Dye ink fade test; OCP vs IS vs IR vs fotorite

[The Hat]

It looks that OCP is not any better either.

The only universal constant here is that there are very few good third-party black dye inks.

I couldnt agree more..

 

[Tin Ho]

Good stable magenta dye ink is the hardest to find. Very few in the 3rd party is comparable to Canon magenta ink. I did a similar fading test (sticking the photos on the window facing my neighbor's house) a few years ago. After about 30 days of exposing to sunlight fading of magenta is most noticeable on 3rd party inks. There was no noticeable fading on the black. Image Specialists ink was equally disappointing as Formulabs (from Alotofthings.com) was. Canon OEM proved to be unbeatable.

 

[rihac.com.au]

Hi Guys

Just a couple of quick things I can add to you topic.
Firstly I will declare that I do work for Rihac, we distribute our own brand of inks and Inklink continuous inking systems. And I would also like to let you know that the ink that you have got from CityInkExpress is definetly not a rihac product.

One major factor that comes into play and is often over looked when looking at fade rates on ink is that humidity also plays a major role in how fast a print will fade. The major contributor to this is evaporative heating a cooling. Keeping prints in frames or plastic sleeves so prints aren't exposed to air will dramatically increase the life of you prints.

 

[costadinos]

And I would also like to let you know that the ink that you have got from CityInkExpress is definetly not a rihac product.

Thanks for clarifying that, I'll edit the post and remove the reference to Rihac then.

As for humidity, I agree that it plays its role on fading, but this was a comparative test, all inks were exposed to the same conditions. The test prints were placed against the back of a window, and the climate here is very dry this time of the year, so I doubt that humidity had much effect in just a month of exposure.
But even if humidity did affect one inkset more than the others, that's an indication of its inferiority in relation to the others, even regarding just these two fading factors (uv radiation and humidity).

It looks that OCP is not any better either.

In fact, although maybe not that apparent in the scanned images, the OCP black was a lot better in relation to the rest (with the IR coming really close). Some fading is observed, yes, but absolutely no color shifts, in contrast to the IS and fotorite that exhibited strong shifts towards red and the IR with shift towards cyan.

But the same is not true for the OCP magenta, which is disappointingly weak. Surprisingly, the fotorite magenta is very strong, with the best fade resistance on all papers (in comparison to the rest of course).

From all the above, I believe the ideal would be to use OCP black, IR Cyan, IS yellow and the magenta from the fotorite inkset. Maybe I'll do another test in the future using this combination and see how that compares to the OEM...

 

[Mikesht]

Hello and thank you for the interesting and useful comparison study.

I wanted to ask a question (and keep in mind I am brand new to inkjet printing): did anybody do any similar "real life" research with an additional factor of UV protective spray? How much protection does the spray really give to a print?
Thank you in advance.

Mikhail

 

[costadinos]

Hello and thank you for the interesting and useful comparison study.

I wanted to ask a question (and keep in mind I am brand new to inkjet printing): did anybody do any similar "real life" research with an additional factor of UV protective spray? How much protection does the spray really give to a print?
Thank you in advance.

Mikhail

If you compare two prints, both printed using the same ink on the same paper, one with and the other without a UV spray applied, the first will last longer.
But a print made with dye inks and UV coated will be nowhere near a print made with pigments without protection in terms of longevity.

I did a similar test to the one above, by laminating a sheet of paper with prints on it made with dyes and pigments and leaving it in the sun. It took roughly twice as much time for the dyes to fade similarly to the dyes in the test above, so yes, the protective layer does help, but, I still haven't noticed any fading at all on the pigment prints.

 

[Mikesht]

Hello and thank you for the interesting and useful comparison study.

I wanted to ask a question (and keep in mind I am brand new to inkjet printing): did anybody do any similar "real life" research with an additional factor of UV protective spray? How much protection does the spray really give to a print?
Thank you in advance.

Mikhail

If you compare two prints, both printed using the same ink on the same paper, one with and the other without a UV spray applied, the first will last longer.
But a print made with dye inks and UV coated will be nowhere near a print made with pigments without protection in terms of longevity.

I did a similar test to the one above, by laminating a sheet of paper with prints on it made with dyes and pigments and leaving it in the sun. It took roughly twice as much time for the dyes to fade similarly to the dyes in the test above, so yes, the protective layer does help, but, I still haven't noticed any fading at all on the pigment prints.

Thank you very much for your response.
Mikhail

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

The other problem is that many sprays are not "flexible". Even the ones that are are "flexible" not to crack when used on something like canvas that might change size over time. Not flexible enough to stand up to a 13 x 19 flopping about until you get it framed. So if you do spray it, make sure you do not allow the print to bend afterward.

Also, depending on the solvent base of the spray, it may drastically change the color, gloss, or actually damage a print. Make sure it says safe for inkjet photos somewhere on the can. UV resistant glass may be a better option if you're going to be framing it anyway.

 

[martin0reg]

Thank you very much for testing!

Questions:

- The claria seems much better than any other dye ink.
Is this only the case on epson paper? How much worse is the fading with claria on cheaper paper, especially sihl?

- You have tested dye ink from third party. Is the pigment ink epson OEM?
Do you have any experience with pigment ink from third party, especially IS and OCP?

 

[Mikesht]

I really like Costas efford he put into this huge project! Thank you very much for that!

I am printing alot of stuff with Inktec and OCP (claria style) 6 Color inks on my Epson 1400 and an Epson PX720WD but I dont charge for the prints its all volunatry egg. > Photos from a Kindgarten-festivity / various events at the church near by / photos for friend and so on

I print on cheap paper http://www.ebay.de/itm/150765745946 equals 0,027 per 10x15cm plus approx 0,0067 ink cost per postcard rounded up its like 4 -CENTs per photo.... I dont charge for the costs but I do get some money for the good will that I donate to the kindergarden and church...

What I am planing next is getting rid of all my "dye" based printers and replacing them with native pigment based Epson Printers. I have right now two perfect R1800 and an R1900 sitting here. I have a massive amount of OEM inks since I payed only 4 per cartrige it was "ok".

Since I cant print borderless "small" sheets on my Epson Stylus Pro 4000 I am bound to a desktop printer

Q:

What size borderless prints can I produce on the Stylus Pro 4000?
A:

You can make borderless prints on these roll media widths using the Auto Expand or Retain Size features:

8*, 10, 12*, 14*, 16, and 17 inches

I guess I will sell the R1800 units and maybe the R1900 too and purchase one or even two R2000 OR R2880/R3000 units
I will start with 3rd party inks right away on them. The R3000 has really nice featurers that I like...

Plese, forgive me potentially a stupid question, but why does one need a borderless print? How do you mount the print of there are no border? Where do you sign, date, number it?
Thank you.