Epson says new ink gives photos 200-year life

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

Computer printer manufacturer Epson has developed a colour-fast Archival Ink that it promises will allow a photographic print to last for up to 200 years.

Kevin Yapp, Epson's volume products business manager, says the longer print life is achieved by encapsulating ink droplets as they emerge from the print head in a resin, which hardens to form a protective barrier as it dries on the page.

Last week Epson launched the Stylus Photo 2000P, its first printer to offer the longlife prints when used with two new photographic papers - Photo Weight and Archival Matte.

Mr Yapp said the Photo Weight paper would yield a guaranteed life of 100 years, while the Archival Matte would print an image that would last for 200 years.

He said Epson had made the guarantees based on tests that exposed prints to the equivalent amount of light that they would receive over many years in ordinary indoor display conditions.

The Stylus Photo 2000P printer, which prints at 1440 dpi resolution using a six-colour process at A4 or A3 size, will retail for just under $2000, but many users will find the cost of the longlife ink and media prohibitive. Epson estimates that the cost of each A4 page using the longlife ink on archival paper will work out at around $6.

Previously Epson has claimed a print life of 10 years for its Stylus Photo range of printers when used with premium papers, but the company admits most inkjet prints will begin to show noticeable colour fading after two to three years.

According to Epson, typical values for the display life of conventional silver halide film prints vary from 13 to 60 years depending on the type of film and paper used.

Mr Yapp believed the 2000P would help Epson to exploit a worldwide boom in digital photography, pointing out that sales of digital cameras had already surpassed film cameras in Japan. The United States was expected to follow suit next year, and he expected digital cameras to outsell film cameras in New Zealand by 2003-4.

General manager Greg Skinner said Epson was maintaining a 30 to 35 per cent share of the computer printer market in New Zealand. Sales were growing at 20 per cent annually, with the most rapid growth occurring in the small office/home office sector.

"We have got the largest range of inkjet printers and the largest share of the market."