Canon's ink fades

[raychan]

My office got a Canon S9000 (A3) printer last year and I've been using it to print some photos. However, the color seems to fade within 3 months !!!! When I say fade, I mean complete washout. Most of the colors are gone !

Even though the printed photos are not exposed to the UV rays from the sunlight, it still fades. The strange thing is that I am using ORIGINAL CANON INKS, CANON PHOTO PRO PAPER and the darn thing still fades !!!

Conversely, some of my prints printed from an old Epson 710 is still looking good despite the fact that it was printed 3 years ago.

Anybody get this problem with their Canon printer or did I just happen to get a lousy batch of Canon Photo Pro Paper ????

 

[blizzy]

no, its quite a common problem. only their dye printers are any good at photos i heard.

 

[sriram]

Hm... the prints from my old Epson 750 used to fade in 1-2 months as well. My Canon's prints fade equally fast under the same conditions.

 

[roygoh]

Are the prints exposed to air or are they framed?

I have been printing with S9000 and none of my prints (more than 1 year old) has shown any visible fading. Some of the prints are framed and displayed indoors, and some are just left in my drawers or on my desk top.

I used canon original as well as 3rd party inks, and used Epson, Kodak and Red River papers.

 

[Zerstorer]

Gas fading. All dye based printers are susceptible to this, whether HP, Epson or Canon. Some papers are more resistant than others.

 

[wheek]

3 months is scary. I'm using the Canon S400SP. Yah, old model but who cares it still works. Anyway, I also use genuine canon ink. Have printed on plain A4 paper as well as on Canon high resolution paper HR-101. None of my stuff have faded & its been over a year.

 

[mylau]

My office got a Canon S9000 (A3) printer last year and I've been using it to print some photos. However, the color seems to fade within 3 months !!!! When I say fade, I mean complete washout. Most of the colors are gone !

Even though the printed photos are not exposed to the UV rays from the sunlight, it still fades. The strange thing is that I am using ORIGINAL CANON INKS, CANON PHOTO PRO PAPER and the darn thing still fades !!!

Conversely, some of my prints printed from an old Epson 710 is still looking good despite the fact that it was printed 3 years ago.

Anybody get this problem with their Canon printer or did I just happen to get a lousy batch of Canon Photo Pro Paper ????

laminate the prints. it will prevent the fading. my photos have been printed by canon S800 and i laminated them. they are still as good as new after being displayed for about 3 years.

 

[Watcher]

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=51645

and

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=49919&page=1

 

[erwinx]

Are the prints exposed to air or are they framed?

I have been printing with S9000 and none of my prints (more than 1 year old) has shown any visible fading. Some of the prints are framed and displayed indoors, and some are just left in my drawers or on my desk top.

I used canon original as well as 3rd party inks, and used Epson, Kodak and Red River papers.

yup, i switched from epson to canon 1 year ago, no fading seen on unframed prints.

 

[raychan]

Initially, I've framed two 8R sized photos photos and displayed one at home (with some diffused sunlight) and the other in the office (enclosed room w/o windows, hence no sunlight coming in at all). The one at home became faded and washed out (totally unacceptable) about 3 months while the one in the office showed signs of fading in about 5-6 months.

Now, I've printed the same photo using the S9000, printed it on Canon's PhotoPaper Pro and placed the prints inside a photo album hoping that it won't fade. But it is showing signs of fading despite the fact that it is placed in a photo album which is closed most of the time.....unless of course my maid deliberately opens up to that page and exposes it to the sunlight while I am not at home :bsmilie:

Checked thru several websites and found that there were a lot of other complaints about Canon's ink. Probably the best one came from CS's Watcher !

Will try laminating it and see if it works.......but this is gonna be an expensive proposition as the Canon's PhotoPaper Pro is expensive enuff.

 

[Watcher]

Will try laminating it and see if it works.......but this is gonna be an expensive proposition as the Canon's PhotoPaper Pro is expensive enuff.

It is going to be very expensive, besides inconvenience (try laminating 100s of 4Rs ). Change to something like Ilford Gallerie paper. I heard that it make the pictures last longer than PPP. This paper can be bought at Ruby or Chamoxa @Funan (ask for Vincent... )

 

[Zerstorer]

It is going to be very expensive, besides inconvenience (try laminating 100s of 4Rs ). Change to something like Ilford Gallerie paper. I heard that it make the pictures last longer than PPP. This paper can be bought at Ruby or Chamoxa @Funan (ask for Vincent... )

Hmmm...didn't I post this before? The Ilford Galerie that is in stock is the Smooth series which is also susceptible to gas fading. The resistant one is the Classic series which Ruby doesn't bring in anymore as it is a slow drying RC paper.

 

[Watcher]

Hmmm...didn't I post this before? The Ilford Galerie that is in stock is the Smooth series which is also susceptible to gas fading. The resistant one is the Classic series which Ruby doesn't bring in anymore as it is a slow drying RC paper.

Yes, yes you did. I *am* refering to the Smooth series. I wouldn't recommend the shops if I'm not sure if they have it...

According to a Canon user, it is still better than Canon's PPP and *seems* not to fade... I wonder how can I get my hands on the Classic paper to try... :think:

 

[Zerstorer]

Depends on how bad the storage environment is. I have been using this and I guarantee that it fades even on Epson and HP inks. Its about the same as Epson PGPP in fade resistance, probably only slightly better than the Canon.

For users who are experiencing severe fading, framing or changing to a pigment printer is a better solution than just swapping papers.

In general though, matt or lustre surface papers fare better than gloss ones.

 

[rueyloon]

tried the ilford paper, fade just the same.

switched from a canon to an epson within 6 months.

 

[raychan]

That's it !
I think the general consensus is ALMOST unanimous.......Canon fades, be it the ink or the paper.

While I was initially impressed by the "dotless" resolutions, ultimately, it is whether the ink is colorfast or not is more important than anything else.

No point having a high resolution printer, but either the ink or paper quality sucks !

However, this is good for one thing and to do that, I will need to borrow a phrase from Mission Impossible:

"This photo will self-destruct in 20 secs !"

Thanks for all the valuable feedback guys. Really appreciate it. Let's just hope that some other photogs will pick up this thread and make a careful assessment before he/she decides on which photo printer to buy.

 

[Neo]

Hi RayChan,

I think the general consensus is that all dye ink printers fade, not just Canon. You could either switch to a pigment ink printer, or get another brand of dye ink printer. If you choose the second option, do keep us informed about the durability of the prints. I'm currently using the S9000 and a couple of other i-Series Canon printers, and almost all of the prints I've mounted in albums or framed are still very good (after more than a year). Your findings about other dye-ink printers will be interesting to us...

 

[AJ23]

:think: Let me relate my own experience. I have a Canon S9100, using original ink and original paper.

On one occassion, I printed on Canon's 4R Photo Glossy paper, the photos was then kept on a lab envelope, in less than 1 week, the colours shifted horribly and the infamous "smell" can be smelled from the photos. I swear that was the last time I am using Canon's 4R glossy.

On the other hand, I've used Epson Matte Heavy Weight/Archival Matte and Ilford's Pearl paper, I've throw the printed photos around, exposed to air, sometimes to cooking even, but no problems at all. Some of the exposures remained for 3-4 months.

I've been warned on the 4R papers but I insisted on trying it out, and the stinky results is what I get.

Canon's A4 and A3 Photo Glossy Paper seems to be ok, and I'm still monitoring the progress.