Color shift of profile patch sheets

[Ink stained Fingers]

That's the total color shift after 2 months - measured and calculated as an averaged delta E with a patch sheet with 96 color patches


_____________deltaE
1 h to 3 h____0,30
1 h to 8 h____0,52
1 h to 1 d____0,70
1 h to 1 w____0.98
1 h to 5 w____1.67
1 h to 2 m____2.07

 

[The Hat]

That's the total color shift after 2 months -

It’s interesting that the colour continues to shift over such a long time, question;- Is this down to drying or could it possibly be from fading..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Is this down to drying or could it possibly be from fading..

I think the drying time is over after 2 months so it is still some slow fading; the patch sheet is stored in a livingroom like environment - not much change to humidity or temperature. I think I'll reach rather soon limits of accuracy with my equipment.

I did another test - with another patch sheet - scanned it 3 times , and the i1Profiler software let me create an average, these 3 scans vary by a deltaE of 0.08 - 0.11 - and 0.17 against the average, there are reading tolerances of the spectro, there are the mechanics of the i1iO robot arm shifting the spectro over the patch sheet, and I have to assume some inhomogenity in the color patches as well caused by the dithering from the printer, and the robot arm will not hit exactly the same spots in several passes.

 

[Artur5]

Livingroom like environment ... in open air or inside a box/drawer ?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Livingroom like environment ... in open air or inside a box/drawer ?

in a plastic sleeve with pretty much reduced air ventilation.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I can update the fading trend with data after 3 months, the patches are printed with Epson 106 inks on a WF2010W

____________delta_____pigment
____________(dye)_______inks
1 h to 3 h____0,30
1 h to 8 h____0,52
1 h to 1 d____0,70
1 h to 1 w____0.98
1 h to 5 w____1.67______1.19
1 h to 2 m____2.07
1 h to 3 m____1.91

The number is slightly lower now - 1.91 vs. 2.07 - I think that's reading fluctuations , the color patches are printed and thus have some inherent noise already and are not as uniform as a paint, and there are some more parameters with statistical variations .
I started such test as well with pigment inks 2 months later - the dark fading after 4 weeks is now at 1.19 , less than the dye inks

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I started a new dark fading test with several papers and 2 inks here

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/fading-of-patch-sheets-in-the-dark.16099/#post-139683

 

[W. Fisher]

I was printing some B&W calibration targets with Cone's HD-Photo pigment inks. Not as glossy as OEM ink, imho, but maybe blacker.

I noticed after one day the prints were about 1-2 points RGB lighter in tone than the initial readings I got in 1-3 hours after the print was first measured. Not much, but they were fading lighter. I settled on printing them to the values I got after one day.

There is some video on the web showing x-rite making the ColorChecker patches. They let them dry for a long time before cutting them out to paste into the ColorChecker frame due to ink variances and drift. Doing that with all the patches explains why they cost so much too and cannot just print one sheet out and expect it to be overall accurate.

I have noticed in the past if I wax the prints with Renaissance Wax and a white cotton ball, prints that were made a day earlier still had some of the black ink coming off and staining the cotton ball. Prints that sat longer, around a week, were much easier to wax and buff off with not as much ink showing up on the cotton balls. A second waxing was much cleaner and easier too.