Kennedy McEwen wrote:
In article , Bill Tuthill
writes
In rec.photo.digital Kennedy McEwen wrote:

What's your experience?

My experience of the issue is well documented in the archives of
this and other forums where the subject was discussed at the time. I was
also the first point of contact Epson made within their
European customer base when they finally decided to act in
resolving the problem instead of ignoring it. Again, all
verifiable in the open archives should you require evidence.

My experience is that I've never had an Epson inkjet print (dye-based
OEM ink on various papers) that lasted longer than a year without
fading when posted in our kitchen, even in spots not receiving
direct sunlight. Epson inkjet prints do last a long time under
fluorescent light, even
so-called full-spectrum fluorescent, but sunlight seems to be a
killer. Has anybody had success with some paper or other (with dye-based
ink)?

They all last when displayed under glass, as is now recommended by
Epson for dye based inks. However, I have several dye prints on Matte
Heavyweight and Archival Matte (although Epson suggest this is for
pigment only) which have been open to the elements in my kitchen
(quite a severe environment given cooking by-products) for several
years. Whilst they look OK, they are only in direct sunlight during
late afternoon and early evening and not at all in winter.

If you are really after long print life though, don't use dye inks -
Epson or otherwise.

That's the bottom line - dye inks fade.

My old Canon S9000 produces prints that still look great, but man, they fade
like mad just pinned to the wall - even well out of direct sunlight.
However, early on, before I was really aware of the fading issue, I did a
series of about 30 A3 prints for a client - almost all were printed on the
S9000, but a couple were output by labs on two different photographic
machines (a Pegasus and an Agfa machine) - they're all framed under glass in
an office, and remarkably, 4 years down the track, the Canon prints still
look just as good as the photographic process prints, so it seems
restricting the airflow over the prints slows the fading considerably.

Naturally I've told the client I'll replace the prints with pigment-based or
photographic-process prints once fading becomes an issue.