printing with your own printer

I'd expect 'all' prints to fade over time (even ones from professional printers) but how quickly depends on the quality of paper, the type of ink used and how the prints are stored.
 
If you buy decent ink and decent paper prints can last for 100 years with some being quoted at lasting 200 years. Of course how they prove that i'm not sure, but they should last quite a while.
 
Thanks.

I'd be interested in how they prove that too, lol.

I know that all prints will fade over time though. I have an OK printer, it's a canon mp480 and the recommended ink.

See, I have some bast*rd sized (ie "not normal sized") images that I want to print and can't find anywhere cheapish to print them.
 
billandben said:
If you buy decent ink and decent paper prints can last for 100 years with some being quoted at lasting 200 years. Of course how they prove that i'm not sure, but they should last quite a while.
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They blast it with 200 year's worth of UV and other crap, based on various levels one might normally see in a home. They work out an average amount of UV that an image might receive in a given location in your average home, and then in testing pump out a bunch of UV until it starts to fade, and then go off and do the maths.

Like a machine that simulates people getting in and out of bed 500 times a day to average how how long a matress will last in real-world use. Same sort of principle really.

That's a simplified version of one of the various tests they do, but it gives you the general idea.

If you're using quality paper and inks for your printers, they'll last a good while. My HiTi dye-sub prints are rated at about 100 years or something, UV protection, spill protection, fingerprint protection, tear proof, etc.

I use Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl and Harman Crystaljet Luster papers with my Epson inkjet printer, and use Epson inks. That ink's supposed to be guaranteed for more years than I'll be alive when used with Epson papers (and Ilford & Harman papers are far better than Epson's).
 
Apart from the paper you need to consider is are you using Pigment ink or Dye ink ?.

Pigment ink will last for many many years if used in conjunction with the correct paper, Dye ink will fade rapidly as its not designed for lasting such lengths of time.
 
MagicMynx said:
Canon supposedly use pigment ink (first few links I pulled up say so anyway, but then what can you trust on the internets? :p :lol: ) Hopefully all should be well.

Is there an ok quality paper that you can get from supermarkets?
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Many of the more expensive models use pigment ink.

My HP B9180 amongst them.
 
Pigment/Dye is the basic difference between the cheaper R1900 and the R2400. You can also get fixer sprays that you spray over the paper and which make it water resistant and resistant to UV degradation.
 
It's archival paper (of whatever brand) you will want to look out for.

Use that with pigment ink and off you go :)

Time to hit t'internet Nattelie!
 
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