Canon photo tank system printers

[stratman]

ven now with digital data it is not easy to read old tapes or CDROM, remember Kodak Picture CD, not speaking from discettes, it is not sure you or your children are able to read these data.

True.

Digital storage can be degraded over time due to environmental conditions. The quality of the build of the CD/DVD can quicken the read errors as well. Just like inkjet prints, digital data needs to be scanned for errors, specifically large increases in correctable errors and any uncorrectable data. The disk then needs to be copied to another disk or risk unreadable files lost possible forever.

There are disks designed for archival purposes, but even these will have a finite life. Backing up the files on a quality hard drive or SSD may still be the best archival method at this time though not guaranteed either. At this time, copy data to a new disk or drive at some interval is the best bet for preserving files.

PS Don't forget to make an additional copy for offsite storage, like a bank safety deposit box, in case your home gets flooded or catches on fire.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm apparently years too late with my plan to test the fading of the Chromalife inks, this was already discussed 6 years ago on this forum - Chromalife inks vs. the Epson Claria inks of a R300 - tested by an external test institute,
please see the posting #24 of martin0Reg here with references to external test reports

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/chromalife-100-vs-chromalife-100-fade-test.9734/post-80256

and I found some inconsistency with Canon's claims, Chromalife 100+ inks are spec'd here for 200 years in a photo album, 40 years behind glass and 10 years w/o glass

https://www.canon.de/printers/inkjet/pixma/quality-with-speed/

'Die ChromaLife100+ Tinten bieten eine optimierte Farbreproduktion und tiefere Schwarztöne für besonders lebendige Fotodrucke. Die Drucke sind über 200 Jahre in einem Fotoalbum farbstabil, ca. 40 Jahre hinter Glas (lichtgeschützt) und 10 Jahre ohne Glas (luftgeschützt).'

They are probably not using the same photo album in Germany as they do in the U.S. with the 300 year claim.......................

 

[maximilian59]

Made a test myself with Pro-100s (Chromalife 100+) and XP-55 (Claria HD). Stripes with 60 patches were exposed to daylight on a east facing window for 6 month (June to December last year). The used paper für both printers was Epson Epson Premium Glossy. Average DeltaE2000 after this time measured with a i1Pro was 4 for the Canon and 3 for the Epson.
The same with a Canon Pro-1000 is a DeltaE of 1. Astonishing was: Clara Premium with a XP-7100 resulted in a DeltaE of 2. The inks for the ET-77xx (106 here in Germany) printed with a XP-4100 which only used the Colors and not photoblack is as good as Claria HD
I would say, Chromalife 100+, Claria HD, Claria Premium and inkset 106 are at the same level.
If now test with inks from Pro-200 show better results than the 106, Canon may have changed something.
If Epson uses on the new ET-88xx the same inks as for the ET-77xx with additional colors, than this is a really good color printer.

 

[stratman]

The used paper für both printers was Epson Epson Premium Glossy.

Does the Epson paper bias the test in favor of the Epson inks and printers?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I would say, Chromalife 100+, Claria HD, Claria Premium and inkset 106 are at the same level.

Yes, those inks belong into a class of premium OEM inks with quite similar performance, and I would add the Fujifilm inks for the Drylab DX100 and the Epson Ultrachrome D6 inks for the Surelab printers D600, 700 etc into this group. The Epson user is at a much better situation here - he has bottled premium dye inks available for refill at a budget pricing level, the Canon user does not - the Chromalife 100+ ink is not available bottled, and Canon dye inks for some of their larger format printers are not inks with Chromalife like performance.

Papers - even of the same type of PE/RC - make a big difference for the fading performance of the ink in use - the differences are much wider than between the links listed above. And budget level cast coated - cc - papers with the paper back side - let the inks perform much worse, I did some of such testing several years ago. I'm not using Epson papers and rarely the Canon Pro Platinum at all so I cannot tell whether the coating would be sensitive to the brand of ink but I would doubt that. I think I'll run a paper test later this year once the ink tests are done.

