Dye Ink to destruction (Fade Test)

[The Hat]

Here we are the last week in July so I taught it was time to show the results of the deliberate destruction of my test sheets done on dye ink !

If you look back to the first post in this thread below I did much the same test with my I.S. pigment inks and got extremely good results with little colour fade over the same time period.

http://www.printerknowledge.com/thr...-pigment-ink-fade-test.9737/page-2#post-80055


The prints consists of a two part test on copy paper and Glossy paper and printed on a 4 colour/8 colour printers iP4500/i9950 using the same I.S. inks in both.

Both of the above test prints were done on Copy paper, top had the exposure/bottom didn’t

Both of the above test prints were done on Glossy paper, again top had the exposure/bottom didn’t.

Now this is NOT to show that I.S. ink fades like mad because OEM ink wouldn’t have faired any better in this test, but it is to show that after a certain time period dye prints will start to fade depending on where they are displayed.

If you display in very low light levels, as many of us do, then just about any inks on poor quality media can perform without serious fading consequences for many years, but If you are showing off your prints in a window of your house/studio, then I can assure you what has happened to my test prints will eventually happen to yours.

I am extremely happy with the dye inks from I.S. and now that STS has taken over I don’t imagine I’ll see any difference in them, now unless there is a dramatic change in their quality, then I’ll stick with them.

So my conclusions are this if you’re worried about longevity then get yourself a pigment printer, yes the inks are dearer but 3rd party inks can easily be used in place of OEM without comprising the quality, will 3rd party pigment ink last as long as OEM ink, well how long is a piece of string..

 

[palombian]

QOD.

I regret now not having particated using the same procedure, but I did some unofficial tests myself with Peach cartridges and Prodinks refill ink.
The prints with Peach lost some color after 6 months in the sun, but are IMO still very decent.
My prints with Prodinks dyes kept well in winter and spring, but faded abruptly during the hot weather in previous weeks.

Heath itself seems to have little effect based on the prints kept in my cars dashboard since Easter (travelling through far more southern European countries than Ireland ).

Probably Peach is a good alternative for Canon OEM dye, but at only 50% discount still too expensive (for dye).
Good 3th party dye (as I consider IS, Sudhaus/Prodinks, etc) is about 10% of the price.
At that price I never calculated the real consumption (page yield), but I doubt it should be less than pigment ink costing 20% of OEM.
So 3th party pigment costs maximum the double of dye (and less than the paper in most cases).

I am reconverted to pigment (and accept the gloss differences).

 

[3dogs]

I feel that these tests confirm what we see in shop front windows these days.
Shopping Malls are enclosed and have fewer problems, but the small pockets of old style stores change their window display MUCH more frequently than they did in years gone by.
Display artists have learned the destructive power of UV.