What's Your Inklination?

The Age

Thursday November 15, 2007

Terry Lane

THERE was a time when it was only necessary to choose between Holden and Ford or Vegemite and Marmite. But these days, we also have to agonise over the respective merits of pigment-ink printers and dye-ink printers.

The fundamental difference between the two types of ink is that dye is absorbed into the surface of the paper and pigments, which are microscopic insoluble beads of solid coloured material, sit on top of the paper.

Photographers are not interested in the chemistry and physics of the two ink types, just in what sort of prints they produce. We all want prints that are richly coloured with excellent resolved detail and that will last forever stuck unprotected on the fridge door.

The advantages of dye inks are they tend to produce a wider colour gamut and higher resolution, particularly on high-gloss paper. Canon's ChromaLife 100 dye inks, printed onto Canon's Photo Paper Pro, produce spectacular results. The disadvantage is dyes are much more susceptible to fading from exposure to airborne pollutants and ultraviolet light.

Pigment inks have impressive longevity, resisting the fading effects of gas and UV much better. The downside is a slightly restricted colour gamut, coarser resolution and an effect known as "bronzing", which is one unwanted consequence of using inks that leave a three-dimensional topography of coloured beads on the surface of the paper.

Bronzing is the effect you get when viewing a pigment print off-centre and areas of similar colour blend into each other and detail is obscured. So, for instance, if a print is mounted above head height on a wall and is viewed from below, there is a good chance the bronzing effect will be seen. This is more pronounced on glossy papers than on matte.

The severity of the bronzing effect seems to vary from maker to maker.

Kodak solves the problem with its new pigment EasyShare 5300 printer by not selling a true gloss paper and by laying down a clear finish over the print.

Epson also uses a clear "varnish" on prints on some types of paper. Canon prints seem to be most severely affected by bronzing. Hewlett Packard high-gloss prints are not seriously affected.

Pigment-ink printers will work with a range of paper types, including highly textured art papers and canvas, and the quality of black-and-white printing is outstanding.

Interestingly, Epson is retreating from using pigment inks in its basic photo printers. It is claiming a print life of 200 years for its Claria dye inks.

So which system is better? Our guess is that for professional photographers there is no choice - it has to be pigment to avoid the wrath of disgruntled customers who have seen their print, exposed to air and UV, fade before their eyes. But for amateurs it is not so simple.

Dye inks produce prints with a higher wow-factor than pigment and, for everyone except Methuselah, they come with a lifetime guarantee if you store them in an album or box. -- TERRY LANE

© 2007 The Age

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