Same manufacturers also offer inkjet photo printers as well, so ensure that you read the package details before purchasing one.