12 Month Pigment Ink Fade test...

[The Hat]

We are now back at April which is twelve months since I placed this test sheet in a north facing window.
https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/fade-test-on-i-s-inks.10844/

I didn’t intend to show the comparisons between dye and pigment inks, but I included a dye swatch just for the hell of it.

Click to enlarge each.

The Pigment swatch shows three prints, (1) had a Glop coating and the (2) second didn’t, and the (3) third is the swatch that had no light exposure (Original) now it’s very hard to tell if the test swatches has faded by just looking at them, so below I have placed a small overlay from (3 Original) on each.



There are some signs of fading on the pigment ink on all three columns, but reckon its better if everyone makes up their own mind if they consider the fading to be a serious issue or not, I’ll stay neutral and won’t comment and let others be the judge.

My conclusions are, if your serious about your prints, whether they’ll stand the test of time or not, then you’ll need to consider using OEM or 3rd party pigment inks, and that goes double if you intend displaying or selling your work.

This test was carried out using 3rd party inks, and represents the quality you might expect to get from most Epson/Canon pigment printers, the question is would you get any better quality or longevity from OEM inks ?, but just to say I’m more than happy to continue using 3rd party inks...


For those that might be interested, this is the dye swatch that was printed at the same time and displayed under the same conditions...

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

That's quite interesting results, are these images scans of the actual prints - or photos ? I don't see any significant difference between the coated and uncoated prints, the GO overprint does not seem to make a difference in this case, the exposed vs. the original prints appear to be lightened up slightly, but not of any concern - that's pretty good performance overall.

 

[The Hat]

are these images scans of the actual prints - or photos ?

@Ink stained Fingers, yes I scanned the actual test swatch as one, there is a small difference in the two images with and without the Glop, but it is very hard to see in the scan, the Glop overprint does improve the overall visual appearance of a print.

The test was way beyond what any normal photo would be exposed too in a twelve month period, but more like many years down the road, and I now know for certain that my prints will fade in time.
P.S. I still have one cooking in a south facing window..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

you are addressing several effects - the fading, there is some comparing the original dark copy to the exposed ones - barely visible yet - but recognizable when I compare the lightness via the histogram of small crops by color, and all colors are fading about equal such that there is no color shift visible.
And there is the other effect of the GO overprint - changing - improving the overall look, harmonizing the gloss, colors darken slightly, and bare white paper changes as well its look - it seems to appear whiter what I have seen with most papers - but not with all which makes this game unpredictable without an actual test.
I'm not going for a fade test with my (3rd party) pigment inks - I'm happy enough with their performance, I started a test with pretty fast fading dye inks to check for a speculative improvement effect of the GO - whether it makes fast fading inks slow down somewhat, but I won't expect them reach the performance of the Fujifilm inks. It's as well the look - there is as well a difference on glossy papers on dye inks with or without GO but not that clearly visible as on pigment inks - and depending as well on the paper type - again - the paper is always an important variable in these tests. My counter is running faster - I'll check for changes in 10 day increments in the next time.

 

[The Hat]

My testing of the pigment inks, was only to confirm that they’ll stand the test of time and will last for generations, I reckon the paper will go first anyway, and I won’t be around if anyone ever needs a reprint.

All my A4 photos are done on the Sihl photo 280 gm because of its quality and price, I don’t bother using anything else, and I still have some rolls of Epson gloss, satin and matte 61cm 280gm left if I need to go bigger.

Since discovering how to apply Glop to my prints easily, I now use it all the time and find it essential for reducing the differential and bronzing effects caused by the I.S. inks, but I don’t think it would help reduce fading in any way...

 

[martin0reg]

My testing of the pigment inks, was only to confirm that they’ll stand the test of time and will last for generations...

This is in fact confirmed by your test. Pigment ink is a class of its own in this regard, and your 3rd party ink seems to do a good job.

Too bad that you haven't add one or two more brands, to show if this applies to 3rd party pigment in general... and a dye print from OEM, to see how canon chromalife turns out between the 3rd party pigment and the faded 3rd party dye..
My next UV tests: compare the best dyes (like canon or epson OEM) with some decent 3rd party pigment ink.

PS: I wonder why the 3rd party dyes are so much worse than OEM, other than pigs. May be due to the price of best dyes, or research and developement, or both...?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

my only concern with pigment inks is the yellow - fading faster than the other colors. I see it on prints and posters which are placed in aisles and like places with fluorescent light mainly. Yellow goes first - and faces of people get a kind of pale look, o.k. - most of those prints get replaced anyway after some time. I have not seen 3rd party pigment ink suppliers yet specifically offering improved yellow pigment inks vs. the current and older ones. The recent race of the 3rd party ink suppliers against the latest Epson HD inks - P600/800 - was dealing with an improved black level mainly but not so much with the yellow fading performance, although the Aardenburg tests show that the new Epson yellow fades slower than the older inks.

 

[The Hat]

This test sheet was left in my shed window (South facing) in full sun since last May, it’s not a very good example for fade testing, but it just shows how well the pigment inks can stand up to this type of punishment, the dye ink just couldn’t take it.

The middle print was my original test swatch and it remained covered from direct sun light.

Too bad that you haven't add one or two more brands, to show if this applies to 3rd party pigment in general... and a dye print from OEM, to see how canon chromalife turns out between the 3rd party pigment and the faded 3rd party dye..

I can only test the inks that I use, because once I have purchased a printer I never use OEM inks in them again, and I always try to buy printers that uses the same 3rd party ink sets that I already own, one set of dyes and one set of pigments, the odd colours, red, green greys, I can mix myself.

It’s not that difficult to tweak each printer in turn to output the same colours using a standard known test image, (Not an exact match because the printers are all different) the big advantage is not having totally different inks for each individual printer, one size fits all...

 

[oroblec]

My testing of the pigment inks, was only to confirm that they’ll stand the test of time and will last for generations, I reckon the paper will go first anyway, and I won’t be around if anyone ever needs a reprint.

All my A4 photos are done on the Sihl photo 280 gm because of its quality and price, I don’t bother using anything else, and I still have some rolls of Epson gloss, satin and matte 61cm 280gm left if I need to go bigger.

Since discovering how to apply Glop to my prints easily, I now use it all the time and find it essential for reducing the differential and bronzing effects using the I.S. inks, but I don’t think it would help reduce fading in any way...

The hat what is glop and wich canon did you use for this test ???

 

[oroblec]

This test sheet was left in my shed window (South facing) in full sun since last May, it’s not a very good example for fade testing, but it just shows how well the pigment inks can stand up to this type of punishment, the dye ink just couldn’t take it.
View attachment 5302

The middle print was my original test swatch and it remained covered from direct sun light.

I can only test the inks that I use, because once I have purchased a printer I never use OEM inks in them again, and I always try to buy printers that uses the same 3rd party ink sets that I already own, one set of dyes and one set of pigments, the odd colours, red, green greys, I can mix myself.

It’s not that difficult to tweak each printer in turn to output the same colours using a standard known test image, (Not an exact match because the printers are all different) the big advantage is not having totally different inks for each individual printer, one size fits all...

Wich 3 part inks are you using ??