Flexo Plate Digital: Technology
As I've been sharing with my customers and friends we are looking to add a second CTP to complete our recently installed second digital plate processing line. The choices are not many but enough to require a chart comparing the pros and cons of each products. The obvious things that we are looking for in a machine are quality/reputation, ease of use, and compatibility with our existing digital workflow.
The method of research is of course the handy Google and reliable plate suppliers' recommendations.
One interesting find was one company in particular tries to use "High Definition" as their selling point, almost made me feel like they are SONY or Samsung subsidiary. I know they are doing their job trying to sell but it boggles my mind why they decided to use "dpi" as their quality indicator as it has nothing to do with flexo quality at this point in time when everyone is achieving over 175lpi - 200lpi using 2,540dpi CTP.
I wont' name names because I may end up with their CTP but it's almost silly when they claim they can achieve 300lpi dots using 4,000dpi. They fail to mention all major CTP using 2,000dpi and above can achieve 1% tint and everyone in the industry is shooting for 175lpi to 200lpi, and NOT 300lpi which is not sustainable and not visible to the naked eye.
Lastly, they fail to address the speed issue. Kodak mentioned in their blog while back - higher dpi means higher processing power and increase in imaging time.
Of course having an option to rip at higher dpi is good but why spend more money and more processing time when your customers can't tell the difference? Maybe a security printer can appreciate so called HD flexo but for the rest of printers and flexo repro houses alike it seems like another marketing gimmick to sell more unnecessary options like a car salesman.
Eric
As I've been sharing with my customers and friends we are looking to add a second CTP to complete our recently installed second digital plate processing line. The choices are not many but enough to require a chart comparing the pros and cons of each products. The obvious things that we are looking for in a machine are quality/reputation, ease of use, and compatibility with our existing digital workflow.
The method of research is of course the handy Google and reliable plate suppliers' recommendations.
One interesting find was one company in particular tries to use "High Definition" as their selling point, almost made me feel like they are SONY or Samsung subsidiary. I know they are doing their job trying to sell but it boggles my mind why they decided to use "dpi" as their quality indicator as it has nothing to do with flexo quality at this point in time when everyone is achieving over 175lpi - 200lpi using 2,540dpi CTP.
I wont' name names because I may end up with their CTP but it's almost silly when they claim they can achieve 300lpi dots using 4,000dpi. They fail to mention all major CTP using 2,000dpi and above can achieve 1% tint and everyone in the industry is shooting for 175lpi to 200lpi, and NOT 300lpi which is not sustainable and not visible to the naked eye.
Lastly, they fail to address the speed issue. Kodak mentioned in their blog while back - higher dpi means higher processing power and increase in imaging time.
Of course having an option to rip at higher dpi is good but why spend more money and more processing time when your customers can't tell the difference? Maybe a security printer can appreciate so called HD flexo but for the rest of printers and flexo repro houses alike it seems like another marketing gimmick to sell more unnecessary options like a car salesman.
Eric
Is there any overview about all the companies working with HD Flexo yet?
ReplyDeleteDear MTG,
ReplyDeleteI've asked many HD Flexo users and they all had good things to say in regards to the hardware but they all agreed that they are not using 300lpi or even 200lpi for their regular customers.
So, can you share your experience using HD Flexo? Any thoughts on flat top?
FPD