HP Hopping into Desktop Pigment Market

For real this time it seems. The HP B9180 is billed for professional use with 13" wide capability and pigment-based Vivera inks. This is a big deal if you are an HP fan. Gone is the requirement that you use HP swellable polymer media to acheive long print life. The big deal...Swellable glossy and satin papers are very hard to pass off as "traditional photo look and feel". With these papers, one can immediately tell they are holding an inkjet print. Even though pigment inkjet prints last a long time, they still do not get the same respect and acceptace as lab prints from the consuming public. So the long explanation boils down to "good for HP for using pigment inks".

We will have the new printer for testing in June and shall offer a full report on its quality and compatibility with Red River inkjet papers.

HP website link for the B9180 is here

Old Aurora Closeout

We have various sizes of the old Aurora Art paper still available at greatly reduced prices. See them on this page.

Pop Photo Inkjet Article

If you don't get Popular Photography magazine then you might consider buying the June issue from the newsstand. Aimee Baldridge has an article called "Be a Printer Genuis". It includes 20 tips and info points about inkjet printers and printing. The article is probably the most lucid piece on the subject we have read to date. The facts are acurate and timely. The suggestions are helpful, correct, and without manufacturer's bias. A great read to say the least!

www.popphoto.com

New Inkjet Fade Tests Posted

Our fade tests for Epson UltraChrome K3 are in and posted on the main site. The numbers are good and better than we expected. As usual, if you want an inkjet print that will not fade for decades, pigment ink is the only way to fly.

Some mini-tests were also performed on Canon ChromaLife 100 and Epson DuraBrite Ultra. While the DuraBrite Ultra is definitely a long lasting choice, our results with ChromaLife were a little "off" as compared to the official claims. However, at nine years life with no glass protection on UltraPro Satin, we are impressed. The old BCI-6 dye Canon inks showed significant fade in four years. So to get almost ten years from a resin coated photobase paper AND have the wonderful brilliant Canon color and speed isn't all that bad.

K3 Tests
ChromaLife Tests
DuraBrite Ultra Tests