Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/09/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Benjamin Marks here with some permanance testing data-points. Although this is off-topic, I know that some of you (Tina, at least) print using Jon Cone's Peizo inks. There has also been some recent excitement over HP's 7960 black and gray cartridges and the B&W print quality from that family of printers On 1/5/04 I printed some test pictures on a friend's 7960 and cut the prints in half. Incidentally, the initial quality of the three test images that I printed was fabulous right out of the box (or rather, right off the CD ROM [no manipulation required], which I provided to the printer's owner). I do mean jaw-dropping. One half was taped up in a West-facing window (facing out), the other was put in a metal file cabinet away from the light. Prints were on HP's paper which is one from the top of the line (not the super premium heavy-weight stuff). As a control print I printed the same picture on Ilford's Galerie matte single-weight paper with Jon Cone's Peizo inks (first generation, the Sundance inks, I think). Today is September 6, 2004 so this is a nine-month report and given the results, I don't think that it makes sense to continue with the test. Both inkjet prints in the window showed noticable fading compared to their control-halves. The HP inkjet print faded to a warm reddish brown. The paper base yellowed considerably and the print shows noticable bleaching and loss of contrast when compared to the control print. The HP ink on this print also has a blotchy or mottled quality. The HP control print still shows excellent tonal separation and contrast. Blacks are still blue-to-neutral and the overall print quality is good. The Peizo print also showed fading compared to its control half, with the window print warming to a brown which I would compare to a brown-toned or platinum print. This is similar to the stabilized tone of Peizo prints which I have around the house framed under glass. The Ilford paper base showed some warming, although not as much as the HP paper. To give you a sense of how strong the sun is in a central Vermont west-facing window, I had jotted some notes on the face of the Peizo print with a water-based Pilot "Precise" roller-ball pen. Those comments have almost entirely faded and must be read by tilting the paper to an angle to read the impression that the pen made on the paper's surface. In the final analysis, this may have been too harsh a test to yield any useful results. I did not have a traditional silver print as a further control or a C-print from a one hour lab. The direct light in the window was strong enough that the only lesson to be taken away from this is "don't hang your inkjet prints facing outward against the windows." Well, whoopie. No one does that anyway and the treatment that I subjected both of these prints to is harsher than any I would subject a traditional silver print to. The good news is that the environmental contaminants in my home did not, by themselves, cause noticeable degredation in either the HP print or the Peizo print when kept under subdued light conditions. Another control print taped to the wall or under glass and normal display conditions would have yielded more practical results, I think. The head-to-head lesson in this test is the edge in image permanance goes to the original Peizo carbon pigment inkset over HP's inks for the 7960. My own recommendation is that anyone using either of these printers give careful thought to display and storage conditions of their prints. Displaying prints in an environment with a lot of direct or reflected window light is likely to lead to some print fading, with either inkset regardless of the most optimistic claims put forward by an ink manufacturer. Anyone with questions or comments may e-mail me at: Benjamin-Marks-at-verizon-dot-net (no dashes at all when you type it all out) Best regards, Ben