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May 09, 2005
INKJET PRINT LONGEVITY
The life expectancy of inkjet prints is the great unknown of the digital photography business and there are different ratings of printers/inks/papers coming from different places. dpexpert is trying to track down as many testing sites as we can.
Here's one worth visiting. If Livick is to be relied upon then this is a very valuable guide to the best inks and papers to use with any printer.
For dpexpert's trusty Canon i9950 it looks like the best paper for print life is either Epsons' Colorlife [11.5 years] or Ilford Galerie Classic Gloss [12.2 years]. Canon's top paper, Photo Paper Pro, comes in at a miserable 2 years before it fades away.
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Posted by terry at May 9, 2005 08:44 AM
Worth Checking Out
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Comments
G’Day Terry,
Those figures make the idea of shifting from film to digital photography fairly frivolous. I’ve still got some ‘Cibachrome’ prints that I made in the seventies, which have not faded or changed colour at all, although I can’t say the same for ‘Kodakcolor’ prints from that far back. And we’ve all got or have seen black and white photos dating back to the eighteen hundreds. Does this mean that the trend of having baby and childhood photos displayed at eighteenth or twenty first birthday parties will no longer be in vogue? Will wedding photos not even last until the divorce?
Regards,
Robert Ashman
r_ashman@ozemail.com.au
Posted by: Robert Ashman at May 9, 2005 12:35 PM
Robert:
I also have Cibachrome prints on the wall, uncovered, that have been there for 15 years without fading. At this stage we are not going to get that performance from inkjet prints.
But if you've got any photo lab prints on the wall you will know that they haven't stood up to environmental ravages very well either.
My guess is that we are in the infancy of inkjet printing and that the technology will improve rapidly. Epson are already pioneering with their pigment inks and long life papers. Ilford seem to be putting research and development into the paper component of print longevity.
Still, at the moment it's a worry. Have a look at our earlier entry on print life. http://www.dpexpert.com.au/archives/2005/05/the_digital_pic.html
Posted by: Terry at May 9, 2005 01:54 PM