Picture fading rare, says Epson NZ

In response to a recent Herald story (see link below), Epson NZ general manager Greg Skinner puts the company's view:

With reference to your article "Printer users worried photos will fade fast" in the Business Herald of Tuesday, September 5.

Most of the printer-aware market recognises that Epson printers produce outstanding photo resolution.

We have been getting some feedback that in a few cases, unprotected photos exposed to high levels of ozone and certain other atmospheric contaminants have reacted to the gases, resulting in a colour shift.

We would like to clarify some of the commentary there has been in respect to lightfastness.

Lightfastness refers to fading caused by exposure to light. Epson's ratings have been verified by Wilhelm Imaging Research, an independent print permanence research firm.

The colour shift some users are experiencing is not a reaction to light, rather it is a reaction to certain atmospheric contaminants.

For customers who want to protect prints to preserve colour stability long-term, we recommend mounting photos in a glass frame, photo album or plastic sleeve to protect them from harmful atmospheric contaminants. An alternative is to use one of our papers that offers more resistance to these contaminants.

Let me reassure your readers that the incidents mentioned in your article are very rare, isolated cases.

In fact, in New Zealand I do not have any feedback of colour shift and in Australia there is only one confirmed case.

Greg Skinner

General manager,

Epson New Zealand