Epson Inks
Epson Inks: What You Need To Know
Ink makes all the difference when it comes to choosing a printer. The types of inks used by the company can make a big impact on the quality of the print results and the oerall cost of running the machine. If you’re considering buying an Epson printer, here’s an overview of the ink options you’ll have.
Dye Inks vs. Pigment Inks
In order to understand the benefits of various Epson inks, it’s important to know the difference between two basic ink types: dye and pigment.
Dye inks saturate the surface of the paper they’re printed on. This can be good and bad. Good, because the ink sinks below the surface of the paper, presenting a smoother surface for light to reflect off. This makes colors generally sharper and clearer. Bad, because dye inks are more vulnerable to bleeding if they come in contact with water. Dye inks also typically don’t fare as well as pigment inks when exposed to light and gas; they tend to fade more quickly.
Pigment inks are more long-lasting when exposed to light and gas, and they are resistant to bleeding when in contact with water. Pigment ink particles typically rest on top of the paper, rather than sinking in. This makes for a rougher surface, causing the light to be scattered and colors to be less brilliant and sharp.
Epson has come a long way in developing technology that makes pigment ink colors much sharper—and dye inks less likely to bleed.
Types of Dye-Based Epson Inks
Four-color ink. Epson’s typical four-color dye inks are designed for general-purpose home printing. They are resistant to smudging in contact with water, if they’re printed on Epson’s glossy paper.
Claria. Claria ink is Epson’s photographic dye ink. It’s designed to be used with the company’s high-gloss photo paper in photo printers, including the Epson Stylus RX560, the R265, and the R360.
Claria ink has a richer and deeper color range than the company’s other dye inks, and the photos printed with this ink have sharper colors even than traditional photo lab prints. For a dye-based ink, Claria is also remarkably resistant to bleeding when in contact with water, as well as fading in contact with gas or light. The inks come in six color cartridges, rather than four.
Epson’s Pigment Inks
UltraChrome. Epson developed UltraChrome as a replacement for its older Archival Colorfast ink. UltraChrome is generally used in professional printers, and it’s designed to produce particularly sharp images and colors.
Epson’s UltraChrome ink pigments are about twice as dense as Epson’s other ink lines, which gives the printer the ability to express a wider range of colors and shades. Since these are pigment-based inks that are not water soluble, they tend to be very resistant to smearing when the page gets damp. UltraChrome is also resistant to light and gas exposure, and tends not to fade as much as other inks with the passage of time.
UltraChrome is often used for signage, professional graphic art printing, and photography printing. It’s also an excellent choice for archival ink; depending on the paper it’s printed on, this ink can have a display life of over 75 years. This ink prints on any quality paper, including high-gloss.
DURAbrite. DURAbrite inks are pigmented inks generally used for small office and home office printers. This is a durable ink that will produce professional-looking results even on plain white paper, but it can also print well on photo-quality paper.
DURAbrite ink cartridges produce smaller droplets than other ink lines, resulting in finer and sharper image quality. Unlike other pigment dyes, DURAbrite is designed to penetrate near the surface of the paper. The surface presented to light is smoother and more reflective, which also improves the quality of the image.
Like other pigment inks, DURAbrite won’t bleed when in contact with water. Although it does penetrate the paper near the surface, the ink does not become absorbed by individiual paper fibers and is less likely to bleed. DURAbrite prints on plain, matte, and some gloss papers.
Epson sells a wide range of printers for both business and home use. The type of ink a printer uses, however, can make as much difference in your costs and result as the printer itself. Consider inks when choosing a printer, and you’ll be more likely to get the results you’re looking for.
