Fading test of some Canon OEM and Image Specialists inks

[PeterBJ]

OK, I will continue the UV exposure till at least one of the prints shows significant fading.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

the real desert sun is shining on ISF's balcony...

It's probably the ozone outside doing a major part of the fading job.

 

[The Hat]

It's probably the ozone outside doing a major part of the fading job.

Do you specially import the Ozone or is it just there for the summer holidays...?

the real desert sun is shining on ISF's balcony...

I can just see ISF's now, out on his balcony with his bucket and spade...

 

[PeterBJ]

I still see no fading of the test prints after one more week of exposure to the insect killer lamp. When I started the previous test the photo paper showed a bright fluorescence near the lamp. Now there is no fluorescence near the lamp, even if the fluorescent tubes still give a blue-white light and look normal. So I will have to look for another source of UV light to do other fading tests.

Sadly I think inks have not improved, but my fading test lamp is worn out.

Does anybody know if there exists an UV LED bulb suitable for this purpose? I think LED light sources have a much better longevity than fluorescent tubes.

 

[The Hat]

A standard uncovered fluorescent tube gives off lots of UV light, or you could pick up a single UV fluorescent tube, but I wouldn’t recommend any human exposure, even for a short time in front of them, yes, I know some use them for a sun tan, I wouldn’t.

@PeterBJ could it be that your UV Light is working properly but the ozone levels are not as high, 1 + 0 = 1 ?

I have decided to put my test sheets back out again, but this time too ink decimation...

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I know there has been a lot big test going on for this subject can someone please summarise it all for us novices so we can get a starting point ie best paper best 3rd party ink combination. Then we can at least get the best quality without spending a lot of money on different inks etc
Thanks

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Actually I was already expecting a question like yours , there is lots of information created over the last years by different people by lots of testing various combinations. I think there are some rules and recommendations beyond the details of actual tests possible. The choice of options depends on the printer hardware you are using - Canon or Epson - pigment or dye ink - so such recommendations only would apply to a subset of all combinations. And it is assumed that you are doing refill with your printer. Most of the efforts went into the fade testing of various dye inks, pigment inks - by Canon or Epson or 3rd party - all perform much better in this respect.
- It got pretty obvious and beyond a particular brand name - a glossy photo paper of the PE type let dye inks fade much slower than budget cast coated photo papers with a paper back . A PE paper is covered with a PE film on both sides, the ink receptive RC (resin) coating protects the inks much better against UV/ozone .
- The most stable dye inks for Epson printers are inks by Fujifilm used in their Surelab printer range. Those DL inks can be retrieved from 200,500, 700 ml cartridges for such printers.
A 2nd best ink (with reservations) are Fotonic XG inks by Lyson/Marrutt for Epson printers, but rarely available. A next ranking ink may be mentioned as the EV6 ink set by precisioncolors.
- The search for a comparable Chromalife type ink for Canon dye printers has been futile so far as I understand various tests, but there are apparently some inks which perform better than others.
- When using pigment inks you are bothered more with other effects - as well pretty much depending on the ink - bronzing , gloss differences between colors, between colors and the paper gloss and differences between more and less ink saturated areas. Some of that is a matter of personal judgement. But overall an overprint with a gloss/chroma-optimizer improves the appearance visibly.
So it is more difficult to give a recommendation here , but these inks can be mentioned as very well performing overall - P600 compatible inks by precisioncolors - Conecolor Pro inks by Vermont inks, but again - the gloss /chroma optimizer does a good improvement job here as well for lots of other inks. (And I cannot comment at all about Canon compatible pigment inks for the Pro10 etc).
- And there is something else you can do to improve photo printing - using your printer a way as it
is not intended to by the manufacturer. I have shown this with the WF-2010W, a simple office type 4- color Epson Durabrite pigment ink printer, using this printer with dye inks, and with the matte paper settings yields a better gamut than a dedicated photo printer like an L800 does with the same inks on the same paper. Or using such printer with a separate black ink cartridge with gloss optimizer let you make prints with pigment inks and GO as good or better as with Epson's printers like the R800 etc. There is more handling required with such an approach vs. a dedicated P400 , but you can save such investment if your print volume is not too much.

- So that would be my condensed list of recommendations to start with, open for all the other testers to add their specific findings and experience.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

@Ink stained Fingers thank you for your recommendations they have cleared up alot of questions I had. Unfortunately I have a canon printer that uses dye ink
Hopefully someone who has also been testing can maybe offer some advice on the best canon combination.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply

 

[martin0reg]

Good summary, ISF. I just want to add one ink to the top of the epson dyes:
- epson bottled ink T67xx (not T66xx/4colors)*** for 6 color printers with ink tanks, 70ml each.
So fuji frontier or epson surecolor drylab ink is certainly the most stable dye ink for piezo printers.
But among the 2nd best (all with a distance to the first) I would also mention the epson T67xx, which is available at many stores. Besides I remember this ink as far more stable than canon bottled ink for their similar "original ciss" printers.
(***corrected)

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

yes, I would add the bottled Epson inks for the L800 model series - T673x which perform better than the resp inks for the L300 family T664x, all these inks are readily available in 70ml bottles.