I recently shot 2 charity baseball games and I should have around 600 usable pictures that I want to make available to the participants to purchase 8x10 prints. One printing solution I have is to print them on my iP4500, but I concerned with the longevity of the prints. I have made many 8x10 prints myself, but for the most part the prints are tucked away so I have no fading on them. Does anyone have an idea how these prints would compare to prints made a Wal-mart, in terms of print life?
Since photography is a hobby for me I have no idea on what the typical customer would pay for 8x10 prints. I do plan to give a portion of the proceeds from the prints to the charity, so I need to factor that in, but I just don't have a number at this time.
I have the ip5000, which is a great printer, but the ink costs of printing them yourself is way more than using a lab. Costco, which I use, charges $1.49 for an 8x10 with an estimated 65 year print life. If you still want to use the Canon, I think you might have to use their paper for long life prints. You can also check Wilhelm to see if your printer was tested with other papers.
If I do the printing myself, I was going to stock up on the Canon Pro Platinum from B&H. It's on sale for $12.49 for 20 sheets, otherwise I think my costs might be to high paying full price on the paper. You think the print life will be ok on the Canon paper?
I don't have a membership with Costco at this time, but that is a great price for 8x10's.
The ChromaLife 100 inks are album inks; if you're tucking them away in a sealed photo-safe album, in the dark, in a climate-controlled room, they've got quite good life. (Roughly 100 years in accelerated testing, ergo "ChromaLife 100".)
Under any other situation, the wet lab print will win out hands down. In a properly sealed frame with glazing out of any direct light, ChromaLife prints are only rated for 30 years. And a fraction of that if they're loose.
If you don't have any idea how the participants are going to handle the prints, Walmart's a better bet if longevity's a concern. But I'd also check with local pro labs, if there are any—self-managed prints will often be quite a bit cheaper than Walmart, and in many cases quantity discounts will apply too.
Obviously I don't know how the participants will handle the pictures, but I'm mainly concerned with the picture lasting at least 5 years or so without showing signs of fading. My concerns comes from the previous Canon printer that I had which was an i950 I think. I had some prints from that one that showed signs of fading after just a year or two, but I don't think that printer used the ChromaLife ink. So the question is, will the ChromaLife ink stand up to being exposed to light for 5+ years?
