1200x600dpi

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genericaudioperson

Hello,

I am curious. Some color laser printers have 1200x600dpi. That seems
strange. Why isn't it 1200x1200.

Wouldn't it make the pictures print strangely if the dpi's are not the
same (600x600 or 1200x1200).

I notice this 1200x600 spec a lot. I'm puzzled why they don't make
them 1200x1200.
 
genericaudioperson said:
Hello,

I am curious. Some color laser printers have 1200x600dpi. That seems
strange. Why isn't it 1200x1200.

Wouldn't it make the pictures print strangely if the dpi's are not the
same (600x600 or 1200x1200).

I notice this 1200x600 spec a lot. I'm puzzled why they don't make
them 1200x1200.
Click to expand...
Hi,
Not many square pictures!
 
Right, and when you print in landscape instead of portrait, the
mechanicals inside the printer rotate 90 degrees to support your
theory.

You're not being serious are you?
 
The rating in dpi is not the same as PPI or pixels. The dpi rating on a
printer is to tell you the number of potential locations a dot may be
placed, not that there will be 1200 or 600 dots actually printer per
inch So, these printers have twice the number of locations for a dot to
be generated in one direction that the other. That means the accuracy
(or resolution) of the dots will be twice as good (in effect) in one
direction than the other, but it doesn't mean the image will be
distorted, there is just potentially more white spaced between dots in
one direction. You could probably see it with a loupe, but not by eye.

Also, as an aside, pixels do not have to be square, they can be
rectangular or other shapes.
 
genericaudioperson said:
Hello,

I am curious. Some color laser printers have 1200x600dpi. That seems
strange. Why isn't it 1200x1200.
Click to expand...

I can't talk about printers other than my Okidata LED printer. In this
case, the actual toner consists of tiny dowel-shaped particles, so they
lay down striated, with higher density in one plane than the other.

This is what I figured out. I could be wrong, of course. Another
possibility may have to do with the speed of paper throughput as a
result of the time that it takes for the laser to draw the image on the
drum in one plane vs. the other. In my mind, an LED printer is identical
to a laser printer, and shares virtually all the aspects of image
drawing at the drum surface.

Richard
PS: I am an audio person, too, but I'm afraid that I carry a brand name.
 
Is 600x600 sharp enough for line art, or do you really need 1200x1200
to do something like archetectural drawings?
 
Even 300dpi is sharp enough for line art. The eyes can't distinguish any
resolution higher than 150-200dpi.
The aspect of higher resolutions refers to grascale or color reproduction.
 
Although I agree about the resolution being most obvious in the gradient
and grayscale. I can see the difference between 300 dpi and 600 dpi on
text on laser printers with my "naked" eye. Then again I'm nearsighted.

Art
 
Arthur said:
Although I agree about the resolution being most obvious in the gradient
and grayscale. I can see the difference between 300 dpi and 600 dpi on
text on laser printers with my "naked" eye. Then again I'm nearsighted.
Click to expand...

I agree with Art. I can definitely see the difference between 300 and
600 dpi line work. The need for resolution depends on the type of work
you're doing and the paper -- and this hasn't been mentioned in this
sub-thread. A b/w photo printed at 300 dpi is horrible, at least the way
that I print on plain paper. At 600 dpi, photos are quite acceptable and
are publication quality.
 
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