Making paper reproductions of documents and other visual images by means of a machine that has an electrostatically charged drum with a coating of a semiconductor which becomes conductive when exposed to light. A bright light illuminates the original, reflecting an image on to the drum, the areas of the coating exposed to light losing their charge to the ground while the unilluminated areas remain negatively charged. The drum is then exposed to a positively charged powder, called toner, which adheres to the negatively charged areas to form a reversed image that is transferred to a sheet of paper with a higher negative charge. Finally, heat and pressure fuse the toner particles to the paper.