UV Stability on lab prints

I am interested to see if anyone has any experience on UV stability of lab printed photos.

I have been playing around with a Canon Selphy printer (dye-sub), and have found that even when the images are protected with a UV resistant laminate the thermonuclear levels of UV we have down under start to fade the image very quickly, quicker than images printed on my Inkjet it seems.

Some stuff I print sits in the sun an awful lot so if lab prints are more stable then I will get those done there rather than the convenience of at home

Labs usually print using a variety of different processes. Your "traditional" C-Type prints use the same process that has been used for many years for prints directly from colour negatives. So that should give you a good indication of suitability for a particular use. Of course many labs also print using high end ink jets and papers. With these though you are back to mostly dealing with the ink and paper manufacturers claims from accelerated testing.

If you want the absolute maximum in print longevity there are some labs that print digital monochrome on traditional Ilford silver-halide papers, with both RC and FB paper options. These are not by any means cheap, but they are of full museum quality. Whitewall.com are an international lab, with headquarters in Berlin, but they do also have facilities in the USA, and ship world wide. I have had prints on the Ilford paper and the quality is exceptional. Of course it is "only" black and white.

Alan

Certainly agree Peter, I thought my older Canon dye based inkjet was fairly good until I compared those prints to my Pigment based printer.

Your eyes get accustomed to fading of the prints and you don't realize the massive difference until you put an unfaded version adjacent.

Hence, the dye based inkjet got turfed out....

My HP on HP papers gets reasonable results even unprotected...

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/hp/Z2100.​html

I don't know if Dye sub comes close to what current inkjet lonevity allows.
Inkjet right now will last longer than any previous film based print ever did.

There are some flash pigment solvent based printers around, they produce the stuff for outdoor signage etc, unfortunately, they are big, expensive unwieldy creatures, the media needs to be prewarmed, then dried. Oh and don't use them in a non-well ventilated place, they stink!

I converted an Epson a few years back to use dye based "light" solvents (also known as eco-solvents), the thing smelt like a bunch of shapies when printing and needed hair dryers pointed at the printing area, hilarious thing to look at, worked well except the prints were not UV stable. Also if you didn't use it frequently the whole thing clogged up.

Would print on plastic which as kind of cool, but then so does the Canon Selpy if you are careful...

Will do some digging for good a decent pigment based printer, I rarely need the kind of huge beast you have Mark!

Depends on the process. I've very surprised, though, if you're having stability problems with modern inkjet inks.

Several years ago I began using Circle Graphics for my lower-end canvas printing, particularly for the big prints I use for public displays and swap out fairly frequently. I first tested them by shooting a color chart and having Circle Graphics make me two small identical prints. I put one in a south-facing window. The other I put in a box and that in a drawer.

I compared them a year later--they were still identical.