an ink jet printer is disclosed of the type wherein a plurality of nozzles emit parallel streams of droplets toward a target . each nozzle has a charging electrode to charge droplets selectively depending upon whether a particular droplet is intended for the target or a gutter . a pair of deflection plates span the paths of the droplet streams and deflects the charged droplets according to information to be printed . a multiple field electrostatic lens is used to align charged droplets from different nozzles to a common line on the target despite misalignments between nozzles relative to the common line .