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SpeedGraphicMan
30-Jan-2012, 14:52
Anyone have any idea what the lifespan of a color print is?

How about if it is in full sun?

Drew Wiley
30-Jan-2012, 16:21
This is a complicated subject. There is no easy answer. But direct sunlight is always a
bad idea.

Kirk Gittings
30-Jan-2012, 16:28
Look and see if Wilhelm (http://www.wilhelm-research.com/) has done any tests on that material. But be forewarned that Wilhelms test procedure OVER estimates print life.

SpeedGraphicMan
1-Feb-2012, 15:28
Look and see if Wilhelm (http://www.wilhelm-research.com/) has done any tests on that material. But be forewarned that Wilhelms test procedure OVER estimates print life.

Thanks Kirk! Just what I needed!
Also found some other information I needed on the same sight!

Brian C. Miller
1-Feb-2012, 22:07
Kodak Endura (pdf) (http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/e4070/e4070.pdf):

100 years in typical home display, 200 years in dark storage, 20 months for high-intensity commercial reflection display under 5000 lux

I would expect relatively fast degradation in direct sunlight.

Drew Wiley
2-Feb-2012, 12:15
I'd take all those accelerated aging tests with a grain of salt. They can help in a relative sense, one product vs another, but the BS coefficient itself is a little more
difficult to extract from the marketing hype. In fifty or a hundred years we'll have a
much better balance to weigh fact from fiction. And if we're lucky, 99% of today's
wretched photography will have already faded. But UV is bad for nearly every kind of
wall art. Direct sunlight, halogens, and certain fluorescents are high in UV. And over
the bulb filters or special museum acrylic glazing only going to slow it down a tiny bit.
Even the difference between direct and indirect sunlight can be dramatic. So stock
up on lots of old-fasioned tungsten spotlights before they disappear completely. These
new CFL's etc give hideous light, and who knows yet what they'll do to either our
prints or our eyesight in the long run!