Photos fade with cheap ink
INKJET printers capable of producing brilliant prints are cheap. Unfortunately the materials needed to make them work are ruinously expensive.
Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark all make printers capable of producing excellent prints and the hardware is remarkably affordable. However, buying the gadget is only the beginning of the shock to the credit card.Imaging’s Canon i9950 printer is a wonderful machine but it uses eight ink cartridges that cost $24 each. Genuine Canon paper is also expensive, particularly if you opt for the best Photo Paper Pro. And the story with Epson and Hewlett-Packard is much the same.It is understandable that the frugal photographer will be seduced by cheap third party ink cartridges and refills. We proceed on the cynical assumption that the printer makers are giving away the hardware in order to get us addicted to their ink and papers but we are not fooled. We’ll outsmart them by buying no-brand.It’s an appealing logic, but be warned. For a few years Epson ran a series of advertisements intended to scare their customers away from third party inks. With graphic photographic proof the company claimed that if any but their own genuine inks are used their printer heads would be ruined.

There was widespread hooting at the self-serving alarmist advertisements. But what if it is true?Imaging can’t speak of Epson experience but we can report that third party inks wreaked havoc on the expensive printer heads of a Canon printer we owned. The heads clogged up and there was nothing we could do to clear them.When we checked with Canon they told us that use of third party inks does not void their warranty. They neither recommend nor warn. But our experience turned us off no-name inks forever.

Now comes another persuasive reason for not using third party inks: prints made with them quite literally fade before your eyes.The Wilhelm Imaging Research Institute – the de facto standard setter for inkjet print longevity – has recently tested a range of alternative inks from the big office supply companies in the US. The house brand names are unfamiliar to us but presumably these inks come from the same source that supplies our third-party market.Wilhelm found that where, for instance, Hewlett-Packard inks used with HP Premium Plus Photo Paper produce prints that last 73 years under standard illumination, the cheap inks faded in five months or, at the most, six years. HP 95 and 99 photo cartridges produce prints with a life expectancy of 108 years. With the cheap inks the life of a print is 4.6 years at best.The disparities are just as startling for Canon and Epson printers. Wilhelm considers “the permanence of all the after-market products tested to be unsuitable for printing valued consumer photographs”.Sadly, we get what we pay for. And what we pay for when we buy genuine inks and papers is a total system where the chemistry and physics of all the components have been optimised to work together to produce the best results and protect the microscopic ink jets from damage.

Aftermarket Inks Fading Fast?
Newton, MA  May , 2006 — Lyra Research, the digital imaging authority, has announced findings from Wilhelm Imaging Research showing that the image permanence of photos printed with aftermarket ink jet cartridges and photo papers is far inferior to that of photos printed with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ink jet cartridges and photo papers. The results of this study were published in the May issue of The Hard Copy Supplies Journal, The testing examined the image permanence of prints made with store-brand ink jet cartridges, ink jet cartridges refilled at franchise refill shops, and other aftermarket ink sets, using OEM and third-party photo papers. It also compared the permanence of photos printed with these aftermarket products to that of photos printed with inks and photo papers from Canon, Epson, and HP using the respective OEMs’ consumer photo printers.Charles Brewer, managing editor of The Hard Copy Supplies Journal, explains the framework of the study. “Wilhelm Imaging Research based the study on claims it found in the advertising for many aftermarket ink jet cartridges and papers indicating that aftermarket products generally provide equal or better quality than products made by OEMs such as HP, Canon, Epson, and Lexmark. According to WIR, image permanence is an intrinsic component of ‘overall product quality,’ and its testing reveals that aftermarket photo inks and media fall far short of these claims, with a gap of more than 70 years in permanence ratings in some cases.” Brewer adds, “While store-brand ink jet cartridges, refilled cartridges, and Internet-purchased cartridges have achieved remarkable levels of image quality, the test results indicate that in terms of the less obvious issue of light-fading stability, these products are comparable to where the OEMs were in the 1990s. It appears that the aftermarket’s one-size-fits-all approach to making ink and compatible photo papers doesn’t produce the same level of image permanence, especially when compared to the optimized combinations available from the major printer manufacturers. The WIR test results suggest that photos printed with a combination of aftermarket ink jet cartridges and premium OEM photo papers essentially negated the value of using the name-brand paper.”Since no information regarding the longevity of photo prints is available at the point of sale, consumers have no guidelines for choosing printing supplies that will yield long-lasting photo prints. Ink jet photo paper analyst Andy Lippman explores the market implications of the WIR study. “Can printer manufacturers effectively communicate the value proposition of image permanence to consumers who are primarily concerned with price? As the aftermarket continues to gain market share using a value-driven message, particularly with the strength of office superstore-brand products, companies such as HP have begun to employ more pointed language about the lower quality of aftermarket products. With these test results in hand, the OEMs have an even better tool to battle aftermarketers. Even the thriftiest consumer may have second thoughts about buying a cartridge that produces photos that will fade in only a matter of months. From an advertising standpoint, the image of a faded family photograph gives the OEMs an emotionally and rationally compelling message based on the WIR results.Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR), led by founder and president Henry Wilhelm, conducted the testing. Wilhelm is an expert on image permanence and has worked on various issues related to the display and preservation of photographic prints with a number of groups, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Since 1995, he has been an advisor to the Corbis Bettmann photography collection, which is owned by Bill Gates and contains more than 65 million images

