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Memories may fade over time but you don't want the same to be true of the digital photos you print. Unfortunately, the longevity of photo prints created with an inkjet photo printer at home can be hit and miss.
All too often, a photo print you've created and proudly put on display will fade almost beyond recognition just a few months down the line.
No photo print is going to last forever and contact with artificial and natural light, pollutants in the air, and the humidity of the environment in which a print is stored will all cause it to fade over time.
Having to reprint an image you'd like to keep for posterity every few months because of the rate at which it fades can be extremely annoying and expensive, but it is possible to slow down this rapid decay.
It was the case that photo prints created at home with an inkjet printer and photo paper really didn't last very long. Today things are different. Printer manufacturers such as Canon, HP, Epson and Lexmark now claim that prints created using their newest photo printers with own-brand ink and high quality, own-brand paper can last for more than 100 years.
To put this in context, the permanence of prints from traditional photographic film processed by a professional, high-street photo-developing service is quoted as being around 60 years.
Fade to grey
But what does any of this actually mean? Well, the claims that leading printer manufacturers make about print permanence are based on testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research, an independent laboratory-based testing organisation in the US that determines how long prints created with different printers, inks and papers will last before they fade.
These tests are conducted under strictly controlled conditions that aim to emulate typical lighting conditions in a home environment. What these tests will never be able to account for, however, are variations in the environment in which prints are displayed.
Many of us will have found that prints processed professionally from photographic film will fade after a considerably shorter period than the quoted 60 years. A print displayed on a brightly sunlit wall may fade faster than you would expect it to according to manufacturers' claims. Similarly, a print displayed behind glass will last considerably longer than one in contact with the air.
In other words, you shouldn't count on the prints you create at home with an inkjet printer to last for nearly as long as a manufacturer claims they will. Even experts in the field of print longevity agree that print permanence claims should be treated as a point of comparison rather than a concrete figure.
With this in mind, we'd suggest that you save any precious digital images to a CD rather than relying on the print you create to last. This may not come as a great surprise.
What will be of more concern to anyone printing digital photos at home is that print permanence claims for any printer only apply to prints created using branded inks from the printer manufacturer on premium photo paper from the same manufacturer.
Take, for example, the Epson PictureMate Personal Photo Lab printer. Using this printer, it's possible to create photo prints that are quoted as being fade resistant for 104 years, but only if you're using PictureMate inks and PictureMate photo paper from Epson. If you're using cheaper third-party inks, this figure is totally redundant.
Bold claims
Just about every printer manufacturer claims that using its own branded inks and print media will ensure that your prints last longer and look better than they would if you use third-party inks.
There are a few good reasons for this. For starters, it's not in a printer manufacturer's best interests to tell its customers that cheaper ink cartridges or paper supplies will give results of comparable quality. They'd lose a lot of money if they did.
But there are also a number of scientific reasons why branded inks and branded media should give better results when used together. A manufacturer's ink is designed to chemically bond with special coatings on the surface of the paper.
While it might seem that this is just another ploy to lock users into using pricey inks and paper, the improvements in terms of print permanence over third-party inks and papers are backed up by research.
Testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research last year confirmed that prints made using a manufacturer's highest-quality photo paper and the manufacturer's inks lasted, in some cases, more than 180 times as long as those printed on the same paper but using third-party inks.
Some of the photo prints created using third-party inks in this test lasted just six months. This is bad news if you're trying to lower the cost of printing photos at home because using unbranded products is much cheaper.
Branded inks and papers may not be cheap but, if you want your photo prints to last, it's worth spending the extra cash, but only for special print jobs.
We asked readers in an online poll how they use photo prints and it seems that many Computeractive readers print photos at home that they plan to keep for some time.
Almost 27 per cent of readers stated that they print photos to display behind glass in the home, 37 per cent print photos to add to a photo album and 22 per cent of you print photos to give to friends and family as gifts. In a second poll, 25 per cent of you said that you expected your prints to last for up to 10 years before fading.
The right image
For everyday photo prints that you plan to pin to a notice board or stick to the fridge with a magnet, we'd suggest that you needn't use premium-branded photo papers, even if you are using branded inks in your printer.
If you're happy using third-party inks in your printer, you can achieve good-looking photos quite cheaply but they won't necessarily last very long before they fade.
If you have higher expectations for the print permanence of your photos, though - if you're printing photos to give as presents, for example - then you will achieve the most long-lasting results with manufacturer-branded inks and premium photo papers.
In any case, we'd recommend keeping a master copy of treasured digital images on a CD, so that any print which fades beyond recognition can be replaced relatively easily.
Make the most of it
If you're going to use premium inks and photo papers to create prints for gifts or display in your home, you don't want to waste money with faulty prints. First, turn off any ink-saving utilities you have installed for everyday print jobs.
All versions of Windows help you make sure that prints are correct before sending them to the printer. Windows XP users can use the Photo Printing Wizard which should appear when you click on the printer icon at the bottom of the Printer and Fax Viewer window.
Click on Next in the first screen to get started, then click on the boxes in the top right-hand corner of the images displayed in the second window to select the pictures you want to print. Click on Next, select a printer from the drop-down menu and click on Next again.
You'll then see a screen with a range of layout options that help you position your image, or images, on the page and let you preview it before printing. In Windows 98, use the print preview tool before starting the print job.
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