I didn't do any testing of matte papers or baryta, cotton rag etc fineart and other specialty papers how they impact the ink fading - I would expect a wide range here as well.

I just found an image from some tests years ago showing the impact the paper has - it's the same black ink on different paper types after some exposure to the sun

 

[maximilian59]

Does the Epson paper bias the test in favor of the Epson inks and printers?

I don’t have enough data to say this. But a measured difference of deltaE2000 of 1 is not significant in my eyes.
But I checked my figures again and must correct the Epson Paper used on the Pro-100. It was Epson Ultra Glossy. But there was also a stripe with Canon Platinum PT-101 in the test. The difference between these Epson and the Canon papers is deltaE2000 of 0.2. This in the range how good I can do measurements. So here no difference caused by the brand.
In all tests, Epson or Canon, for dye inks the weakest color is magenta, but on a very high level. The difference to the other ink colors is at about 0.5 to 1 deltaE.
Comparing all my tests till now, Epson performs in point of measurements a tiny bit better. I don't believe the differences would be visible on a normal print. If the new Canon GI-53 inks also will perform well, than Canon users have for the 5-ink printers a good refill option.
Maximilian

 

[stratman]

difference between these Epson and the Canon papers is deltaE2000 of 0.2.

Thank you for the reply, maximilian.

Good data from you and @Ink stained Fingers

 

[maximilian59]

For all who want to know, how my test pattern looks like.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I don't see the GI-53 Canon inks for the G550/650 printers in the stores yet - I see indications that they'll become available in May.
Canon is publishing a difference in fading performance for their Chromalife vs. Chromalife+ inks of 300/100 years , a degradation of 1 : 3 , and if this ratio applies as well to the GI-53 inks I'm rather sceptical that these inks perform well and can create long lasting prints - under more normal and typical conditions, and I don't see how such a printer can be called a good photo printer at all - a test will show pretty soon.

 

[mikling]

Chromalife 100 ( Not Plus) was used on the Pro9000. ( CLI-8) Not ozone resistant and Canon was the laughing stock in the chemist community when they realized that they did not test for this. Then big bucks ensued to remove the stigma of that mistake.

Similar story for CLARIA...the synthetic dye ink from Epson. Even back in 2006, the aftermarket already knew the situation. 15 years ago, we knew that CLARIA was about halfway towards pigment in overall stability. This was a major step and Canon was behind. Epson was suffering from ozone issues in their dye ink prior to Claria. Those were the days that only swellable paper was a solution that Epson offered and also HP. Canon just hunkered down and kept trying till about 2013. After Claria was introduced the requirement for swellable basically started to taper off and swellable paper is nowhere today.

Forward to

Chromalife + ( Plus) was used on the Pro-100. Canon initially made and published tests on longevity based on conditions to the public. They made a lot of small print when gaseous issues were involved. About two years ago they removed all traces of those pages and then pulled back on some claims in other pages...details are scant now. It would appear that in actual use Chromalife 100+ varied quite a bit to the people who really care when it was in the field for extended peiods.

Aftermarket will NEVER have the revenue to pursue research into those type of inks. The aftermarket dyes are made from off the shelf dyes and naturally the bulk of dyes in the aftermarket are not specific to ink as opposed to Canon and Epson needs. Aftermarket dyes serve industrial needs as a primary. I would say that a good aftermarket dye is likely to be in the range of the old Chromalife 100. Any claims that aftermarket will meet the current standards set by the top OEM inks is is nonsense. Any claims that aftermarket will do so should be seriously questioned. Expectations that this can be the case is pure folly. However if you could have been happy with OEM ink from Canon between the years of 2000 and 2013, maybe aftermarket has something for you. If you demand the top performance set by the OEM best inks....aftermarket is not for you.

I am not sure media knows the distinction between Chomalife 100 and Chromalife 100+.