New Epson PX/PM ink technology - Print Longevity lies confirmed!

  • Thread starter Thread starter David Chien
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David Chien

http://www2.i-love-epson.co.jp/catalogue/colorio/IMG0002903-1.PDF

Notice how on page 2 & 4 of this brochure, they happily state in
Japanese that until now, inkjet prints have a 1 (one) year lifespan
before significant fading occurs! - This is Epson talking about Epson's
own inkjets!

Note that this 'orange-faded' print is exactly what many Epson users,
especially the Epson Photo 870, have experienced but have never gotten a
proper fix (except full price printer buyback offers).

http://www.p-o-v-image.com/epson/
http://www.p-o-v-image.com/epson/links.htm
eps. pictures here of fading http://members.cox.net/rmeyer9/epson/

It only took Epson three years or so to get around to releasing better
inks for us consumers(Epson 870/1270 launched in Feb 2000)!

---------------

While the Epson 2000p/px4000/etc series that use encapsulated inks have
performed quite well re: fading, keep in mind that the lower end inkjets
that use the PM G inkset will only last 10-20 years in ideal conditions
(less if abused) whereas the PX G through PX V inks are rated for 30
through 80 years (only the G series will last longest).

All this means is you can relax a bit about not having to neurotically
glass shield every print as before from fading, but you can't expect the
prints to last longer than 5 years or so (10 years / 2) if simply left
out in the open I'd say.

----------------

Good fuel for someone with a creative bent and can figure out a class
action lawsuit on this one, esp. given how they had been tooting
long-lasting prints (later retracted or limited in scope; yeah, right -
1 year now that they've told us) on many of their earlier printers such
as the Epson 870.
 
David Chien <[email protected]> said:
http://www2.i-love-epson.co.jp/catalogue/colorio/IMG0002903-1.PDF

Notice how on page 2 & 4 of this brochure, they happily state in
Japanese that until now, inkjet prints have a 1 (one) year lifespan
before significant fading occurs! - This is Epson talking about Epson's
own inkjets!

Note that this 'orange-faded' print is exactly what many Epson users,
especially the Epson Photo 870, have experienced but have never gotten a
proper fix (except full price printer buyback offers).

http://www.p-o-v-image.com/epson/
http://www.p-o-v-image.com/epson/links.htm
eps. pictures here of fading http://members.cox.net/rmeyer9/epson/

It only took Epson three years or so to get around to releasing better
inks for us consumers(Epson 870/1270 launched in Feb 2000)!

OK, some possibly stupid questions...

- Does storing prints in a photo album offer significant fade/color
change protection for normal (not fancy long-life-ink) inkjet prints? I
assume it can't be as good as glass, but it must protect against some
air and light exposure.
- Any idea if/when this long-print-life ink technology will make its way
into cheaper printers (e.g. $200 or less)? I suspect it's not worth
waiting, but thought I'd ask.
- Do printers using these inks clog more or less often than other inks?
I don't print very often and have been quite reluctant to have anything
to do with Epson printers as a result (at the very least I want to be
able to remove and clean or replace the print head, as in Canon
printers).

I've been using a printing service (PhotoAccess.com, though I'm in the
market for a cheaper place) to get long life prints and not have to buy
a printer before the technology has matures. But my Lexmark Z53 is
getting clogged enough that I'm wavering (I sure don't want to buy
anothe overpriced cartridge for it, but maybe cleaning and refilling it
will keep me limping along for now).

-- Russell
 
Storing prints in photo albums does help. Got inkjet prints from 10+
years ago that look fine today that were stored in albums/folders. Air
& light exposure are the #1 killer of prints.

---
Long print life?
$200 or less? Easy! Any dye-sub printer!

Dye-sub printers use solid inks that don't fade like inks, and you can
expect the prints to last far longer like regular photo prints.

eg. the Sony DPP-EX5 $199.95
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...gitalPhotoPrinters&ProductSKU=DPPEX5&Dept=dcc

You can easily find dye-sub printer from Sony, Olympus, Canon,
Mitsubishi, etc. that will let you print true dot-free photos that will
last a long time.

---

Clogs?
Same as any other inkjets. They eventually will just because of the
paper dust & inks clogging nozzles.

---

Cheaper than PhotoAccess?

Costco.com stores at $0.24 per print; Walmart.com for $0.26 (vs. $0.29
photoaccess)
Cheapest, good place available for printing digital images to photo paper.

If Walmart still uses the ==Fuji Crystal Archive== papers as I remember,
you will then have the longest lasting photo prints available cheap for
a regular customer.

(Fuji CA papers have been tested to last the longest of regular consumer
photo papers vs. kodak's, etc. with 50-100+ year lifespans in proper
storage.)

---

Dying Lexmark Z53? Cheap replacement?

Epson 925 in my book. You can print directly from digital camera flash
cards. Does a great job on photo prints to Epson Premium Glossy Photo
Paper, and given that all inkjet prints will fade faster than dye-sub or
real photo prints, might as well enjoy the prints for the fun of it --
after all, just assume you'll have the original images on CD and you can
print another copy anytime! (and you'll print the long-lasting ones at
Costco to real photo paper)
 
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