Lucia Ink lightfast and durability vs. Vivera or Ultrachrome

[Michael_T]

Canon printers are currently a much lower-cost alternative to either Epson's ultrachrome printers or HP's new vivera ink printers. The canon Lucia prints look good to my eye. But when it's all said and done, the question I'm left with is how will Lucia ink hold up over time. Is Lucia ink durable enough that you would feel comfortable selling these prints to your customers vs. Ultrachrome ink that is the current market standard for pigment quality and longevity?

 

[gfx]

Here is the initial Canon press release from 2-21-2006
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/canon/prograf_news.html
in which they say "Wilhelm Imaging Research is currently testing the Lucia pigment-based inks... A review of perliminary test data indicates that prints made with the Lucia pigmented inks and slect Canon photo and fine art papers will have WIR Display Permanence Ratings in excess of 100 years for color images and significantly beyond that for monochrome. The pigmented inks also provide excellent short term color drift behavior which is critically important for color managed workflows and for proofing applications."

The long delay in the release of the final report though has been of great concern in recent months.

 

[gfx]

At http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/c...oadDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=360&modelid=14005 canon now provides the:

Official Canon Report on LUCIA Ink Longevity Canon Internal and Wilhelm Imaging Research Testing Results

In case your browser gives you an error, the direct link is
http://downloads.canon.com/cpr/soft...anon_WIR_LUCIA_Resistance_Result_April_07.pdf

This looks pretty respectable and plenty acceptable to me. I'm glad they released this at last. I will be quite happy with 95+ years permanency!

Wilhelm Imaging Research Light Resistance Testing Result (Ongoing*)
Canon Heavyweight Coated Paper >100 (ongoing)
Canon Premium Matte Paper 96.9 (final)
Canon Glossy Photo Paper 95.8 (final)
Canon Semi-glossy Photo Paper 97.7 (final)
Canon Fine Art Photo Rag by Hahnemuhle 95.4 (final)

*The Wilhelm Imaging Research Light Resistance Testing is ongoing. Canon Heavyweight Coated Paper has not reached its endpoint yet (as of March 2007).