Canvas Printing: An insight to the technology

Inks, printers and print resolution for printing photos on canvas

With the development of inkjet technology over the past few years, companies like ESJ Designs are able to offer their customers photos on canvas at very cost effective prices. The quality of canvas printing equipment ensures that photographs or art are reproduced with magnificent detail and even when enlarged to sizes up to A1 still look as sharp and vibrant as the small images displayed on computer screens.

There are various types of ink that are suitable for canvas printing and some that are definitely not suitable. Dye based inks are commonly used in home inkjet printers and although these will print effectively onto canvas, often with what appear to be very good results, they are not UV stable and will deteriorate rapidly when exposed to strong UV rays, like those present through windows during the summer months, so are not suitable for canvas printing. Large format printers like the HP Designjet 130 use dye based inks. Although they produce fantastic prints on photo papers, which claim to be fade resistant for 75 years, this is only when  place behind UV protective glass.

Ink systems that can be used for canvas printing include, pigment, UV and solvent. Solvent inks are commonly used for outdoor printing requirements like banners and adhesive vinyl’s. They are suitable for canvas printing but the print resolutions are typically only a maximum of 1400dpi and not as high as pigment print systems.  UV ink technology involves the ink being cured by UV lamps. Again, like solvent printing the print resolutions are generally lower than pigment ink systems, about 1200dpi.  Pigment ink systems, like the one that ESJ Designs uses produce fade resistant canvas prints that are printed at 2400dpi and will last for up to 200 years without signs of deteriorating.

The types of inks used for canvas printing are critical to successfully printing a canvas that will look as good as when it was first printed for many years after. The quality of the image created by the ink is also derived by varying factors. The print resolution is important. Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi). This is a measurement of the number of dots that can be placed into the space of a linear inch. Older UV printers used to boast a maximum print resolution of 360dpi. When printed onto canvas the actual dots at this resolution are visible with the naked eye. Photo quality printing is normally done at 1440dpi. This is the most common resolution for canvas printing to be done at. Companies like ESJ Designs print at 2400dpi. This is slower than printing at 1440dpi as more passes have to be taken by the printer, but the results are noticeably clearer and photos on canvas appear more vibrant and sharper.

The number of inks used also has an impact on the final canvas print. Traditional printers operated on 4 colours, CMYK, (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black).  Modern digital printing technology has evolved to producing printers that use more colours to give a wider colour garment and canvas printing is now brighter with more accurate colours. ESJ Designs uses printers that use 8 colours, C,M,Y,K,lC,lM,lG,pK,mK. The extra colours are light cyan, light magenta, light grey, photo black and matte black. This combination produces exquisite canvas prints that look as accurate as technology allows.