Image forming apparatus for reproducing halftone images

An image forming apparatus for reproducing an image corresponding to a digitized image signal comprising:

• an imaging member comprising a photoreceptor having a surface;
• a halftone image forming device for reproducing a latent image composed of a plurality of pixels on the imaging member, and for developing the latent image so that coloring particles are adhered in each pixel being put together as an island, the halftone image including a relatively low density halftone image, said halftone image forming device comprising:
• a charger for uniformly charging the surface of the photoreceptor,
• a raster output scanner for scanning the surface of the photoreceptor by a modulated laser beam corresponding to the digitized image signal, and
• a developing device for developing the latent image by toner particles as the coloring particles;
• and
• a transfixing device for simultaneously transferring the halftone image and fixing the halftone image onto a recording sheet,
• wherein a value Dbh and a value Dph satisfy the following equation:
• Dbh/Dph.ltoreq.0.6
• wherein, Dph is a pitch of the pixels and Dbh is a spot diameter of the laser beam.