Digital Print

The digital print is a total breakthrough in the printing technology. Contrary to the conventional methods, the digital printing does not use expensive templates and cumbersome processes which make them. Instead, digital printers employ a direct deposit of ink on the substrate (mainly paper) using an electric charge. It is the most inexpensive setup, which businesses and individuals can easily afford.

The digital print is very affordable for low volume jobs. For mass mailing and advertising campaigns you need to purchase offset press printing or gravure printing services. There are two types of digital printers:

• Inkjet digital printer
• Laser digital printer

Inkjet Digital Printers

Inkjet digital printers are the most popular commercial printing devices. They are cheap, relatively reliable and very easy to use. For most domestic applications $90+ inkjet digital printers are sufficient. For elaborate artworks you need a higher resolution products. The digital art successfully has been using a high resolution inkjet digital printers. These devices can work with variety of substrates to deposit the ink. Thus, the popularity of inkjet printers will probably continue to grow.

Laser Digital Printers

Laser digital printers are much more expensive than inkjet models. The refills for laser printers are also substantially dearer. However, laser digital printers offer a much higher printing resolution. The printing output of laser printers is also much better than from their inkjet counterparts (when comparing the cost of refills). Laser digital printers are excellent for larger outputs and very refined artwork. They are fantastic for printing photographic images. Although, inkjets can print photographs, laser products perform the task cheaper and better.

Digital Print Guide

Industrial digital printing companies do not use the standard inkjet or laser printers for their orders. This would be way too expensive. Most business printing companies employ large, superfast HP digital presses. For lower volumes they use specific large print digital printers. Essentially, the digital print refers to the low cost setups and low volume orders. Almost any local printing shop will provide the service. Digital printers can offer almost any service of the conventional printing machines. This includes:

• Colour copying for posters, proposals and brochures
• Digital printing of photos, artworks and booklets
• Plain paper plan printing for works which exceed A3 size
• Wide format printing for long posters and marketing assignments (here, most printers allow for 1m width and maximum 30m of length)
• Book printing

Digital Print Prices

For booklets, the first page is the most expensive. A4 format can cost $2 for black and white and $7 for a colour digital print. The price of subsequent colour pages is about $4 per page for the order of 5 or less. 20 to 50 pages will reduce the price to only $2 per page. 200 pages or more will further discount the prices to about $1.

A3 format will follow the same scheme, except that prices will be $1-$2 higher per page. This should give you a relative idea about the cost involved with the digital printing process. It does not matter if you print flyers, booklets or calendars - the cost of the setup and the material is going to be roughly similar to the above prices.