(06/18/01)
Almost since the orange shift problem was discovered, one of the most frequent questions has
been "Will spraying the prints with a clear sealer prevent orange shift?"
There have been many anecdotal reports. Some people say their sprayed prints show
no signs of orange shift. Others report that their prints shift even after being sprayed.
In an attempt to address this question, I cooperated with a reader of this site to test a number of different paper samples sprayed with several different sprays. Tom Bryant (thanks Tom!) printed samples of my test chart using Epson OEM inks and sprayed them. Each sample consisted of two matching pairs of sprayed and unsprayed samples: One copy of each sample went into a ziplock, the other into my ozone chamber.
The results weren't at all what I expected, but I'm afraid they don't really prove anything. I was able to test only a few of the dozens of different sprays available. And I can't say whether a heavier coat, or multiple coats, would have changed the outcome. And my constant airflow ozone test may be unrealistic conditions for these sprays.
That said, in this test, every sample I tested turned orange, even
the sprayed samples. Some were worse than others, but they all shifted. (Note:
I have samples on more papers than the ones I've scanned. But since they've all done
basically the same thing, I've only scanned the PGPP samples, to save disk space.)
Perhaps even worse, the spray coatings themselves seemed to degrade in the ozone test. This is visible, to some extent, in my scans of the test samples. It's actually much worse to the naked eye. Whereas the spray coatings were all relatively smooth to begin with, after test they all appeared mottled, and uneven.
Finally, even if these sprays did work, I'm not sure they'd be a valid solution for me. They all reduced the gloss of the prints, and added a courseness and texture that I didn't care for at all. The least objectionable, to me, was the Krylon 1305, which turned the glossy paper into something resembling the Epson Luster finish.