When viewed at full resolution the text is easily readable
Here's a closeup of the Zink print:
Note my chicken-scratch fountain pen scrawl to the right, for scale comparison.
While the Zink prints are fun, they're not gallery-quality. The paper uses a thermal technology, embedded in the coating, that responds to various heat levels with a spectrum of colors. Naturally I was interested to see what would happen with monochrome images. If near gray, like with a traditional black-&-white image, it appears to have difficulty rendering the image without bands of colored streaks; I suppose gray isn't one of those colors the paper responds with easily. Take the following set of prints, also stuck in my notebook:
The top image was captured on my Lumix G5 in Dynamic Monochrome mode (no color tint), then transferred to the iPhone and the "Casablanca" preset filter applied within the Zink software. Not too bad, actually. Yes, the image is contrast-rich, as is the nature of the Lumix Dynamic Monochrome mode. But I like it.
Now consider the bottom image. Again captured in Dynamic Monochrome on the G5, I edited the photo on the iPhone's Photos app with a bit of "warmth" prior to printing via the Zink app. The paper responded to the gray sky with a rainbow of colors. It's not what I expected, but rather interesting. I wouldn't call it "bad," unless you don't want those colors smeared across the face of a portrait subject. As it is, this could just be some apocalyptic storm blowing in on a sci-fi like landscape.
You can see similar color streaking in the rendering of the typecast sheet. The original paper was the light yellow/green engineering paper, but the color tones are so subdued that, again, the Zink print responds with a seemingly random splash of tones. I think where this paper works better is with brightly colored scenes of various tones, your typical point-&-shoot subject.
I'd be interested to hearing if you have any novel ideas for these mini-typing prints. Stay well.
My video about crafting with Zink prints:
Interesting stuff. I could probably do that with 17 CPI Manuscript on one of my SG-1s.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for sharing. This has given me some good ideas for creative ways of sending "thinking of you" crafty things. Love it!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Joe, I think you are a neat guy. I love your kind and open sense of adventure.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Joe. I like the colour in the b&w images. However, I'm moving into an age where BIG PRINT is beginning to look attractive!
ReplyDeleteI looked at one of those tiny printers about a year ago. Then I regressed to a flip phone. The only thing I miss is the GPS that worked better than my $300 Garmin.
ReplyDeleteCreative and open-ended experimentation. Yay!
ReplyDeleteAbout 30 years ago, I bought a small digital camera that printed images on fax paper. I think the printer was probably similar to the thermal printer in battery powered adding machines. But it required 8 AA batteries to operate. I don't remember the brand, but I may have bought it from slick catalog distributor Chris Craft (similar to Sharper Image), I have to try and locate it and give it a try. I assume that all the photos I took with it are now faded away.
ReplyDelete