With the high price of ink cartridges for photo quality printers, it is very tempting to purchase cheap inkjet cartridges made by third-party vendors.

But should you?

Permanence may be an issue

Studies indicate that third-party inks can indeed save money and make prints visually on par with inks made by the printer manufacturer. However, not every brand did. Some clogged the print heads and/or produced poor prints from high resolution images.

There is also concern about how long the prints will last when using cheap inkjet cartridges.

Permanence Ratings of name brand inks, when used with archival photo paper, can last between 25 to 100 years! Archival quality inks printed on archival photo paper give the longest permanence.

Some third-party inks, while less expensive, only had Permanence Ratings of between one and five years. They may also fade faster.

Inexpensive and refilled ink cartridges are often advertised as having quality equal to name brands. But sometimes the claims exclude the permanence of printed images.

So think twice before buying cheap ink or ink cartridges. Don’t learn too late, after photos fade, that the ink didn’t live up to the claims.

Research about photo and ink longevity

For more information on this subject, visit the Wilhelm Imaging Research website for additional inform about photo longevity and inkjet ink. They conduct research on the stability and preservation of traditional and digital color photographs and motion pictures. They publish brand name-specific permanence data for desktop and large-format inkjet printers and other digital printing devices. Besides their own research, the site posts reprints of articles published in respected magazines about inkjet print permanence.