Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Phil <panmedia@...> wrote:
Re: [Digital BW] Epson Exhibition Fiber paper white shift at -1.6
>
> Is it possible to translate the test into something easily
> understandable. For example:
>
> In 3 months/6 months/1 year/3 year/10 years/30 years/100 years/300
> years/1000 years, the prints with this paper using an Epson ink will
> yield into:
> no image change/10% fading/30%/50%/100% (no image)/paper disintegrate/etc.
>
> Thanks,
> Phil

If you want a simple answer, here's one: Even the most lignin-filled,
acid-loaded paper printed with the cheapest most fade prone litho inks can
easily last over a century!

That said, I didn't answer the question "what conditions allow this result?" nor
did I answer the question "even though it may nominally be said to last that long,
how bad will it look at that time?" Aye,t here's the rub!!!! We can keep the cheapest least
durable printed photos for centuries if we take appropriate care to control dirt
and dust, heat, humidity, light exposure, and attack by deleterious gas
pollutants, and if we allow some noticeable deterioration that doesn't impair
the legible interpretation of the information content (this factor must be
quantified). The devil is in defining "how much change is too much change".

IMHO, the industry had good intentions but very flawed reasoning when it started
to report print permanence ratings expressed in normalized "years on display". I
wish this neat little soundbite worked, but the premise is entirely flawed and
was so from the start. Your personal environment (even within the same home)
where you display prints has up to three orders of magnitude impact on light
fading rates alone under "typical" real-world conditions not to mention other
pathways for deterioration caused by degrading gas exposure, heat, and humidity
levels that can occur in real-world indoor storage and display environments. In
other words, if someone declares a print will last 25 years on display within
some limit for allowed fading it might actually go 250 years or less 2.5 years
to reach that allowed level of change. The print owner needs to weigh in with an
assessment of heat, humidity, and light levels. No laboratory can do this for
you. This is why AaI&A reports Megalux hours of allowable light exposure
exposure dose in its light fastness studies, not "years on display" at some
assumed light level that could be wrong by two or three orders of magnitude in
the real world.

You have two options. 1) don't worry about print permanence because it's
complicated, or 2) take some time to learn how to interpret test results like
those offered by AaI&A. I don't mean that to sound harsh or sarcastic. I offer
this advice with the good intention to move the typical forum discussion on
print longevity up a notch to something a little more self-enlightened.

best,
Mark
http:/www.aardenburg-imaging.com