Our Comment on Longevity

Here is our comment on the longevity of the inks we sell.

As a reseller, we have to rely on our suppliers for information on the products we resell. We do not hide behind this fact, and in fact it should be clear that we are happy to add information where we think we can effectively provide additional information that you, the customer, may require.

In particular, we must point out that whilst test ratings such as ‘Wilhelm years’, or ‘Epson Years’ are great for us selling inks, you should not entirely rely on them for an actual figure. All these figures are extrapolations of tests carried out over relatively short periods of time, and can not effectively test every possible influencing factor that determines how long an ink will last. A classic example of this was the Epson 1270 inks, that were rated at over 10 years (or more, our memory is fading on the exact specification!) when they were first released. Some users started reporting an orange cast after a matter of weeks... and some investigation revealed that the inks were affected adversely by ozone. This had not shown up in the tests as the tests had the prints framed behind glass, and were thus protected from the atmosphere!

However, we do not wish to denigrate Wilhelm Imaging Research or other test locations from the work that they are doing. We are encouraging you to educate yourselves to understand what they are testing, how, and what you need to do to make those tests work for you!

Factors affecting Longevity

It is also worth specifically noting that most tests have a number of criteria associated with them; such as ‘framed behind glass’, humidity xx%, x hours of xx lux of light per day, printed on xxxxxx paper, and so on. The fact that a test shows an ink does not fade over an extrapolated length of time does NOT show you that the paper will last that long, or that if you print on a different paper, that the longevity will be as good. You must try to avoid ‘responding’ to Wilhelm longevity ratings - e.g. "I just printed an image with Epson 100+ year inks on photocopier paper and it faded in a week!".

So, some of the things that effect print longevity are:

• Contact with chemical vapours or materials (e.g. not acid-free or neutral materials);
• Light (more is bad, direct sunlight which heats the image too is worse). Energetic UV light is worst, and so specialist UV-filtering glass may be preferable in your framing (at a cost, of course);
• Heat, cold, moisture (do not hang pictures in the bathroom or kitchen!). Many tests feature a standard humidity level of 50% or 60%;
• Air including particularly ozone and chemical vapours as noted above (normally matted and framed prints effectively avoid this) - sometimes known as ‘gas fading’;
• The use of four or six colours of ink - lighter shades of ink may fade faster (depending on ink);
• The mixing of different inks on the paper, potentially resulting in unstable compounds (more typically associated with dye inks, not necessarily pigments which tend towards being inert);
• Insects, mould etc. Not too likely to be a worry in the UK, but perhaps more so in more humid and warmer climates;
• Inks on an inappropriate paper type e.g. pigment inks sitting on top of a gloss paper and not properly drying, dye inks being absorbed into a fine-art paper and fading as a result.

Now would be a good time to remind you - this applies whatever the media! Yes - it applies to the photos you got back from the one-hour lab yesterday, the poster you bought at Athena in the 80’s (it’s faded now, of course), and so on.

’Plug and Play’ Dye Inks

We have no firm longevity information, or test results, for these inks. However, they have been described to us as lying between ‘Epson OEM inks for the Epson 1200’ and ‘Epson OEM inks for the Epson 1270 and 1290’. We have not heard of any issues from our customers, and have no experiences ourselves, that would contradict this. However, if longevity is a concern for you, we are currently not able to recommend any dye ink, let alone an untested one, and would instead recommend the Generations inks!

UL Pigment Inks

We have no firm longevity information, or test results, for these inks. However, they have been described to us as having twice the pigment loading of previous generations of pigment inks. This would suggest that there us every possibility of long print-life from these inks.

Generations Enhanced Inks

Testing & Certification for 100 Years Before Noticeable Fading has been contracted with The Wilhelm Research Institute by Media Street, Inc. Updated October 31st, 2001. As such, whilst you should note the differences between media intended for their ‘archival’ nature, such as most of our Hahnemühle digital fine art papers, it is a fairly safe bet that you image will outlast most of us on a good paper. However, all our normal caveats apply, and those tests were carried out on a fine-art paper (we believe based on a Hahnemühle paper), under glass, etc etc.

Lyson Fotonic Inks

Lyson Fotonic inks have a good reputation for colour rendition and longevity on certain selected media types. Please refer to the Lyson website for detailed specifications of their longevity testing.

Please note that Lyson sometimes say / imply in their adverts that Fotonics can last 5-6 times longer than ‘current OEM inks’. Whilst their test results suggest some very positive longevity results - we do feel that the phrase ‘5-6 times longer’ is somewhat out dated, as our understanding is that OEM inks now exceed (in many cases) the 1-5 year figures that they quote (and in any event, this will depend which printer you are using). Also note that the Fotonic longevity figures were printed using an Epson 3000, a four colour printer. The results for four-colour printers typically results in better figures than those produced by six-colour printers. Consider the difference between the predicted longevity for Lysonic inks ( a different ink from that which we discuss here) where the same ink and paper were tested using an Epson 1200 (6 colour) printer, and those results from the 3000 printer on the same paper {the current figures on their website appear to suggest 16-17 years for Standard Fine Art for the six-colour printer, and 39 years for the four-colour printer!!!)

Also note that Fotonic inks are now available in several variants, (e.g. those we know as ‘LF’, ‘L2’ etc) each with different formulations (though we understand based on the same colourants). Whilst it is reasonably safe to assume that these variations in formulation will not dramatically effect longevity, they could do, and until Lyson post more up-to-date results for more modern printers and newer formulations, we are left to guess or assume what the results will be.

We welcome corrections, but we hope our point is clear; this ink has some very clear positive aspects to it, including longevity on some papers.

Lyson Small Gamut Inks

Lyson longevity figures seem somewhat more vague for the SG inks, with a rather general quote of ‘50-60 years display life before noticeable fading’. Given that they do not seem to quote the paper types to which this figure applies, it seems this ink must be remarkably stable on different media (unusual for a dye) or this figure should be taken with some degree of caution. As ever, the stated figure will almost certainly be for a print behind glass, and in certain particular environmental conditions.

Summary

Believe it or not, we don’t like being vague like this! We would absolutely love to be able to tell you that xxxx ink gave xxx print life - full-stop. But we can’t. Instead, we hope we have educated you on some of the things that can degrade a print, and also on the cautions one must have when reading ‘certified’ print life statements! We hate to hear people say ‘... guaranteed to last for 200 years’ when we know that the packet they read has small-print that specifically denies any guarantee of anything at all.

Remember! A ‘longevity rating’ is merely an extrapolation of a short-term, intense test, that can not test every possible factor that might effect print life.

Please note that MWORDS has closed. We aim to retain these support pages in the hope that they may benefit our past customers, but regret that we can no longer offer further comment or support in relation to the information above.