I first heard of this problem on the Epson-Inkjet Mail List in the Spring of 2000. My first reaction was to discount it. After all, I had been making prints for several weeks and they looked fine, and here's some woman claiming her prints were turning orange within 24 hours. But several weeks later I happened to look at a print that was partly covered by another. Lo and behold, the uncovered portion was clearly developing an orange tint! The line between the covered and uncovered portions was clearly visible.
Initially, many of us thought the problem must be a bad batch of paper, or possibly ink. Fortunately, this was easy to test. Members of the Epson-Inkjet list compared paper batches, and discovered that some people were getting shifts on the same batch that others did not. People who had no orange shift made prints and sent them to people who did get the shift. Those prints turned orange, too. I personally got the orange shift on several different batches of paper, and at least two lots of ink. This implicated the environment, not the batch of paper or ink.
Shortly after these results became known, Epson acknowledged the problem, but said it occurred only on one paper: Premium Glossy Photo Paper (PGPP).
Buoyed by that information, I set out to find another glossy paper to use as a replacement. But about that same time, I started hearing reports of orange shift on other papers, too. So I decided I would evaluate each paper I tested not only for image quality, but also for resistance to orange shift. The tests I devised, and the sometimes surprising results I discovered, can be found on this site.
Photomicrographs taken of test images seen to indicate the problem is the fading of the cyan and black dyes. Epson America blames the problem on atmospheric ozone (although they certainly don't make it easy to find. To read it, go to the main Epson page, click on "Epson Announcements", then scroll down and click on "Taking Care of Your Photographs". My tests seem to indicate that ozone is a problem, but perhaps not the only problem. And I've heard from one user who had the ozone levels in his office measured. The ozone level was very low, but he still suffers orange shift.
More recent tests conducted by several people in widely separated locations seem to indicate the problem is really exposure to a steadily refreshed air flow. Especially outside air. People who reported they had no problem with orange shift in their house have discovered that simply putting a print near an open window is enough to introduce significant, rapid orange shift. My "ozone chamber" is nothing more than the return duct of my heat pump, immediately after an ozone generating electronic air filter. What will happen, I wondered, to prints placed upstream of the air filter? Not surprisingly, they don't shift as rapidly as the prints in the high ozone environment, but they do fade much more rapidly than prints left exposed to normal room air.
Ozone is a very strong oxidizer, and a high ozone environment certainly accelerates the orange shift. But ozone isn't the only airborne oxidant. Plain old oxygen is an oxidizer, too, just not nearly as strong. It seems logical that if the cyan ink is subject to oxidation induced fade, that any oxidizer, in sufficient quantity, will induce that fade.
There are also reports from people with prints that had been framed under glass for a period of time. After removing the prints from the frames, the users noticed a faint image of the photograph on the inside of the glass! As if the ink was evaporating off the paper. In neither case did the print come in contact with the glass. Is this another component of the orange shift? There is a thread discussing this problem on photo.net. Does this explain why some people with low ozone levels still experience fade, and why some with apparently high levels of ozone don't?
Initially, the problem with inks in the 870/1270 printers was a double whammy, because Epson chose these printers to introduce their new "chipped" cartridges. Both the color and black ink cartridges have a microchip attached to the cartridge which records the (approximate) ink level remaining in the cartridge. When the cartridge says it's empty, there's no officially sanctioned way of reusing it. Absent the chip, it would be a fairly simple procedure to toss the Epson inks and rely on 3rd party ink suppliers as a (possible) solution. But until very recently, there was no 3rd party option.
This hsa changed, big time. There are several ways of defeating or resetting the chip, and there are numerous vendors of 3rd party inks. Take a look at my 3rd Party Inks page for more information.
Ever since the chip reset trick was first disclosed, rumors have circulated that Epson was going to chang the printer firmware on newer printers to prevent the chip resetting procedure. This was supposedly going to begin with May 2001 production. It's now August 2001, and I haven't heard a single report of the chip resetting trick failing on any Epson printer with chipped carts.
Epson is, however, definitely suing a manufacturer of compatible cartridges. This may yet impact the availability of 3rd party inks, although it seems only the chip and the resealable valves can be protected. So, at a minimum, you'll should be able to find carts that require a set of OEM Epson chips to be useable.
Officially, Epson indicated that it had absolutely no intention of changing the inks for current printers. But an interesting notice recently appeared on the Epson U.K. web site. Epson has made some changes to the ink formulation that affects blues (which are made with the cyan inks). Epson America says this change has nothing to do with orange shift, but there are anecdotal reports that the new inks (identified with a lot number starting with "A") are more resistant to orange shift. I hope to begin some tests of these new inks soon.
Well, all the current 6 ink photo printers use the same inkset, and seem to have the same problem.
Maybe the next generation of photo printers will be better.
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