Inktec Pigment Ink

[palombian]

From my observations - not tests - 3th party pigment inks fade slow enough to make you wait a long time for results.
Yellow is one of the first colors to loose intensity.
Let's say you don't risk much the first 10 years.

The physical properties are the major concern IMO, you risk banding due to ink depletion, and in the worst case clogging and damage to the (expensive) printhead.

 

[photog-art-printer]

From my observations - not tests - 3th party pigment inks fade slow enough to make you wait a long time for results.
Yellow is one of the first colors to loose intensity.
Let's say you don't risk much the first 10 years.

The physical properties are the major concern IMO, you risk banding due to ink depletion, and in the worst case clogging and damage to the (expensive) printhead.

Agree. Will test and confirm anyway. If printed photo is put outside for a month without protection, this may provide an indication of what to expect under nicer conditions.

I've read about the yellow, and wonder why they are unable to get it right.

A useful test would be to examine yellow from OEM and 3rd party pigment inks after a month or two outside.

 

[websnail]

Just to add that when it comes to fading on pigments, I remember a time when early compatible pigments for the Epson K1 and K2 ink sets were known to have fading issues, particularly with regards to uneven fade resistance when some colours would fade far quicker than others. It still took years but it was noticeable relatively quickly. That was for inks being manufactured close to 12+ years ago.

A lot of development and improvements have been achieved since and we've not really seen any reports of fading issues with the newer K3 pigments or formulations since. As to Inktec as noted, there's some bronzing issues with a few papers and the Photo Black on Epsons (resolvable by mixing with the older STS-inks 1122 Photo black on a 50:50 ratio) but for Canons we've not seen the same.

I do have some samples for the newer Inktec formulation intended for the Pro-1000 and above but for various reasons (mostly time) we've not tried them out. We've found a number of the formulations to be pretty good, not perfect but pretty good so you could do worse. Just be ready to apply the ice axe and pitons to the learning curve as it can get steep at points. Good luck!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

If you are interested for more details about the fading of pigment inks - OEM - you may have a look here

https://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/compare-k3-hd-ex-ink-sets/

https://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/epson-uchd-versus-k3-inks/

Epson did a step function improvement for the lightfastness of the HD inks vs. the K3 inks, but Canon went the opposite way with their newer generation pigment inks - with a lower performance

But the big unkown question remains - would you see a similar step function improvement with Inktec compatible Epson inks - or Canon inks - nobody knows

You may have a look to my recent posting

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/do-pigment-inks-fade-slower-than-dye-inks.15466/

and specifically the test report of Epson - Canon - Hp inks

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/Can..._and_Photo_Papers_Final_Report_2020-06-01.pdf

There are wide performance differences between OEM inks already - Epson inks improved by the release of the HD(X) inks vs. the K3 inks whereas Canon's inks Lucia Pro vs. Lucia dropped in this report. But again - there are no reports comparing compatible 3rd party inks to the resp. OEM inks

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

There is a P900 test report on luminous-landscape.com

https://luminous-landscape.com/the-epson-p900-incredible-versatility-by-dan-wells/

but behind a paywall - regrettebly

The author goes in quite some detail of Epson pigment ink generations starting in the lower part of the article

'Epson is on no less than their seventh generation of pigmented inks – they’ve been at this since 2000 or so.' including discussion of the yellow pigment issues, and he compares Epson vs. Canon inks. No such comparable information is available about any 3rd party inks.

 

[palombian]

Strange, no paywall here.
Interesting read:

 

[photog-art-printer]

If you are interested for more details about the fading of pigment inks - OEM - you may have a look here

https://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/compare-k3-hd-ex-ink-sets/

https://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/epson-uchd-versus-k3-inks/

Epson did a step function improvement for the lightfastness of the HD inks vs. the K3 inks, but Canon went the opposite way with their newer generation pigment inks - with a lower performance

But the big unkown question remains - would you see a similar step function improvement with Inktec compatible Epson inks - or Canon inks - nobody knows

You may have a look to my recent posting

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/do-pigment-inks-fade-slower-than-dye-inks.15466/

and specifically the test report of Epson - Canon - Hp inks

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/Can..._and_Photo_Papers_Final_Report_2020-06-01.pdf

There are wide performance differences between OEM inks already - Epson inks improved by the release of the HD(X) inks vs. the K3 inks whereas Canon's inks Lucia Pro vs. Lucia dropped in this report. But again - there are no reports comparing compatible 3rd party inks to the resp. OEM inks

RE Epson did a step function improvement for the lightfastness of the HD inks vs. the K3 inks, but Canon went the opposite way

My question is .... If Epson OEM pigment inks are longer lasting than Canon, can I put them in my Pro-1000?
Or ... phrased another way ... are Epson colours the same as Canon colours?
For example, can the Epson yellow replace the Canon yellow (that we know tends to fade)?

 

[palombian]

RE Epson did a step function improvement for the lightfastness of the HD inks vs. the K3 inks, but Canon went the opposite way

My question is .... If Epson OEM pigment inks are longer lasting than Canon, can I put them in my Pro-1000?
Or ... phrased another way ... are Epson colours the same as Canon colours?
For example, can the Epson yellow replace the Canon yellow (that we know tends to fade)?

NO WAY

 

[photog-art-printer]

NO WAY

NO WAY

Sounds interesting ... maybe it needs to be tested

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You can run Canon inks in Epson printers - dye and pigment - in most cases, but it does not work the opposite way. You may try HP inks in Canon printers since both printer types uses some type of thermal bubblejet technology. But read the above article - HP inks give you an impressive longevity - but at a lower gamut - the yellow is claimed as being dull - there is a tradeoff - gamut vs. longevity.