Chromalife100 vs Chromalife100+ fading test, Update 18. June 2021

Ink stained Fingers said:

All users of other dye ink Canon printers have a very good ink available for refill with these bottled GI-53 inks - genuine Canon inks with a very good performance at an affordable price. There is no reason to buy other 3rd party inks at a lower price but with a much lower longevity of such inks.

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That’s about the best advice I’ve heard in a long time here, regarding ink quality and longevity, because I have just started to do the same and it’s working out great for me, because I can see the difference in the output and there’s no need for cleaning cycles either.

Ink stained Fingers said:

Users interested in refill of a Pro-200 should follow @The Hat 's advise

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O’ thanks for bring me into this contentious debate..

Ink stained Fingers said:

There is no reason to buy other 3rd party inks at a lower price but with a much lower longevity of such inks.

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If you are a on refill. In addition there is good hope not killing the printheads anymore.

Ink stained Fingers said:

GI-53/Chromalife 100x inks ... both inks perform quite identical

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Ink stained Fingers said:

Chromalife 100 and 100+ inks perform very similar

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Ink stained Fingers said:

There is no reason to buy other 3rd party inks at a lower price but with a much lower longevity of such inks.

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This is excellent news. With rare exceptions, I would buy this Canon ink happily over any third party ink every day of the week and twice on Sundays. In this category of ink, I am unaware of any third party ink that matches or beats the performance and archival characteristics of OEM Canon ink.

Way to go Canon.

Who knows how long Canon will offer this unintended gift, so, enjoy while you can.

The Hat said:

O’ thanks for bring me into this contentious debate..

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Well that's a surprise, you being bashful. I thought you were grumpy.



I haven't changed. I'm still Doc.

@stratman - I can wholeheartedly support your enthusiasm that the search for the 'best' refill ink is effectively over with the availability of the Epson 106 and Canon Chromalife GI-53 bottled inks for Canon and Epson users. I have tested a range of inks over the years, @maximilian59 has tested a selection of inks as well, Wilhelm/WIR did, Aardenburg did, but there are a myriad of more refill ink sellers on the market - local or global - via Internet - InkTec, Octopus, China sourced and all those. If there is a seller with a 'better' performing ink he can show a test supporting that claim.

And there are some restrictions and caveats nevertheless

- not all ink colors are covered by the listed inks - no light inks, no gray or red or blue or green which are used in some printer models. Some of those colors can easily be mixed from the base colors, and a dilutant/solvent/clear ink is available by Octopus for Epson inks. Some interested Canon user may have a look into the safety data sheet and look up the solvent ingredients for a Canon ink base - some mix of water and glycoles.

- The listed inks above may not be available in all parts of the world, driven by the market segregation by Canon, Epson, HP or inks may have a different number in some areas.

- It is important to understand that the fading performance of an ink very much depends on the paper which is used for the print - pricing of inkjet/photo papers varies in a wide range. I'm basically finished with ink testing at this time, I'll start a test with a collection of some papers including some FineArt/Baryta types soon.

- Informed users have a choice for inks and papers for their own criteria of pricing and performance, not all prints need to have archival quality and just may be passed around on the next party and then be forgotten, so there is nothing wrong to look for budget level consumables in particular cases.

- All this applies to dye inks, the situation with pigment inks is not easier, pigment inks generally last longer, but as well with a high interdependence of the inks with the paper and the generation of the pigment inks - like Ultrachrome K3, HD, HDX etc or Lucia, Lucia Pro. There is a wide range of test reports published with pigment inks by Aardenburg and WIR for OEM inks, tests of 3rd party pigment inks are very rare. And inks of a supplier may not be as great as he is claiming - as I have shown for the black level of the super matte black by ConeColor.
https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/matte-inks-for-epson-printers.14396/#post-124829
Other inks can easily compete.

maximilian59 said:

In addition there is good hope not killing the printheads anymore.

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Thanks @maximilian59, that’s an important issue I failed to mention..
OK Doc, and I’m behind you all the way…

Ink stained Fingers said:

- Informed users have a choice for inks and papers for their own criteria of pricing and performance, not all prints need to have archival quality and just may be passed around on the next party and then be forgotten, so there is nothing wrong to look for budget level consumables in particular cases. Other inks can easily compete.

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Refilling your cart is a fairly easy thing to do for most, but maintaining that method over the lifetime of your printer is not, so it’s important to have a tested procedure in place that works, and above all not use the cheapest ink available.. There is so much coloured water passing for dye ink..

@Ink stained Fingers - good summation!

