karl shah-jenner <shahjen@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Dyer-Bennet > > > : "James B. Davis" <jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > : > : > Sure beats inkjet to see a real R4 photo print and lovely colours > : > that won't fade like an inkjet. > : > : This is out-of-date information; RA4 prints are considerably less > : permanent than the best inkjet prints (Epson pigmented inks being one > : obvious good choice). > > > this is not out of date, this is *currently* factual based on bad > processing techniques. Well, it's not what any of the top experts in the field believe. If you want me to take your opinion over theirs you've got some authority to establish first. > remember the 70's when minilabs were washless? We discovered all the print > fading was attributable to the fact that images were stabilized and not > washed, so the industry moved back to processors that washed. Guess what - > the new frontiers are largely washless again! Wash those frontier prints > you want to last.. I don't believe the RA4 permanence results I've seen are based on random mini-lab samples, but on latest processing in accordance with manufacturer's instructions. And the latest numbers I've seen give Kodak Edge Generations 19 years and Epson Picturemate 104 years. The K3 inks on most papers get > 200 years in dark storage. > I have a 1950's Agfa colour print that is spectacular and shows all > th colours one could imagine were originally there - there's no > shift in any direction at all. I also have 4 Ilfoflex RA4 target > images in a window at the moment facing the sun that show *much* > less fading (in fact none that I can detect by eye*) compared to the > New Improved Better This Time Orange Problem Fixed Epson Archival > Pigment Ink print - which I have to say was flat and dull originally > before I started my simple fade test. There's never been an "orange problem" with a pigment archival ink, from Epson or anybody else. There was an ozone problem leading to quick orange fading in Epson's first try at a higher-permanance *dye* based ink (the 1270 printer generation). I don't have any 1950s color prints, but the couple of 1960s color prints I have are so faded there isn't enough color to try to recover in a couple of them. > (*) They'll all be whacked under a densitometer in a few years and compared > against the frozen images, the archivally stored ones and finally against > the original densitometer figures. The test conditions aren't regular enough to establish too much from. I wish we could get together and you could show me these flat, dull inkjet prints, because that's so far from my experience I'm really wondering what's going on. -- David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd-b@xxxxxxxx>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/> RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com/> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/> Pics: <http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/> <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/> Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>
