Fade resistance of Canon Chroma 100+ inks.

[NigelC]

I'm thinking of replacing my HP 8450 which now functions as general office printer with a Canon wireless all-in-one with photo printing capability, probably a Pixma 6150/6120 0r 6250/6220. Main role is printing text and documents, scanning etc, but still need to do some photo printing (not main photo printer, have Epson 3800 for that). Only worry is, I used to have a Canon i9100 some years ago (probably called something else in US) which used BCI-6 inkset and they used to fade badly and very quickly.

Are Chroma Life 100 inks much better?

[Ernst Dinkla]

http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/cgi-bin/mrk/_4899c2hvd19kb2NfbGlzdC80


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst

New: Spectral plots of +250 inkjet papers:

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm

[MHMG]

I have 3 samples of the Chromalife 100 ink set in the AaI&A light fastness database (sample ID#s 84, 85, and 86). All printed on a Canon Pro 9000 printer. Only ID#84 is on a microporous paper.  The other two samples are printed on swellable paper and did much better in test, but swellable papers are now for the most part phased out of the market. Moreover, the canon printing speeds were getting too fast for swellable papers to absorb the ink fast enough even on the pro9000 printer, so for both reasons swellable papers are probably only of academic interest at this point in time.

The Chromalife 100 ink set would have been a respectably lightfast dye-based inkset except for the black ink. The black ink is fading severely and turning very reddish in color on the Canon Photo Paper Pro media as can be seen in the AaI&A test report. Because the black Chromalife 100 ink has so severe a fading reaction, it would likely suffer similar fade on other microporous media. FWIW, max black is not a tested color patch in the current industry-sponsored testing methodologies, so this fading would not have not been accounted for in those tests. However, Canon is undoubtedly aware of the issue and has since released a newer inkset called Chromalife 100+ (as noted in the title this post), so be on the lookout for the "+" sign in the name of the inksets for Canon dye-based printers because it's a newer Chromalife formulation than what I tested.

I hope to get the Chromalife 100+ ink set into test soon. I recently bought a 6120 Canon wireless AIO (ie. "all-in-one") printer as part of a study I'm doing on the latest round of wireless desktop AIO photo printers (most of them dye-based except for Kodak's models). Be aware that Canon has different AIO "photo quality" printer models, only some of which include a photo gray cartridge in addition to the black ink.  Thus, Chromalife 100+ with the extra photo gray cartridge is bound to be better for photo printing, and because Canon has had an opportunity to reformulate for the 100+ series, I am hopeful (but have no inside knowledge) that the "100+" black ink will be a significant improvement in lightfastness compared to the older 100 black ink. Testing, of course, is needed to confirm.

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[NigelC]

I have 3 samples of the Chromalife 100 ink set in the AaI&A light fastness database (sample ID#s 84, 85, and 86). All printed on a Canon Pro 9000 printer. Only ID#84 is on a microporous paper.  The other two samples are printed on swellable paper and did much better in test, but swellable papers are now for the most part phased out of the market. Moreover, the canon printing speeds were getting too fast for swellable papers to absorb the ink fast enough even on the pro9000 printer, so for both reasons swellable papers are probably only of academic interest at this point in time.

The Chromalife 100 ink set would have been a respectably lightfast dye-based inkset except for the black ink. The black ink is fading severely and turning very reddish in color on the Canon Photo Paper Pro media as can be seen in the AaI&A test report. Because the black Chromalife 100 ink has so severe a fading reaction, it would likely suffer similar fade on other microporous media. FWIW, max black is not a tested color patch in the current industry-sponsored testing methodologies, so this fading would not have not been accounted for in those tests. However, Canon is undoubtedly aware of the issue and has since released a newer inkset called Chromalife 100+ (as noted in the title this post), so be on the lookout for the "+" sign in the name of the inksets for Canon dye-based printers because it's a newer Chromalife formulation than what I tested.

I hope to get the Chromalife 100+ ink set into test soon. I recently bought a 6120 Canon wireless AIO (ie. "all-in-one") printer as part of a study I'm doing on the latest round of wireless desktop AIO photo printers (most of them dye-based except for Kodak's models). Be aware that Canon has different AIO "photo quality" printer models, only some of which include a photo gray cartridge in addition to the black ink.  Thus, Chromalife 100+ with the extra photo gray cartridge is bound to be better for photo printing, and because Canon has had an opportunity to reformulate for the 100+ series, I am hopeful (but have no inside knowledge) that the "100+" black ink will be a significant improvement in lightfastness compared to the older 100 black ink. Testing, of course, is needed to confirm.

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

Thats useful - thanks, Mark
Love Minnie BTW, I've also got a black and white springer called Dolly. Can't quite tell from the photo whether Minnie is B&W or Liver and White.

[MHMG]

Thats useful - thanks, Mark
Love Minnie BTW, I've also got a black and white springer called Dolly. Can't quite tell from the photo whether Minnie is B&W or Liver and White.

Minnie used to be black and white but faded to liver and white in light fade testing...just kidding ). She has always been liver and white, with her left side nearly all white and her right side having large brown patches! The breeder named her Minnie Mouse because the patches on the right side look like big mouse ears. We just kept the name. Minnie is three years old now this summer and still somewhat hyper but with a very sweet disposition.  People that visit my lab must love dogs. We also have a Miniature Pincher and a mutt.

best,
Mark