Printers couldn??™t depict enough colors. The resolution was too low. Obvious bands of different
intensity colors ran through images like Venetian blinds on a window. And those were just the most
vexing of the output problems.
Then, a few years ago, it all started to change. Around the same time that scanners became
affordable and digital cameras began to hit the scene, printer manufacturers had new incentives
to make their products work better. By the late 1990s, most mainstream printers could create
passable prints from computer images, and the top-of-the-line printers made prints that were
essentially photo-realistic.
CHAPTER 17: Print Your Pictures 369
In the last few years, not a lot has changed. For most practical applications, it??™s not possible
to make prints look much better to the casual viewer, so printer manufacturers have turned
their attention to other aspects of digital printing, like making the prints last longer before they
fade and making the printers themselves easier to use. I??™ll discuss this area in more detail in the
section ???What to Look For.???
Choose a Printer
Before we get started printing, let??™s talk about the printers themselves and how to choose the
right one. Buying a printer isn??™t an easy decision because not only are many different brands of
printers competing for your attention??”and lots of different models from each manufacturer??”but
you also have to figure out what kind of printer you want.
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