Digital BW, The Print

As a user of Cone Quad inks with Museum Black on Photo Rag, I wasn't 
surprised to read your about your test results. I've also done similar 
informal tests on various materials (though we don't have enough sun 
here for these to be really useful!)

However I think it is important to realise than light fading is only one 
of the problems involved in print permanence. Home and office 
environments may contain levels of air pollution that are extremely 
harmful to prints, including Cone inks. Laser printers may well be a 
factor in this; scrap prints and test prints stored near my laser 
printer often show relatively rapid and dramatic fading, but there are 
also other possible sources, including photographic chemicals.

Although the better inkjet prints do extremely well on light fading, I 
think there remain greater problems with them in this respect than with 
some traditional photographic materials.

Regards,

-- 
Peter Marshall
petermarshall@...     +44 (0)1784 456474
31 Budebury Rd, STAINES, Middx, TW18 2AZ, UK
_________________________________________________________________
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The Buildings of London etc:  http://londonphotographs.co.uk/
and elsewhere......

joelpickford wrote:
> 
> 
> Andre, why not do your own fade tests?  I have been using a simple, comparative fade 
> testing method for several years.  I run a set of direct sunlight fade tests in the spring, one 
> in the summer and another in the fall.  I always test several different types of prints 
> together, including both traditional and inkjet processes.  I cut all of the samples in half 
> and put one half in a light tight drawer.  The other half of each sample is taped up in a 
> south facing window on the second story of a commercial building in Central California 
> with unobstructed sunlight during daylight hours.  I usually leave them up for eight weeks.  
> Then I take them down and pair them with their other halves to see what visible fading or 
> color shift has occurred.
> 
> These are not scientific tests and I do not presume to predict display life in years (I am 
> also highly skeptical that Wilhelm's methods are any better than mine in terms of making 
> the kinds of predictions that he makes, given the nature of the reciprocity problem 
> involved).  I only care about fading that I can see and how the samples perform relative to 
> one another.  It is well established that a selenium toned silver print is the most 
> permanent photographic process to date.  So I always include one in my tests.  I have also 
> included non-toned silver prints and RC silver prints in some tests to get an idea of 
> relative performance. 
> 
> So far the top performers in my tests have been selenium toned silver prints and quad 
> tone prints made with Cone Editions quad inks and Museum Black on Hahnemuhle Photo 
> Rag paper.  Neither of those two print types has ever shown any visible fading in my tests.  
> Virtually every other type of print that I have tested has shown either fading, color shift or 
> both.  This includes untoned silver fibre prints, RC silver prints, Platinum/Paladium prints,  
> Fuji Crystal Archive type C prints, Ultrachrome color, Ultrachrome B&W, Lyson dye-based 
> quad tones, Lyson Daylight Darkroom, Media Street Generations G-Chrome, Cone Editions 
> quad inks with Portfolio Black, Epson consumer desktop six-color and more.  The amount 
> of fading or color shift varied from very slight to substantial.
> 
> Good luck.
> Joel