Agfa :Dotrix

Nicholas Hellmuth states that the Agfa :Dotrix deserves to win the FLAAR award for “most inspiring printer at Print trade show.” Of course, since the Agfa :Dotrix printer has no longer been exhibited, and since lots of new and improved models have emerged in recent years, it is tough to tell if this printer continues to be among the most impressive printing presses.

FLAAR will shortly be issuing a brief commentary on the Agfa :Dotrix. Dr Hellmuth comments, “I would need to see the printer in-house and do site-visit case studies before we issue further evaluations. We don’t use outside Success Stories for obvious reasons. But from what I saw at a trade show several years ago, I was definitely impressed. It was beneficial to have Frank Gery from Agfa Dotrix to help explain the technology.”

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If you attach variable data software to this printer it potentially becomes a variable data short run digital press. We do not know whether Agfa has this application in their plans. FLAAR, as a institute at a large state university dedicated to digital printing, has considerable interest in variable data digital presses that are capable of printing photo-realistic quality.

If Agfa intends to position this :Dotrix alongside the HP Indigo, Xerox iGen3, Kodak NexPress or Xeikon 5000, then we should feature the Agfa :Dotrix on our FLAAR website, www.variable-data-digital-press.org. One reason we are especially interested in variable data short run digital presses is because the FLAAR Photo Archive is looking for a printer to become the featured brand and model to handle the printing of hard-copy color images of our 50,000-image photo archive of pre-Columbian Mayan, Aztec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Olmec civilizations of ancient Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth holding a sample printed by the Afga :Dotrix printer at Print 2005.

Here is the Afga :Dotrix printer at Print 2005.

Scale model of the Agfa :Dotrix digital press exhibited at FESPA Amsterdam 2009. After the acquisition of Gandinnovations, Agfa has limited its exhibitions to two or three :Anapurna models and three or four :Jeti models. You could expect to see a printer like the :Dotrix only in a big trade show such as DRUPA.