Latest results from 18. June 2021 after 10,6 "Megaluxhours"
To the moment Canon ChromaLife100+, Epson Claria Premium and Epson Claria HD have about the same performance. Also Chromalife Inks are here best with Canon Papers. A good paper in point of fading resistance is the HP Everyday Glossy paper. The two printers which have no photo black are on the end of the OEM inks, but still in front of all tested third party inks. Octopus Fluids is a bottled ink for refill with a weak black. But overall it is a good and very cheap alternativ if you don't look for very long lasting pints. With no direct sun and behind glass, I think you will not see big differences even after years. With a good profile you get results very near to the OEM inks.

Whether these inks are as good in albums is a different point. Album papers may have a lot of acids and furnitures will outgas some dangerous gases. Maybe Canon and Epson do also accelrated chemical tests with their dyes.

The overview shows the arrangement of the test samples on the two boards. The two screen shots show clearly how a weak ink looks like after a few weeks in the sun.

Looking forward to 15 MLH.

Cheers,
Maximilian

These test results confirm the previously discussed findings - you get the best fading performance with OEM inks on OEM papers, but you don't know at all what you get from 3rd party suppliers - some inks are that bad that I wouldn't take them for free. There is overall a wide performance range, and I would advise everybody who is concerned about this to run a comparative test with the inks and papers he is using, it's easy as I have described. Not all prints are made for long term storage, I'm using as well cc-papers like the LogicSeek paper (not the cartridges they are selling as well) for particular prints.

Let me just pick a few numbers from my tests of different papers - tested with the GI53/Chromalife 100 inks - the deltaE averaged color changes after 4 weeks with my 96 color patch sheet

HP Premium Plus
Photo Paper__________7.67
Canon PT101________10.26
Sihl 0769____________10,33
Emblem 240g_______10.44
Glossy 240__________10.45

This shows how close various papers perform, so you can look for other purchasing criteria - e.g. pricing, these all are RC papers with a PE laminated paper base.
The Sihl 0769 is the previous Aldi Paper and now sells at 17 cts/A4 sheet via the Sihl direct-shop. That's the lowest price for a PE paper I can find, but this paper has a few limitations - it has a pretty low ink limit , you can get an ink overload with the highest quality driver settings on some Epson printers, and it does not work well with pigment inks and my gloss opt. overprint. The Emblem 240g is a medium priced paper, Canon and HP papers are at a higher pricing level. The next lowest price of 18 cts/A4 sheet is a glossy PE paper by Europrint which acts as a distributor for a larger Polish company (I had the name but I lost it)
https://www.ebay.de/str/europrint/Fotopapier-PE-RC/_i.html?_storecat=10627260012
https://www.ebay.de/itm/164389417828?hash=item26465f7364:g:MToAAOSwSQFaCsFX

They offer a wide range of weights and sizes, and delivery via DPD is as quick as from a local supplier. These Europrint papers don't show the limitations I have with the Sihl paper, but the gamut is slightly smaller than on the Sihl paper or the OEM papers.
There are probably similar offers on the market; I'm currently using the mentioned papers above, most suppliers don't even mention whether they are shipping a PE paper or a cheaper cast-coated
version but rather make claims about 'perfect color fidelity' - 'superb color rendering' and such.
Real archival storage conditions are a separate complex subject - with the problems @maximilian59 mentions and the need for acid-free /museum type papers, emanating additives from plastics/sleeves or the wooden cabinets - formaldedyde from paint or glue and more and those for a long exposure time.

Ink stained Fingers said:

The Sihl 0769 is the previous Aldi Paper and now sells at 17 cts/A4 sheet via the Sihl direct-shop. That's the lowest price for a PE paper I can find, but this paper has a few limitations - it has a pretty low ink limit , you can get an ink overload with the highest quality driver settings on some Epson printers, and it does not work well with pigment inks and my gloss opt. overprint.

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That is also my observation. It is the same with Canon inks. After making a profile you see it has a pretty good black point on all printers inks. But fine shadow details and dark areas get very quick totally crunched and blurry. It got very obvious when I printed a picture with trees in a wood. The tree trunks in the darker areas got only brownish black. Whereas the same print with a Epson paper showed a lot of details. The other caveat is, that the surface is very sensitiv. You can easily scratch it, pizza wheels can be visible and even moving prints relatively to each other in a staple can leave marks.
I use it for simple prints for myself, but would never use it for a print I give away as a good print.
For me it’s worth to use Epson Premium Semi-gloss even at the price, but printing with inks from the ET-77xx (105/106) on a XP-7100 makes it cheap for what you get.
Cheers,
maximilian