litho and digital

[Watermill Accounting]

What is the difference between Litho and digital printing(business cards)?

 

[Bes]

Litho is for long runs of identical material, and not suitable for business cards unless you want literally thousands and thousands of them

Digial is 99.99999% of the time the better option, as it can be used for runs of any length.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

What is the difference between Litho and digital printing(business cards)?

A printer will answer the technical bit but as a fellow accountant - price and sometimes quality.

Most traditional accountants will use litho for good quality letterheads.

Bear in mind not all digitally printed documents will run through a laser printer if you are thinking of letterheads - some do but often they look like they melt and make a mess of your printer.

 

[Alex@Iansprint]

See this thread from a previous discussion.

It very much depends on the printer as said. I am happy to produce both varieties, and it cannot be argued that for smaller runs, say 500 cards or less, that digital wins for it's setup and flexibility.

I believe it's more to do with the material used and the ink/toner.

 

[KreativeJuice]

Its all about quality...I still have never seen digital print match litho, say what you will, if you are concerned with finish litho wins everytime...not saying it will for much longer though....

 

[akirk]

litho is the 'old fashioned' method with separate plates for CMYK (cyan / magenta / yellow / black) and any spot colours (e.g. pantone)

digital is a big version of your desktop inkjet

the big difference in operation is that digital goes directly from computer to printer / litho you have a plate making machine in-between...

with digital - colours are made up of dots (like your inkjet) whereas litho is solid colours - think of mixing paints together...

this means that with digital the disadvantage is:
- graduated colours do not reproduce well
- large areas of solid colour do not reproduce well
- pale colours / thin lines do not reproduce well - so thin grey text is out.

litho - disadvantage is price - no other disadvantage.

so I disagree with the claim that digital is 99.99999% better - it is not - it is technically 100% worse just cheaper

it is like comparing factory made white bread with an artisan loaf of granary...

you can do any run you like with litho from one business card to 1,000,000+ it is just not cost effective to do lower runs - not that you can't do it.

but there will be designs that you can not print digitally, and if you have any spot colours - such as pantone colours they have to be litho - and then you have no choice.

so for example, where printing 250 business cards is normally (digitally with our suppliers) £29 + VAT a client recently had:
- a pantone blue ink
- a pantone grey ink
- thin grey text

we tried them with the digital printing (they were prepared to waste £30) but the colours did not match, and you could not read the thin grey text
printing them litho cost c. £200 for the same quantity - but the quality was perfect.

regards

Alasdair

 

[Alex@Iansprint]

Great post Alasdair, however which litho printers are you using! £200 for a two colour business card job is extortionate! One of the disadvantages of larger litho printers is that they like to keep four colours on the press at all times, whereas more flexible printers like ourselves are happy to accommodate Pantone work.

 

[mangoprint]

Digital has come a long way the last 5 years.

Litho can be just as cheap as digital (batch printing, where 20 cards are put up together, sharing one set of plates and one make press ready).

If your work is mainly half tone images and no overall solids, then digital can be as good, if not better. Especially if they are using stochastic screening - a random placement of dots rather than the uniform arrangement on most litho setups. That being said, a few high end litho printer use stochastic screening too.

Also, tones on a litho press are also made up of dots so the above post is a little miss leading.

Letterheads from most digital presses can only be put through an inkjet as laser printers use heat which removes the imaging. A digital press is a more sophisticated colour laser printer, built on similar technology (toners).

Some digital presses, like the Indigo work slightly different, so printed letterheads can go through a laser printer fine.

I manage more litho printing than digital, but digital can be great in certain instances. Especially variable data. A leaflet addressed to 250 different names for an example. Not possible via litho without a big price increase.

 

[bjg123]

For most business card designs, you won't be able to tell the difference between digital and litho print, other than the price. I wouldn't let anyone kid you into thinking the quality of print will be miles better if printed litho, it depends on the press they're using, it's not as simple as comparing digital and litho - some digital presses will be better than litho presses and vice-versa. The only time I'd insist on litho print for business cards or stationery (price being equal) is if I required letterheads capable of being run through a laser-jet.

Edit: As mentioned, other special requirements will require litho print, such as pantone colour. A normal 4 colour business card on a relatively low run will be absolutely fine on a good digital press - so don't pay more to have it done litho.

 

[akirk]

Great post Alasdair, however which litho printers are you using! £200 for a two colour business card job is extortionate! One of the disadvantages of larger litho printers is that they like to keep four colours on the press at all times, whereas more flexible printers like ourselves are happy to accommodate Pantone work.

sorry - minimal info provided - there was specialist paper stock as well which took the price up...

Also, tones on a litho press are also made up of dots so the above post is a little miss leading.

yes sorry was simplifying for the sake of illustrating the difference... the effect that most people will see will be a dotty digital print v. a solid line from litho...

Alasdair

 

[Minuteman Press]

Some very good posts with the exception of Bes' which is 100% incorrect.

 

[Cheapest Printing]

Just to add my little bit to this thread too.

Litho gets you much better quality over digital ( as a general rule )
Litho will feed through laser printers

Digital has no setup cost/time

Most people want to use litho for everything and only opt for digital when they need something there and then ( and usually they end up ordering the litho and using the digital to get them through the next few days )

Since we started offering litho print with a 3 day turn round, we have noticed that not many people order digital from us now, unless they are desperate.

Overall - go for litho

Matt