Re: photo life

["James Purchase" <jpurch@interlog.com>]

Erik asked:
"What are the archival properties of the ink (and paper)?  Will this fade
in a few years?"

I did some searching on both HP's web site and on PC Mag's web site. Very
little information is available regarding archival life of photos printed
with deskjets, partially because they have only been widely available for a
few years. Things are definately better now than they were a few years ago.

They certainly don't compare to the +100 year life span of a properly
printed silver/gelatin photograph, or a dye transfer color print. Then
again, a good dye transfer print costs easily over $100.00 and takes a fully
equiped darkroom to produce.

When looking at how long something like this will last, you have to consider
the base material (i.e. the paper), the ink (and how it will react and
change over time), and the environment it will be kept in. In this case, the
base material is a plastic polymer and it is chemically neutral so it
shouldn't adversly affect how long an image will look good. The new HP inks
are pH neutral and while they will fade over time, they should do so evenly.
The third variable is UV light and air borne pollution - both of these can
attack the inks and degrade them over time. The lamination process offers a
great deal of protection from both of these threats. Hanging the plaque in
direct sunlight will cause it to fade, but in an area out of direct sunlight
this shouldn't be a problem over a 5 year time span. Keeping it in the dark
would probably double that. The lamination process would probably double the
effective lifespan of the image.

The black inks are pretty much much more "archival" than the color inks
are - if I just printed out a pure black ink image (w/o the photo), I would
expect it to look good for 10-15 years with no problems (it might lighten
over time).

So I'd say that the plaque would look excellent for possibly 5 years, good
for 5 more. If it hasn't been relegated to a drawer after 5 or 10 years, its
anybody's guess.

James



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