Pictures and prints are important to people. And in the digital age, this becomes even more of an issue because, chances are, the digital files will not survive, but the prints will. "It's always been about the print," says image-stability researcher Henry Wilhelm, "and we can actually produce right now, at very low cost, extremely stable photographs and prints in color. Do we want to? Ask anybody, 'Which would you rather have: a longer-lasting print or a shorter-lasting one?' What do you think the answer will be?" RESOURCE LINKS: (newest at top) • For Harald's real-world Window Tests for print permanence, click here. The first window test was a simple visual comparison of (primarily) dye-based prints after 9 months exposure, and it concluded on November 20, 2006. A new test (in progress) takes a next step by testing pigment prints and also using a custom datalogger for measuring light levels, temperature, and relative humidity. The datalogger was modified, calibrated, and provided for my use by Aardenburg Imaging & Archives (see below), which will also provide environmental monitoring, Delta E and I* analyses for the on-going test. • For Mark McCormick-Goodhart's Aardenburg Imaging & Archives site, click here. Mark (Aardenburg) conducts image permanence research on the modern digital printing technologies represented in his archives. He also shares and exchanges digital prints with members of his innovative Digital Print Research Program. The Digital Print Research Program places prints from the Aardenburg Archives into the home and office environments of its research participants. With the members' help, Mark monitors and evaluates real world print aging behavior. Mark is the inventor of the revolutionary I* (pronounced "i-star") metric. • For the Art Materials Information and Education Network (AMIEN), co-directed by Albert Albano and Mark Gottsegen, click here. (Mark is the former Chair of the ASTM D01.57 Subcommittee on Artists' Paints and Related Materials and is a long-time investigator of the permanence of artists' materials.) • For Henry Wilhelm's Wilhelm Imaging Research site, click here • For the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), link here • For ASTM International, one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world, originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials, click here • For Wilhelm Imaging Research's November 2002 "Print Permanence Results for Epson Papers Recommended for Long Display Life" chart, download it as a PDF file by clicking here: CPD-15334 PDF 11/02    (with permission of Epson America, Inc.) • For Wilhelm Imaging Research's older (and now outdated) June 20, 2000 print permanence ratings, download it as a PDF file by clicking here: Wilhelm062000.pdf • For Steven Livick's "Inkjet Print Longevity" info (removed from his site in late 2005 but stored on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine), click here • For the Canon ChromaLife desktop inkjet permanence information, here You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the charts. If you don't have it already installed, download it at no charge by clicking on the following Adobe logo: Home | About Us | Advertise | Contact Us News & Reviews | How-To's | Resources © 2002-2007 Harald Johnson Communications. All rights reserved.