Now you seem them, now you don't: ephemeral inkjet prints

THE preservation center at Canada’s national archive here might have the last word when it comes to keeping the color in color photography. . .

But even officials at the archive are uncertain how to manage the medium that now dominates photography: inkjet prints.

Do inkjet prints really "dominate photography"? Consumer photo printers are used to churn out zillions of snapshots, but I don't think I'm alone in looking at the resulting prints as ephemeral, the permanent record being the digital file which can be reprinted at will. Art photography generally doesn't rely on consumer inkjets, either.

As more people began using inkjet printers for photographs, their makers turned to Mr. Wilhelm to develop a system of accelerated testing — torture tests using bright light, high heat and varying humidity — to estimate how the prints would fare over time.

Mr. Wilhelm posts detailed results for many printers at wilhelm-research.com, although not all models are represented. Consumers can see snippets of Wilhelm Ratings in advertising and on packaging.

From the NY Times. The article also notes that mounting and printing paper make a huge difference in print life.

Posted by David on June 10, 2007 10:12 AM