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Print quality/life from digital files (1 Viewer)

Katy Penland

Well-known member
I've gone back about a year in this forum to see if I could find an answer before asking (just so you know I've done a *little* homework ;)).

When printing at home from digital files, which inks, papers, printers yield prints with the longest "shelf life," and how long a "life" are we talking? I mean 8 x 10 or larger.

Or is it better, when wanting prints, to take your digital files to a pro lab and have them make high-quality prints or Ilfachromes?

Opinions? Many thanks in advance!
 
A chap called Henry Wilhelm has been a guru on this for many years. Some of the more digestible accounts of his findings can be found here :
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/articles_pcworld.html
Essentially, he would argue that to obtain good permanence with a domestic printer, it is critical to match the correct ink and paper. HP now have combos which produce 100 year or so permanence. Also there are independent companies such as Lyson who produce special permanent dye inks for a range of printers. Pigment inks are another route to take. These allow good permanence without being so critical of choice of paper. Epson have gone a long way down the route of providing pigment inks even for budget printers. Here's their hard-sell :
http://www.epsonphoto.com.sg/photocollege/technology/durabrite01.shtml
Some of the latest domestic printers can match (and more) conventional colour prints for permanence; though perhaps the latter do represent a good safe option.
 
Thanks very much for that, Norm. I'll check out the Henry Wilhelm link right away. I've done some sleuthing around HP and Epson, but I always like to get real-world input in addition to, as you so aptly put it, the "hard-sell" from the vendors themselves. Thanks again!
 
Although buying a printer in the long run...I take my pictures to the local Costco where they are 14 cents a piece for a 4x6 picture. This comes out to 70 pictures for $10. Not bad, and they are excellent quality. You can even upload the pictures to Costco's website and pick them up the next day. Here is the site: http://costco.internetimagingnetwork.com/costco/control/main?account_type=cust

P.S. Hopefully you live in an area where there are costcos...i just thought of this.
 
Katy, you can probably find some info on print longevity by searching the popularphotography.com forums, as well as Wilhelm-research. As I recall, Canon printers like the i9900 with their "Photo Paper Pro" claim a 38 year life. An Epson 2200 (which uses their Ultrachrome inks) claims 80 or 100 year longevity. Printers like my old Epson Photo 750 are rated at 3 to 5 years before fading begins.

Note that any print longevity figure is based on particular inks on particular papers, with the print stored in a sleeve or under glass, and shielded from UV rays.

I had been planning on buying a Canon i9900 so I could do prints greater than 8X10, but I became convinced after reading several threads in Pop Photo's digital forum that it was better to send the digital files to a lab like Mpix.com, and obtain a print on Kodak paper that has indefinitely long print longevity (i.e. on the same order as a photographic print). I just entered two 8X10 and two 8X12 pictures in a local photo contest. I uploaded the pics as nominallly 2 MB jpeg files to Mpix.com. I received the prints 3 days after uploading and it cost me $20, some of which was for expedited shipping. I was very pleased with the quality of the product. Places like Mpix, Ofoto, etc can do prints up to 20X30 inches, so I figure for the limited number of prints I do per year, it's more cost effective to use the old Epson 750 for proofing, and let a lab do the printing.

rgds, ghh
 
Thanks very much for that, Gerry. Good food for thought. I think I'll stick to pro labs, too, for the very few prints I get made that I want to last any length of time, at least in the near-term. When I move back to civilization, I'm sure I'll invest in a decent printer where I can readily get supplies. It's like pulling teeth to even order stuff on the internet anymore because we live in an area where there is no home delivery of mail, and there are an increasing number of online merchants who refuse to deliver to PO boxes. I'd personally love to know why computer software, for instance, is some kind of security risk so that it cannot be shipped to a mailbox?!?! Stupid Patriot Act. ;) And the trucks who provide ground delivery service here (UPS, FedEx, DHL, Airborne, etc.) apparently aren't dust-tight because everything arrives absolutely filthy, gritty and if not sealed itself, even the interior of the boxes have dirt in them. Not good for electronic equipment or supplies.

I just discovered all this delivery agita since posting my question, so I think I'm out of the printer purchasing market for the time being.

Calbirder, nope, no Coscos around, just a WalMart that uses a Fuji lab in Phoenix that scratched every roll of a 60-roll order (on the emulsion side, naturally!). Never again. :-( That one incident alone nearly made me want to sell my EOS 1-N and go digital. ;)
 
I have a back ground in four color photo lithographic printing red,yelow,blue and black. My firm reproduced artwork into limited edition prints.The greatest destroyer of these prints was sun light.Any print left hanging in an area of direct sun will lose the yellow dots first followed bt red leaving the skeleton blue and black.I think the best rule is if your displaying any print keep it out of constant direct sun.
Sam
 
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