Morgan,

Thank you for your articulate, thoughtful followup. I've enjoyed your work since stumbling on it at the Prix de West show in Oklahoma City this past summer. For those unfamiliar with Morgan's work, click on the link to his website at the bottom of his post. The paintings all capture absolutely beautiful color and light, and a gentle humanity reaches out and grabs you as you walk through the gallery.

Thank you.

Melissa:

Actually, I use the HP1550 for printing shots of reference and shots for my portfolio book. I don't expect these prints to last any longer than 2-5 years depending on how much light they are exposed to.

I do a line of fine art prints of some of my works for which I have an Epson P2000 which uses archival pigmented inks and I print on watercolor paper. They are rated at 100+ years. You are correct that we have at this point only the word and research of the printer companies to go on, however, I am pretty confident that they are certainly MUCH better than a standard Epson or HP inkjet.

Morgan, thanks for your insights about the lens quality of many digital cameras. Mine is not a particularly high end model so it probably doesn't have much of a lens.

The limitations you describe sound exactly like what I'm running into. Guess I'll still need to run downtown to get those 4x5's shot for the serious photos of my paintings, and save my pennies to buy a better camera -- with a better lens.

Epson P2000
 

Michael:

Yes, I have heard about the Epson printers being archival with their inks. (Wish I had one!) I also agree with you that a print would last much longer than the standard ink jet printers. I have seen a lot of artists using those standard ink jet printers and then framing their work. Give it a few years and the ink will probably fade.

I have seen prints from the Epson printer and they are great! I have also read that they last for 75-100+ years too.

Thanks for the added info about the archival prints.

InkJet Print Longevity
 

Here is a website that talks about the longevity of inkjet prints.

http://www.livick.com/method/inkjet/pg2f.htm

Morgan,

Thanks for your camera insights. We're also looking to purchase a digital soon and what you said is very helpful.

There is (or will be) an excellent, independent research agency for testing the longevity of various inkjet prints by different manufactureres. Their data was originally supposed to be available by February, but apparently they're still working on it. Hopefully it will be helpful to those in the market for a printer (when they do post their data).

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/upcoming_data.html

Regards,
Holly