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If you are not professionally or otherwise involved in the
printing business then chances are you do not know the difference between press
printing and digital printing. Both
methods have been used by printers all over the world but each has its own
advantages and disadvantages.
Printing was made possible through the invention of the
printing machine or printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, way back the 14th
century. This invention has
revolutionized not only the printing world but it has paved the way for a lot
of changes in the world’s social, economic and political arena. It has, in effect, revolutionized
civilization.
Press printing is identified with the whole tedious printing
process which can take months to finish depending on a lot of factors. The breaking of one machine or one step in
the process can delay the whole printing.
Even with the use of computers, press printing still follows
the traditional printing process including the use of plates which are actually
in-like sheets where the images and the printed words are transferred. The plate then undergoes several processes
before it is finally transferred to the negative and finally to the printed
paper.
People in the olden days had no choice but to make use of
press printing. They even considered the
process already a boon considering what they had, or rather did not have,
before press printing was discovered.
But the popularity of digital printing has made a lot of improvements in
press printing.
Here are the pros and cons of using press printing or
digital printing:
1. Digital printing is definitely cheaper than press
printing and it does not require thousands if not millions of pages before the
printer can make a profit. This enables
printers to accept small quantity orders as compared to press printing which
required large quantity orders to break even.
2. While Digital printing offers colored printing, press
printing is the best choice if you want to produce bright colors. Digital printing uses the four color process
using yellow, cyan, black and magenta to produce a lot of combination colors
depending of course on the types and quality of machines used.
3. If you want fast printing then the choice is definitely
digital printing. Press printing
requires a lot of pre-press and the work passes a lot of hands and people so
delays will always be unavoidable.
Clients can even opt to wait for digital printing depending on the
workload of the printer.
4. While there are a lot of paper choices for digital
printing the machines can only accommodate and process certain paper qualities
unlike press printing which can offer limitless possibilities for the client in
terms of the choice of paper.
5. Digital printing is still limited in terms of offering the
whole like embossed printing, stamping and even special folding or stapling of
printed materials. Majority of press
printers offer these services and much more.
Both digital and press printing offer various choices for
printing clients and they can choose which among the two types of printing will
best benefit their required output. It
is really a matter of choosing which of the pros and cons are important in the
finished product. But generally, the two types of printing differ in terms of
costs, quality, paper and the time it takes to finish a printing project.
For more inquiries kindly visit press printing
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