Epson provided me with new prints on two "pre-release" Premium Glossy Photo Paper. The two papers appeared to be different (one had the Epson logo on the back, and one didn't). They also color shifted at markedly different rates. I'm confining my comments primarily to the better of the two papers, as I think it unlikely that Epson has released the poorer performer to the public. But don't forget, the new production paper may be different. In the description below, I'll refer to the better of the new papers as 'A', and the poorer as 'B'

When I received the test prints from Epson, I immediately scanned one of them, and made two prints on the "old" Epson PGPP. One of these was the control sample, protected from air and light. The other went into the ozone chamber with the two prints from Epson. After a few days, my print on the old PGPP had started to shift, while the other two looked fine. After a little more than a week, one of Epson's samples (B) was beginning to show some shift, but it was very slight compared to my old paper. After about 2 weeks, the old stock was very orange, sample B was noticeably shifted, but still not as bad as the old stock. Sample A still looked good.

After 3 weeks, sample A looked good compared to either of the other two prints, but I thought there might be some slight shift. Comparing it to the control sample, the difference was obvious. In the photo of the young boy, the hair had gone from dark brown to light brown, and the skin tones looked like the photo had been taken late in the day (sunset effect). Not at all unpleasant, and if you didn't know the child you'd probably like the print very much.

After one month, the color shift on sample A was obvious to the naked eye. The child's complexion and hair are noticeably shifted. The green plants in the background are pale green instead of dark. And the child's sweater is a light blue gray instead of the darker blue it started as. It is noticeably better than the print on old PGPP, but still not acceptable. One notable fact: The black ink does not appear to have shifted at all on the new paper, while it is quite brown on the old paper.

So, somewhere between 14 and 21 days the "new" PGPP had shifted to the same degree as the old paper shifts in 2 or 3 days. Call the improvement, on this particular test, a factor of 7 to 10. Prints left lying in my office show noticeable shift within 2 weeks to a month (I guess atmospheric conditions vary). On the new paper, then, I could anticipate somewhere between 14 weeks and 20 months. Not something a professional could take to the bank.

Comparing the control and test prints on the old PGPP reveals some interesting observations. I don't think any of this is new, but Epson's test image makes things a little clearer. It includes areas of solid black, yellow, magenta and cyan. The cyan blocks have, not surprisingly, changed color greatly. More surprising, the magenta blocks have also changed color, though by a much smaller amount.

Here's a comparison of all three samples. I can't wait to see how the newly released paper holds up.

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