The limitations of hard copy are a result of your printer. A laser printer uses toner which will give a true black & white image, much better for use on the shops camera; type and line graphics should be acceptable. An older ink jet printers resolution is going to be less than that of a lasers, the edges of all type will be fuzzy.
About photos - unless you have a postscript printer, you're not going to able to define a round dot at the "lines per inch" required for a good shot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halftone
What is an "ad slick"? - A good black & white image, with sharp edges and defined halftone dots acceptable for camera reproduction.
Your shop needs to get up to date...if you cannot hand off a digital file for work with photos, you're not going to get decent work by todays standards.