Which Epson Claria Compatible Dye Refill Ink Is Decently Fade Resistant ?

[pharmacist]

I am considering buying a dye based printer (probably Epson 1500W) to join my Epson Pro 3880, in order get more glossy prints using dye ink. In the past I had an Epson 1400, but the aftermarket dye refill inks I used on this printer faded horribly fast, despite the good and vivid color output.

I am thinking about OCP T79x series of dye refill ink: any good or better recommendation ?

 

[costadinos]

The OCP was the best of all I tried.
But when it comes to dye inks it looks like the paper plays a bigger role, a "bad" ink on some papers will last longer than "good" ink on cheap paper.

Have a look here, I did a quick test with OCP, IS, IR and fotorite ink on various papers some time ago:

http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/dye-ink-fade-test-ocp-vs-is-vs-ir-vs-fotorite.7865/

If you must use dyes you should also consider the bulk ink sold by epson for their printers with the built-in CISS, it's probably not as good as claria but should be better than the rest.

Another possibility would be to buy some of the cartridges used in the dry minilabs (Fuji and Noritsu). Those come in 700ml and are made by Epson, they are probably similar to Claria since they claim the same longevity.

 

[Lucas28]

Lyson has the best light fastness as far as I know, but there are some disadvantages:
The ink mixes poorly with the OEM ink and I don't know if it clogs often in Claria printers.

The test by Costadinos is interesting: Not only it shows the superiority of the Claria OEM ink, it also shows that the Sihl paper is as good as the Epson Premium Glossy.

 

[pharmacist]

I think OCP has a special version of the Claria compatible ink series, with an extra strength cyan. It is called the V-edition:

http://www.ocp.de/index.php/news/news-archive/855-customer-info-11-31-07-67

What about this version ?

 

[costadinos]

I'm not 100% sure but I think I was using the "extra strength cyan" for the above tests.

I bought the inks from Octopus Office and the cyan was more expensive than the rest:
http://www.octopus-office.de/en/shop/l/c/printer-ink-epson-t0801-t0806/

 

[pharmacist]

Would a pigmented ink (dye + pigment mixture) a good balance between fading and gloss. Maybe a mixture of 1/4 pigment + 1/4 gloss optimizer + 2/4 dye ink ?

 

[costadinos]

Would a pigmented ink (dye + pigment mixture) a good balance between fading and gloss. Maybe a mixture of 1/4 pigment + 1/4 gloss optimizer + 2/4 dye ink ?

I tried that once, but I wasn't really happy with the results. Glossiness didn't improve much .Pigments will sit on the top of the paper surface reducing glossiness, be it they are diluted or not (think of prints made with pure pigment inks, in areas of light coverage, glossiness isn't great there either). As for the fade resistance, I think that would help either, after some time only the pigments will survive, probably making the print look lighter, as if it was printed with 1/4 of the ink on the first place.

 

[pharmacist]

I am thinking what the effect would be on the longevity when mixing dye ink with the gloss optimizer (1/4 GO with 3/4 dye ink) to improve longevity of the ink. Could it be that the GO will coat the dye molecules with a layer of resin, so external gass and UV cannot exert their destructive action on the dye molecules ?

 

[costadinos]

I believe that would work as you describe if you mixed pigment inks with the GO.
Pigments are particles suspended in a medium, whereas dyes are solutions, pouring some GO into them should just dilute it further.
If it matters, OCP list their GO as a dye formulation, not sure how it's supposed to work if that' indeed the case:
http://www.ocp.de/index.php/products?view=productsforyou&pid=3099&mode=text

As for a coating impoving the fade resistance of a print made with dyes, I wouldn't count on it. I tried laminating some prints with a UV protecting laminate that was 800micron thick (that's almost 1mm!) and it didn't do much, I'd say it only prolonged their life by about 50%. So I wouldn't expect the really thin layer of GO to have any effect at all.
I'll try and find the prints and post some scans later.

 

[pharmacist]

Thanks or the advise: I ordered my Epson 1500W and I think I will get my new baby tomorrow at the doorsteps .

Anyhow, meanwhile I ordered some extra's:

-a waste ink tank + reset code from Martin (Octoinkjet.co.uk) (well I don't need the reset now ).
-2 sets of refillables T0791-T0796
-Inkowl's (supposedly) fade resistant Claria compatible dye ink.

Can somebody offer me a set (6x100 ml) of the OCP Claria compatible dye ink (T079x compatible), because the amounts sold by Octopus-office.de are actually too much ? Please PM me for the costs including shipping.

Especially the Inkowl's (supposedly) fade resistant Claria compatible dye ink can be interesting, if it really stands up its promise.