How much more would you pay for an archival dye ink vs. what you use today?

[mikling]

I am bringing forth something that would be revealing.

How much more would you pay for a refill dye ink that truly gives longer life...akin to like OEM.
50% more, 100% (twice) more. 300% more? Let us keep it in this way rather than absolute numbers of what you currently pay.

I am referring to real advances....

 

[stratman]

Interesting. Please share more information.

 

[mikling]

Interesting. Please share more information.

Just information all speculation and what if? My suspicion is that refillers are not prepared to pay 3x more for real archival dye ink that the OEMs are chasing. At that price point, just get a pigment ink printer and call it a day.

I just want to know.

 

[mikling]

Just information all speculation and what if? My suspicion is that refillers are not prepared to pay 3x more for real archival dye ink that the OEMs are chasing. At that price point, just get a pigment ink printer and call it a day.

I just want to know.

Take for example Epson Claria that uses synthetic dyes. Per ml, it is priced by Epson at around the same cost as Epson pigment if not more actually but not as archival, except for the better vibrancy. But wait, portraits don't need that vibrancy, what about fine art?

So what why are the OEMs chasing the dye ink down that path?

 

[Emulator]

I think you have answered your own question.-- Not more than you would pay for pigment refills and hopefully less, its all a question of degrees of "better" archival quality.

 

[martin0reg]

My answer to the question would be:
Assuming that OEM dye ink comes close to OEM pigment ink regarding longevity (what is to prove)
- than I would pay the price of 3rd party pigment - if this 3rd party dye comes as close to OEM like 3rd party pigment to OEM pigment...

Most users of cheap 3rd party cartridges doesn't care about quality, but the more serious refillers who care about color matching and high quality ink should pay attention also to this.
But as most professional printers use pigment this may also be a matter of marketing and serious testing of dye ink...

 

[martin0reg]

A german magazine "ColorFoto" is testing the longevity of the ink in his printer reviews.
I am following the results for years now.

This is a summary of averaged results :
(1) fading under sunlight (200 hrs /20k lux) (2) fading in the air (1200ppmh ozone)

epson K3 pigment: (1) -1 dLab / 7 (out of 7) points (2) -4-6 Lab = 6 (out of 7) points
epson claria dye: (1) -2 dLab / 6.5 points (2) -18 Lab = 4.5 points
canon chromalife dye: (1) -3-5 dLab / 5-6 points (2) -20-30 Lab = 2-4 points

Serious testing of 3rd party ink is hard to find
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3633678

 

[Roy Sletcher]

I am bringing forth something that would be revealing.

How much more would you pay for a refill dye ink that truly gives longer life...akin to like OEM.
50% more, 100% (twice) more. 300% more? Let us keep it in this way rather than absolute numbers of what you currently pay.

I am referring to real advances....

Longer life defined by who?

The company selling the ink, or an independently financed test facility using accelerated aging techniques?

Like global warming there are a lot of grey areas and unsubstantiated assumptions being used in many arguments.

If one recalls, the old colour prints from the pre-digital era were pretty bad for light fastness and fading.

This is a very technical and complex subject if you want facts and not marketing driven hype.


Roy Sletcher

 

[turbguy]

....all dyes, with time, will change...

 

[stratman]

....all dyes, with time, will change...

All things change with time. Except George Hamilton.