I have been quite impressed by dye based LF ink jet printers today. In my opini on their quality is almost equal to that of a good darkroom print..however, thes e printers use dye based inks. The problem with these inks is of course they fa de very fast, less than 2 years on average, compared to 30+ years in the darkroo m. The pigmented (UV) inks, which have very acceptable archivable life, seem to have a much smaller color gammut than their dye based cousins. This makes ther e prints look inferior vs. the dye based prints.

Digital prints made in the darkroom by a LJ5000 or a Chromera printer make excellent prints with tradional darkroom color gammut. However their cost and s pace requirements are extraordinary for the average user.

I have looked at archivable prints from Epson 9500 and HP5000. In my opini on they do look inferior to darkroom quality prints. Has anyone seen a LF archi vable ink jet printer that can truly rival darkroom quality prints? I would be p rinting color landscapes. Any input is very much appreciated.