ink jet vs. laser printer

So to keep a long story short, Matt and I were going to buy a laser printer to do our boarding pass invitations since Kinko's was charging over $500 to print them, we figured we might as well have the printer to use after the fact at that price. So we went out for a laser and came home with an ink jet. Matt thinks it isn't a big deal and doesn't see the difference between how the two print. I explained about the running/bleeding an ink jet could do, etc. We decided to try it on the ink jet and see how it works and worse comes to worse, we go back to Kinko's to have them print it cuz the ink jet was fairly inexpensive. Can anyone else tell me if you used an ink jet for your invites? And did they turn out ok or did you wish you had used a laser

Hey Carly - Ink Jets would very easily as compared to laser. - but another option you may want to try is dye-submlimation pritners. - How big are your invites? - Do they need to be folded? - If your invites are a standad photo size, 4x6 or something similar and they are not being folded - or even if they are not a standard size - you might consider creating them ito a JPG and ordering them online as photo prints - Dye sublimation printing is by far the best quality wise and on photo quality paper, it may appear a bit better than paper-stock.

We use Adorama.com alot, and their quality is excellent. - not to mentio the prices are very cheap!

Just a thought for you! - let me know if you have any questions that I Can help out with.

I've never heard of the dye-sublimination. I'm interested in looking into it for my invitations. I own both an ink-jet and laser printer. My eyes love the look of the laser print so I rarely use my inkjet for anything. My laser is b&w but FI will try to use his color laser printer at work. I heard Kinko's is expensive. Have you looked into a local print shop. I know the other members highly recommend Vistaprint.

Yeah, I have used Vistaprint, but I didn't think they would do something like this. I will check into them right now, cuz the laser print does look so much nicer then the ink jet...

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Originally Posted by sohappy I've never heard of the dye-sublimination. I'm interested in looking into it for my invitations. I own both an ink-jet and laser printer. My eyes love the look of the laser print so I rarely use my inkjet for anything. My laser is b&w but FI will try to use his color laser printer at work. I heard Kinko's is expensive. Have you looked into a local print shop. I know the other members highly recommend Vistaprint.

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Originally Posted by Be Photography LLC Hey Carly - Ink Jets would very easily as compared to laser. - but another option you may want to try is dye-submlimation pritners. - How big are your invites? - Do they need to be folded? - If your invites are a standad photo size, 4x6 or something similar and they are not being folded - or even if they are not a standard size - you might consider creating them ito a JPG and ordering them online as photo prints - Dye sublimation printing is by far the best quality wise and on photo quality paper, it may appear a bit better than paper-stock.   We use Adorama.com alot, and their quality is excellent. - not to mentio the prices are very cheap!   Just a thought for you! - let me know if you have any questions that I Can help out with.

Carly, we purchased a color laserjet for our STD's and invites (which I plan to used). The only issue I have is that my printer doesn't like to grab heavy cardstock/cover. So its a PITA and the ink is pricey, however the quality is great. I say go for the laserjet!

Dye-sublimation printers are what a photo store would use to print your digital pictures. - But I just thought of another thing that might be cost effective and probably the best quality you can find. -- Business Cards, Postcards, Flyers, Brochures, Letterhead , Greeting Cards & Envelopes Overnight ~ by OvernightPrints.com -- I use them for business cards, and both my company and personal Christmas cards..... It's a full blown commerical printing process - so a little graphic design knowledge is helpful - but if you can produce the graphic correctly - they can give you the best prints at a decent cost!

Also - here is a lehman's term explaination of dye-sub I found online:

"In dye-sublimation printing, colors are not laid down as individual dots, as is done in inkjet printers. Individual dots can be distinguished at a relatively close distance, making digital pictures look less realistic.

If you looked inside a dye-sublimation printer, you would see a long roll of transparent film that resembles sheets of red, blue, yellow, and gray colored cellophane stuck together end to end. Embedded in this film are solid dyes corresponding to the four basic colors used in printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The print head heats up as it passes over the film, causing the dyes to vaporize and permeate the glossy surface of the paper before they return to solid form.

So the main difference between this and other types of printing has to do with heat. The vaporized colors permeate the surface of the paper, creating a gentle gradation at the edges of each pixel, instead of the conspicuous border between dye and paper produced by inkjets. And because the color infuses the paper, it is also less vulnerable to fading and distortion over time.

Damn, Trish, I didn't know that could happen with a laser printer as well. I want to get them printed asap so i can get to cutting. I am going to do some checking into the sites that James (Be Photog) suggested above and see how that works out. Thanks, James!