Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

I'm thinking of a new printer. Which ink for photos.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

This may help. It looks like pigment inks have less fade over the long term.
https://www.redrivercatalog.com/infocenter/articles/dyerorpigmentink.htm

jeryh Loc: Oxfordshire UK

Well. over the years I have stabilised on Pigment inks; they last, and do not fade,at all. More expensive, but if you have that special photo, it is worth it. !

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

Thank both of you.

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

They most certainly do fade: http://wilhelm-research.com

Joe

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I can't help but wonder sometimes...
At my age, I personally do not need archival inks, as any print will outlast me. Will my kids want the same print(s)? If and when we downsize the house, I won't be able to keep everything.

Will people who have my prints keep them on the wall for fifty years? Maybe.

Ultraviolet light (sunlight & fluorescent), over time, will fade everything, red being the most sensitive to the fade.

So I don't worry about the ink, and anyway, the majority of my prints are done by a lab on photo emulsion paper.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

The choice for me came down to a Canon Pro-100 with dye inks and a Canon Pro-10 with pigment. I bought the Pro-100. It was cheaper, dye inks are rumored to be less clog prone, prints seemed a little more colorful and Canon says they are good for a 100 years. The Pro-10 seemed to have a slight advantage at black and white printing. In order to see any differences you have to put identical images from each printer side by side.

Clogging may not be a real issue with Canon printers, but, due to some extended RV travel, my printer may be shut off for a couple months at a time. Clogging hasn't happened. Colorfulness is in the eyes of the beholder so that is arguable. My prints will rarely, if ever, be on a wall longer than a year, or maybe two years. Then they go to a well stored box for anyone that finds them when I'm dead. By USA averages, that will be 15 years.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

You asked: I'm thinking of a new printer. Which ink for photos.
The summary answer, generally dye base and aftermarket availability is very important from the cost standpoint. Using OEM inks are big $s if you do a lot of printing. Most inks are fine even dye base. Check the printer plugging history and end use evaluations.

To test, take your best white shirt and splatter dye on the left and pigment on the right.. wash and hang on the line in the sun many times and sanitize with a UV fluorescent light... eventually one will fade... especially in Miami which is today under a UV warning.. high level.

Or assume that most of your photos will as Peggy Lee sang... "will not mater a hundred years from today".

We do not have a high UV in our living room. Has your furniture faded? Have you taken a reading for UV shining on your living room wall? Has the Ozone caused your skin to be irritated? Of course not we do not have Xenon Arc Lamps in our living rooms... just low UV emission LED bulbs and window to let the sunlight in dulled with blinds, drapes or shades... UV in the living room ... not a big threat.

Simply stated dye-based inks, even aftermarket, have UV stabilizers, they will outlast you.... and if you find that your favorite photo has faded in 10 years ... then reprint is. Something that UHH people worry about just do not really count in the practical things of life.

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

The correct ink will largely depend on the requirements for the printer you select. Do not purchase 2nd or 3rd party discount inks for any printer as it usually destroys the print-head assembly and that will be expensive. Use the recommended inks that a manufacturer specifies only .

Epson or Canon make great printers and I also like the HP office inkjets as well...... use the papers & inks they recommend and you'll be a happy camper.

don646

Check with inkproducts.com I have used them for 10 yrs or more.I think u will like

ggab Loc: ?

"From a few day's ago:

The certain truth about inkjet printers. They are typically sold cheap and get you with the inks. The more inks the greater the user cost.
Then there are the different types of inks, Dye and Pigment.
"Pigment inks are not absorbed by the paper but sit on top as small encapsulated particles while dye based inks are absorbed into the paper’s fibers. This basic difference creates differences in areas such as ink stability, color intensity and contrast. The choice of ink type depends on what result you expect and which characteristics you favor"

"Pigment based inks are generally stronger in the following areas compared to dye based ones:

water fast on most paper media (dye based inks start to run when wetted if not printed on specially coated paper)
fast drying (up to 100 times faster compared to dye based inks)
non fading colors
long life cycle
low bleeding in the edges of the printed color

Dye based inks are generally stronger in the following areas compared to pigment based ones:

high brilliance and contrast
wide color gamut (i.e. the range of colors that can be produced)
less expensive

A note on above comparison: Intensive research and development is continuously done in printer inks which mean that both dye and pigment inks are steadily becoming better in their weak areas."

I use a Canon IP8720, it has 6 inks
C, M, Y, K, Grey, Photo Black. Dye inks with Pigment Black.

Prints to 13x19 and looks great".

weedhook

I had an old Canon printer that sat on the shelf for several years. It won't work with my Win 10 computer, only with our old XP machine. I got into a situation where I needed some 8x10 prints in a hurry, so I started up the XP computer and the Canon printer. I doubted the cartridges would still work since they had been sitting unused for several years. Much to my surprise the printer printed out several beautiful 8x10s before the last of the ink in the cartridges gave out. Kudos to Canon and its dye ink cartridges.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

They are both good and prints will last longer than you will live. I started with a Canon Pro-9000, then the Pro-100 and now the Canon ImageGraph Pro-1000. The 9000 and the 100 were both dye ink printers and the 1000 is pigment. Truthfully, I couldn't tell you which is which when I look at all of my prints....

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Even the printer manufacturers don't claim that 3rd party inks "destroy" the print head. There are many reputable companies that make quality ink at a substantial savings over OEM ink.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Ex-lab guy here... Silver halide process color papers fade in 20-40 years. The best dye inks fade in 100 years. The best pigment inks last 200 to 400 years. Those are rough guidelines from Wilhelm Research. They test papers under standard conditions.