Tom Rittenhouse wrote:
>
> I can show you 150 year old photographs. Can you show me 150 year old
> prints from that Epson? I have read that those inks are not as archival
> as Epson said they were. Many are already fading.
Okay...couple of points.
Yes, there were some problems with the initial batch of 1270 inks. That
problem, much like the problems with colour print materials from the mid
'70s, has apparently been licked. Obviously, I can't show you a 150
year old Epson print. I also will not be able to show you any kind of
150 year old colour photographic print, or a 150 year old RC black and
white print. Don't compare today's print materials with a properly made
fibre base b&w print: they are radically different animals. Black and
white RC prints I made in my first year at Sheridan that have been
stored in paper boxes in my basement are already discolouring, no doubt
because of the school's cheapness on fixer.
I can make a black and white print that will last 150 years, but no one
will pay me to do it, so instead I make prints that last 20 to 50. I do
the fibres for pretty much me exclusively.
My own testing of the Epson 7500's inkset is sitting at just over three
months, I think. I taped a print in the window on the second day after
I took delivery of the printer. No signs of fading. My feeling is that
I'll get sick of the image in the window far earlier than it starts to
fade; I should have picked a better image. :(
Anyhow, get back to me in 150 years and I'll let you know how the print is.
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