Ink and paper make a world of difference
APRIL
06:THERE’S a feeling among consumers that printer makers recommend
their own ink and paper to make more money. Not so, say the major
players.
Connect asked HP, Kodak, Canon and Epson: “Why should
consumers always use your paper and inks with your printers? And what
happens if they don’t?” Here are their responses.

EPSON
Tests show that third-party inks require more head cleaning on an inkjet printer and cause more blockages than genuine inks.
Every
ink has some fixed and some variable characteristics. Viscosity and
temperature are two key ones. Every type of paper has its own
characteristics. Absorption rate and permeability are two key ones. To
achieve optimal print quality, every printer vendor programs its
printer drivers with the characteristics of their own ink and paper
types.
Epson printers have a table of how viscosity of the ink in
the printer (known by the printer talking to the chip on the ink
cartridge) varies with temperature. The printer also has a small
thermometer to measure ink temperature.
When these are known, the
printer automatically varies the droplet size and shape (and sometimes
angle of firing) to match the current viscosity of the Epson ink, so
you get an optimal result according to the type of Epson paper the ink
is being applied to. If either the ink or the paper is not genuine
Epson, then their precise characteristics are unknown to the printer
and it will then apply ink to the paper in the way that is optimal for
Epson ink and paper, which in all likelihood will not be correct for an
alien ink-paper mix. The result will be of less quality.

HEWLETT-PACKARD
Because
HP carefully co-designs the printer, ink and photo paper together as a
system, using HP inks and paper gives maximum reliability, ease of use
and the best print quality. A non-HP ink can cause a multitude of
problems within the printhead/cartridge. Glued areas can gradually
delaminate because of chemical incompatibility. Tiny channels can get
plugged because ink designs are not “torture tested” with the same
rigour as HP inks.
A non-HP ink will not use the exclusive
colourants contained in genuine HP ink, so colours are different to
what was intended by the engineer who designed and optimised the
“colour maps” in the printer. Wilhelm Imaging Research
(wilhelm-research.com) shows that genuine OEM inks outlast after-market
inks by a factor of 20x or more.

CANON
Canon
has dedicated considerable resources to the research and development of
Canon inks and photo paper to ensure Canon printer owners obtain
best-quality photos. The combination of Canon’s ChromaLife100 inks and
selected Canon photo papers allows photos printed at home to last as
long as, if not longer than, photos developed by labs.

KODAK
Kodak
has a range of high-quality photo paper available in a number of sizes.
These have been optimised to be used with a variety of printers because
Kodak doesn’t produce printers. Kodak’s EasyShare range of photo
printers use a thermal dye-printing method where the ink is applied to
the paper in layers. The final layer also provides a protective clear
coating. The result is an instant waterproof and smudge-proof 6×4
borderless print that will last for decades. 

CHEAP INKJET INK

Keeping your printer in ink is expensive.

A set of black and color cartridges from Canon, Epson, or HP costs 50 to 70 dollars.

So you decide if tis is a case of dont waste your money.