Another Warning Against Third Party Inks

May 11, 2007: Independent image permanency expert, Henry Wilhelm, has issued another warning against using third party inks in inkjet printers.
Not only are third party inks unsuitable for photo printing because their colour fidelity can’t be guaranteed; they are also much more prone to rapid fading. Results from recent tests of 4×6-inch printing media show third party inks to show noticeable colour changes in as little as three months, whereas the manufacturer’s ink set produced prints that remained unchanged for as long as 40 years. The concern has been raised because of the proliferation of inks bearing the “Calidad” brand name, which are being sold through supermarkets, mass merchants, electronics stores and office supply centres throughout Australia and actively promoted as replacements for ink cartridges from leading brands like Canon. Epson and HP. Some of these inks claim to be ‘fadeproof’, which has been shown to be untrue. They also claim to be pigment based, when they are, in fact, dye-based with a small amount of pigment.

A section of Wilhelm Imaging Research’s test results comparing Calidad inks with Epson DURABrite inks. Reproduced with permission of Wilhelm Imaging Research.
An example of the effects of the fading is shown above. Click here to download a PDF showing the full test comparison.
Click here to download a PDF showing the latest results from tests that pitted third party inks against Epson’s DURABrite inks. They also show the differences in lightfastness between prints made on Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper and third party papers carrying the same brand as the third party inks.