archival prints

[putri]

which type of digital printing gives u the most archival quality prints?is a lamda printer archival?

[ellis_vener_photography]

the newest pigment prints from Canon and Epson.

[bruce levy]

On 100% cotton rag paper. With Matte black pigment.

[doug_axford1]

Lambda is RC photo paper, not even close to archival by any standards. Ellis is correct for most archival in color, as long as it's printed on the specified paper. Tests show that printing on the wrong paper makes a huge impact on longevity. Bruce is correct for B&W.

 

Best to read www.wilhelm-research.com Most of his stuff is very good.

[emre]

Lambda is not a paper, it is an RGB laser printer designed to work with RA4 paper such as the archival Fuji Crystal Archive.

 

http://www.durst.it/stage1/index.php?type=technik&supressPageContent=1&language=2&id=53&action=produkt&kategorie=7&action=subKategorie&subKategorie=1&produktId=9

[jtk]

Too bad Weston wasn't as concerned about archival standards as we are today. Think how much more important his work would be.

 

http://charlescampbellgallery.com/exhibitions/07-03-sothebys/WestonPressRelease.pdf

[wogears]

<i>Too bad Weston wasn't as concerned about archival standards as we are today. Think how much more important his work would be.</i><p>

 

He <b>was</b> concerned with archival standards, washing his prints very carefully, and often toning for added longevity. B/W processes of his time were inherently archival as long as you avoided contamination, which he was careful to do. Remember, he and Ansel Adams were good friends and often discussed technique as well as artistic considerations.

[putri]

how many years then is the lambda print suppose to last as oppsed to the top epson

ARCHIVAL PRINT with the top archival paper?

[emre]

It depends on the paper. Fuji Crystal Archive is rated to last sixty years, whereas EPSON claims a hundred with their K3s, depending on the paper. They have claimed this before and it turned out to be false. No doubt they have improved their recipe over the years. It is hard to verify the figures at this point.

[doug_axford1]

Sorry, I mistyped. Lambda is a printer made by Durst, certainly not a paper as I typed in - too many coffees maybe.

 

Fuji Crystal Archive is what I use and it's the best color photo RC paper by far, but not archival. In Fuji's case, it's a poor use of words in names. www.wilhelm-research.com rates it at 40 years compared to Kodak at 19 years. I believe that Fuji says it's double that. From my own use, I would say his numbers are close if the image is on display and very low if kept in a book. Regarless, it has proven by many to be the 'most archival' for photo RC, even though archival to me, means something that will last hundreds of years.

 

By comparison, I've had Epson images that were rated by Epson as 100 years, show dramatic signs of fading after 3 years on display in an office that had no windows. Fluorescent was the culprit there. I have rarely used Epson in the past few years and switched to Canon Prograf with pigments for large format work, so to be fair I can't comment on recent Epson technology. I get upset when any company keeps replacing their '100+' inks with 'better 100+' inks.

 

Part of the issue is what your subject matter is, believe it or not. Since my work is 'people', I'll have more concern with reds in skin tones fading much faster than a desert or water scene with fewer reds. Also, everyone knows what skin color should look like and once it starts fading, it's a killer.

[jtk]

Les, I hope you noticed my sarcasm :-)

 

For all sorts of reasons (global warming, bird flu, the images themselves) few should worry about "archival" IMO, but we do deserve better than some digital materials that make longevity allegations, particularly the off-brand color inks. "Archival" is today mostly a marketing scam. Wouldn't you agree?

 

Ansel wasn't "archival" for quite a while, judging from his early prints. I have photofinished prints from the late 1800s, both from Europe and California, that have held up better.