Behind the glossies

Fuji have been making minilabs since the dawn of time. Their Frontier range of “wet” labs produce some of the best printed photo output around.

The Fujifilm dry lab range started in early 2008 with the DL400. This machine was a direct result of the 2006 “Global Alliance in Photofinishing” between Fujifilm and Noritsu. The underlying print engine and chassis of the DL400 was based on the Noritsu M300 which was unleashed on an unsuspecting world mid 2007.

The product family quickly grew with significant iterative improvements bringing about the release of the DL410 and DL430.

A significant departure in design resulted in the very capable DL450 (and the Noritsu D1005). The underlying print engine remains the same.

Print Media

The FujiFilm DL printers are all primarily roll-fed. Paper widths, depending on model, can be between 4” and 12” and the length can be up to 36”. This increases to 48” on the latest DL600. The upshot is that truly awesome panorama prints of 12x48 inches can be produced as easily as a humble 6x4.

From the DL430 onwards there is a facility to have more than one paper roll loaded, allowing photo labs to keep the most popular sizes, or finishes, continuously loaded. The DL450 increases this to four simultaneously loaded rolls and adds a dual track mode where two rolls can be mounted side-by-side and printed simultaneously. Doubling the printer’s effective throughput.

Maximum print capacity is listed for each model in the chart on the right. This, as always, is quoted for 6x4 prints. Bigger sizes naturally take longer to print so the number of prints per hour will be less. 

All of the 400-series printers have a photocopier-style ADF (Automatic Document Feed) which allows the use of cut-sheet media and the manual production of duplex products. The DL600 does not have this feature.

One huge advantage over wet labs is the end of hiding the paper from light. However, dry lab paper is sensitive to humidity and must be kept in its original packaging until needed. Once paper is opened and loaded the printer has built-in humidity control mechanisms to keep it in good condition.