wales@ucla-cs.UUCP (06/17/85)
What are the current estimated lifetimes of color slides/negs/prints before significant color shifts/deteriorations occur? I am specifically interested in any/all of the following -- (1) Fujichrome slides (2) Fujicolor negatives (3) color prints on Kodak paper -- but would welcome any information on any current films/papers. Assume non-professional storage conditions (no direct sunlight or unreasonably high humidities/temperatures -- but no heroic archival measures either). -- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // +1 213-825-5683 3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024 // USA ARPA: wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA -or- wales@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU UUCP: ...!(ihnp4,ucbvax)!ucla-cs!wales
jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) (06/25/85)
> What are the current estimated lifetimes of color slides/negs/prints > before significant color shifts/deteriorations occur? > ... > (3) color prints on Kodak paper I don't have the data sheets on the films (so far, not one response from anyone on the film data sheet poll, by the way! But I did get a letter from Kodak on prints vs. slides), but I do have the data sheet on #3, Kodak paper. According to data sheet E-14, "Kodak Ektacolor Plus Paper," Several factors can affect print life. These include (1) Stability of the dyes in dark-keeping (albums, etc); (2) Stability of the dyes with illumination; (3) Yellowing of the paper in dark-keeping; (4) Yellowing of the paper that occurs with illumination. Each of these factors has been addressed in the design of Kodak Ektacolor Plus Paper. For dark keeping, a new cyan coupler was developed which is significantly more stable than its predecessors. The result is that image changes from dye fading are minimized, and the color- balance shift will be more neutral. Accelerated test results show that under normal conditions, print life in an album should be well over 100 years. [Footnote: "Based on a criterion used by some manufacturers, of 30% loss from a density of 1.0. However, no single standard for determining the useful life of a print has been established. Different customers may be more or less tolerant of a given degree of print fading."] For keeping in lighted conditions, the stability of the magenta dye has been improved. Prints on display in typical home lighting should have a useful life of many decades. ... [discussion of yellowing] ... The papers of some manufacturers are designed to produce optimum whiteness when newly processed by allowing ultraviolet light to filter through the emulsion and excite a brightener. This ultraviolet light can cause both dye fading and [yellowing] under most display conditions. Kodak papers do not have this tradeoff. (Actually, some of the Kodak B&W papers do have the brightener, though. This "brightener" is the same thing in modern-day laundry detergents, which make shirts glow under ultraviolet light.) The above is a description of the NEW Kodak paper which just came out, and which is supposed to replace 78RC Ektacolor paper. -- Shyy-Anzr: J. Eric Roskos UUCP: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!jer US Mail: MS 795; Perkin-Elmer SDC; 2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642 "Erny vfgf qba'g hfr Xbqnpuebzr."