What’s the difference in quality between polymer and lead type?
Photopolymer provides a strong consistent printing surface that can give you the same high quality and crispness as freshly cast lead type. Photopolymer provides a more consistent printing surface than lead type. The quality of printing using photopolymer is as sharp and crisp as the best foundry type, but without any differences of height between letters. In addition, polymer never wears down: your photopolymer will stay crisp, no matter how many print runs you do. If you want a heavy impression, you generally don’t have to worry about damaging your photopolymer. Unlike lead type, which can be permanently damaged from heavy impression, photopolymer could potentially crack but will not compress and distort. On the other hand, if you want to print with the lightest impression, polymer is suited for the job because of its level surface; you won’t have to compensate for uneven heights of any parts of the type set. Other advantages include being able to design sophisticated graphics using
