Are Fine Screens an Alternative to Frequency Modulation Screening?

Since frequency modulation screening gains more and more interest and the number of vendors increases almost every week, the question arises whether conventional screens have still a future, and if so, whether fine screens could be an alternative to FM screens. The following characteristics of fine screens and FM screens are compared: visual dot structure, resolution, dot gain, stability of highlight dots during the photomechanical transfer, and sensitivity to overinking. The following characteristics of fine screens and FM screens are compared: visual dot structure, resolution, dot gain, stability of highlight dots during the photomechanical transfer, and sensitivity to overinking. It is shown that fine screens offer no advantage compared with FM screens as far as resolution, dot gain, dot transfer, and printing performance are concerned. Only the visual dot structure may be a problem with some FM algorithms. However, FM screens can be designed to show a low-noise performance meaning they are not necessarily inferior to fine screens.