ArtLab - Lets talk about Dye Ink Printing

We’ve found that the best mix between colour fidelity and cost can be achieved with the addition of a dedicated Chromalife 100 Red and Gray Ink.

These six inks C/M/Y/K/R/GY produce a good extended colour gamut (range), an overall pleasing tone and superior B&W photos that you would need to move up to a 10 or 12 colour Pigment Ink to achieve, but may not always be within budget, especially for larger runs of A4 or smaller prints and artwork.

We also will only print on a coated, graded paper from Canon in either Matte or Glossy and for B&W on ILFORD Galarie to achieve the most desirable results.

Frequently asked questions about Dye based printing

• Should I convert my image to CMYK before sending them to StudioOneLab?
  Although our Dye Ink printers work with CMYK and in our case Red and Gray too, remember your images are in RGB, you should not perform a CMYK conversion yourself in your image editing software prior to sending your image to us – We know and more so our colour management software knows how to do the appropriate conversion to ensure the best results.
• How does Dye Ink Work
  Dye-based inks are absorbed into the paper, producing vibrant colours, smooth gradients and a wide dynamic range, making them ideal for photo prints, particularly on glossy papers. This means that dye-based inks more accurately reflect the character of the paper they’re printed on and why we insist on printing on Premium Coated papers from Canon, ILFORD, Hahnemühle and various Baryta Photo Papers.
• How should I handle Dye Ink Prints – What’s the longevity?
  – We would suggest that these prints are kept in a high quality acid free, pH neutral album. if they are not           handled too often and are cared for, they will last a very long time.
  – Canon’s ChromaLife standard claims 100 years light-fastness for a print stored in an archival album, 30 years for     images displayed in photo frames and experiencing around 10 hours of light per day (though not direct     sunlight), and 10 years for images pinned on a board or stuck to a refrigerator.
• I have my own specialty paper and want to print on that – Can you assist?
  In short no. Our workflow is setup for very high quality repeatable results. We can print on some verified photo stock, but there are exceptions:
  – We cannot print on fibrous and or rough paper stock that will most likely damage our machines print heads.
  – We wont print on, for example Epson Photo Stock, while results might be assumed to be mostly similar, we    print exclusively on Canon Printers, with Genuine Canon Inks on exclusively Canon Photo and Pro Papers    that are lab tested and have verifiable results. We also use ILFORD Galarie which we have a long line of    experience using, especially for B&W prints. 
  – Lastly but more importantly we cannot provide any kind of guarantee on light fastness, fidelity with regards to    colour quality or overall durability on paper stock that we cannot trace with a manufacturer.
• I want to save costs on my Art Exhibition and don’t need larger than A4 or 8×10 prints?
  We would always recommend that any exhibition, no matter the size of the artworks being printed be done with Pigment Inks. We cannot produce a 6 colour dye based print at larger than A4. Once you move beyond this size we only provide Pigment Ink base printing on our 10 & 12 colour systems.
• Why are these not considered Archival Quality Prints? 30 years is a very long time.
  30 years is indeed a long time but Archival and Bespoke Quality prints to Art Gallery (Think the Louvre, MoMA) standards must be light-fast for 100 years minimum and gas-fast for 50 years (meaning the inks do not fade in the presence of ozone and other atmospheric gases) when stored correctly and printed on suitable paper/media.
  
  If you need a Gallery Standard, Archival Quality print then we refer you to the labs section on Pigment ink printing to better understand why this is the gold standard for high end printed artworks, photographs and reproductions suitable for sale to collectors and for long terms display and storage in professional gallerys around the world.