The first fundamentally new typesetting technology since the invention of letterpress printing by Johannes Gutenberg, photocomposition does not use solid forms for depicting the characters. Instead, the set text is created on photographic film. Older machines performed this function by imaging the characters with a flashlight from a negative original or from a very bright screen (cathode ray tube) onto the film. The move to computer setting is marked by the laser setter which, like the laser printer, uses a laser beam to write text, images and other design elements directly onto film or a printing plate.

Placing multiple images on a plate using a step-and-repeat camera.

In printing or automation, setting type photographically.

Typesetting method in which images of letterforms are set by photographically imaging master versions onto film or photographic paper.

To set type photographically by exposing the images to photosensitive paper.

The manipulation and transfer of graphic images and text, using photographic means, to a light-sensitive paper or film.