Fading test of some Canon OEM and Image Specialists inks

[PeterBJ]

Using the same bug zapper lamp I have used for earlier fading tests I have now started a fading test of

• Canon OEM CIS ink in bottles for the G-series of printers with built-in CIS. The inks are tested in a Canon MG5550 using PGI-550/CLI-551 cartridges. For dye black I use a Canon OEM CL551 BK cartridge with OEM ink.
• Canon OEM CLI-8 C-M-Y-K cartridges with OEM inks in an iP4300.
• Image Specialists' dye inks for CLI-8 and CLI-526 C-M-Y-K in an MG5150 using PGI-525/CLI-526 cartridges.
• Same as above, but with Image specialists cyan replaced with the Canon OEM CIS cyan.

All prints are made on Canon Glossy Photo Paper, GP501 4" x 6".

The reason for the last test is that the Image Specialists cyan ink seems to fade faster than the other Image Specialists inks, so by replacing just one ink maybe the ink set can be improved without much expense. See this post and notice how cyan has faded much more than the other inks. It is the lower four images.

I expect to see a difference in fading resistance in one or two weeks. I will post the results then.

Edit: It seems my UV light source is worn out, so the fading results are not valid. They look too good.

 

[martin0reg]

Hi Peter, I'm curious to see your results. As you probably know I have tried the canon "OEM CISS" bottled ink already and to sum it up, this wasn't much better (if at all) than any of the known decent 3rd party inks. The one and only outstanding dye ink for canon (in my test) was canon OEM chromalife(+) ... in small and expensive cartridges ..
PS: So we should take into account that you add a chromalife K to the C-M-Y set of canon "GI" ciss ink...

 

[PeterBJ]

I noticed that magenta seems to be the weak link in the Canon G ciss ink, as your iP3000 test image in this post is shifted towards blue-green after the UV exposure. This could mean the Canon "G" cyan has a good fading resistance. I wonder if my test with IS inks M-Y-K + Canon "G" ink C will show an improved fading resistance compared to the IS inks only.

If the Canon "G" inks are no better than good 3rd party inks, then I think the price of the G series printers is much too high. I would expect the inks to be of normal Canon quality to justify a printer price of maybe 3 times what it would be using the normal "Cheap printer - Expensive ink" model. I wonder what my test will show.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Espon does not deliver the Claria inks with the Ecotank and L-series printers, and even delivers different qualities for the L300 or L800 models, and Canon does not deliver their good Chromalife inks with the G-series printers either - it's all marketing - the pricing for the Claria/Chromalife inks shall remain as high as they are in small cartridges, and any bottled ink of this type either would have to be priced extremely high or would directly compete with cartridge based printers.

 

[PeterBJ]

Maybe I and maybe others was/were a bit naive, thinking you could have "Champagne at the price of beer"?

 

[The Hat]

All duck and no Dinner...

I’ll place a link to my fade test results here shortly...
A little time later..
https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/3rd-party-dye-ink-fade-test.11694/

 

[PeterBJ]

I have now exposed the test prints to UV light for one week. All prints are made on Canon glossy photo paper GP501. Here are the results, the unexposed prints are on the left. The top is Canon OEM CLI-8 C-M-Y-BK, no correction is applied in the driver, notice magenta cast often seen with Canon ink printers with OEM materials. The bottom is Canon GI-490 ink C-M-Y for Canon CISS printers. Without correction the print was greenish and unsaturated, so to get a more neutral grey magenta and saturation were increased. As there is no dye black in the Canon CISS ink set a Canon OEM CLI-550 XL cartridge with OEM ink is used for dye black.:

It looks like there was no or almost no fading with the Canon OEM CLI-8 inks on OEM paper, and it looks like the CISS inks faded a bit, mostly magenta, shifting the colours slightly towards green. This is best seen in the greyscale and B/W image in the center of the test image.

The next images are Image Specialists inks for CLI-526 at the top. Without correction the print had a green cast. To get a more neutral grey I added magenta and yellow. At the bottom Image specialists inks for CLI-526 M-Y-BK is used and C is replaced by Canon CISS ink cyan. The Canon CISS cyan is weaker than the IS 2032 so no correction in the driver was used. The reason for this test is that in an earlier test the IS cyan 244 for CLI-521 faded very quickly, The IS cyan 2032 used for CLI-8 and CLI-526 seems much better, making a great improvement to the CLI-526 inkset over the CLI-521 inkset(?):

And here is the IS CLI-526 inks (top) compared to IS CLI-521 (bottom) from an earlier test, notice that the earlier test shows a strong shift towards red, meaning cyan 244 has faded very much:

I wonder if Image Specialists cyan 2032 is much better than cyan 244? If that is the case I recommend using it instead of 244 in the inkset for PGI-520/CLI-521. If necessary you can adjust the colours in the printer driver settings. I think the results might be too good so maybe I made an error in the tests or maybe my bug zapper lamp has lost some UV output? But the lamp has not been used since the last test.

@Hogwild see post #4 by @Ink stained Fingers . It explains why the CISS inks cannot be the same quality as the ink used in the cartridges. Also see this post by @martin0reg . I think you could use a good refill ink set for your printer, for instance from Octoink. A refill inkset is also complete with all inks and less colour correction will likely be necessary. I think there is no reason to search for the CISS inkset.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

that's quite and extensive test - wow , and if you are unsure about your lamp run your test for another week if you can.

 

[PeterBJ]

Yes, after I had scanned the prints, I reattached them to the lamp so the test is already running for another week.

 

[martin0reg]

Indeed a complex test, and so it's worth to run it one more month.
I use to be impatient too, but the fading becomes more visible after a month.

Our UV bulbs seems to be not the strongest.. the real desert sun is shining on ISF's balcony...