Digital BW, The Print

Scott, Walt,

>In the "test" Shilesh performed the Epson dyes faded, the 
>Nanochromes faded, the Ultrachromes didn't. 

I have to agree with Walt.  The test does have some validity because
of the other control prints.  If two fade and one doesn't under the
same conditions, then that says a lot about the relative merits of
those inks.  

I've been conducting windowsill tests (getting some direct sunlight
every day) for over two years now (in S. Florida which technically is
in a sub-tropic latitude) and the results are revealing:

Epson dyes - showed fading in a few weeks.
Septone - showed fading between two and three months.
Early UT7 - showed fading between five and six months.
New UT7 - almost one year (Feb 8th), no fading.
2200 UC (grayscale print w/ color inks) - showed color shifting at
around 1.75 years (turning pinkish purple) - is now at 2.3 years and
continuing to get worse)
Eboni BO - 2.25 years (Feb 5th), no fading.
K3 - four months, no fading or color shifting.

Of course we don't have any scientific numbers so we can't begin to
translate this into years of life framed under glass with room light.
 But armed with these results would anyone in their right mind decide
to use Septone inks?

I think Shilesh's test was very revealing.  Anything that would fade
on a windowsill in 4 weeks should not be considered archival.  

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm