The office environment is fine in fact. The test was done with half of the print covered under a sheet of aluminum foil. This was how I discovered the small amount of fading on the exposed magenta color by comparison. I did not bother to repeat the test elsewhere. You don't have to believe it either. You don't have to believe the fact that dye based ink will fade.
Surprising fade test results
- Thread starter ThrillaMozilla
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Tin Ho -
Chill, dude. Who said you were not telling the truth? We know dye based inks fade. I was trying to figure out why yours seemed to fade so quickly based on what you said.
Chill, dude. Who said you were not telling the truth? We know dye based inks fade. I was trying to figure out why yours seemed to fade so quickly based on what you said.
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Dye ink usually reacts much the same way as human memory, What was I saying eh.. 
Filemonster
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There is no way to compare one "fade test" from another because the conditions are not the same. As stated the results will depend on BOTH the ink AND the paper. Lighter colors will always "fade" at a faster rate because they are less opaque so more light gets to the substrate (which is also affected by the light).
There is no way to know how the water-diluted ink has been affected, so you can't hold the ink responsible. If you dilute paint or stain it will not perform nearly the same as when left in original condition, so I would guess ink behaves in a similar fashion.
"Fading" as we are calling it is greatly influenced by the specific wavelength of the light it is exposed to as well as the intensity and time period. This is why special machines are used for testing to obtain consistent results under controlled conditions. Mainly a "QUV" machine is used because it is much less expensive than a xenon arc machine with filters. If you use a QUV machine improperly you can actually obtain results that seem to show improved performance, however in the real world the performance is actually worse.
Beside all this concern over "fading" I would think color accuracy is a far more immediate and important concern. After all who cares if an ink has the worlds greatest "fade resistance" if it is not the color we want/need in the first place?
You need trained observers, a light booth in a properly prepared room, along with a photospectrometer to accurately measure the color. Of course there are other controls required such as a correct standard substrate, a method to apply the same exact amount of ink each time etc. etc.
There is no way to know how the water-diluted ink has been affected, so you can't hold the ink responsible. If you dilute paint or stain it will not perform nearly the same as when left in original condition, so I would guess ink behaves in a similar fashion.
"Fading" as we are calling it is greatly influenced by the specific wavelength of the light it is exposed to as well as the intensity and time period. This is why special machines are used for testing to obtain consistent results under controlled conditions. Mainly a "QUV" machine is used because it is much less expensive than a xenon arc machine with filters. If you use a QUV machine improperly you can actually obtain results that seem to show improved performance, however in the real world the performance is actually worse.
Beside all this concern over "fading" I would think color accuracy is a far more immediate and important concern. After all who cares if an ink has the worlds greatest "fade resistance" if it is not the color we want/need in the first place?
You need trained observers, a light booth in a properly prepared room, along with a photospectrometer to accurately measure the color. Of course there are other controls required such as a correct standard substrate, a method to apply the same exact amount of ink each time etc. etc.
slocumeddie
Fan of Printing
Yeah ! .......what he said ! 
