*NEWS*CANON USA ENDORSES TONER/INK TEST

[Anonymous]

Canon U.S.A., Inc.
Endorses the Independent WIR Certified Image Permanence Testing Program and
Seal, Joining Epson, Hewlett-Packard, and Lexmark in Providing Consumers with
Standardized Print Longevity Ratings

GRINNELL, Iowa—-Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc.(WIR),
an independent test methods development and product testing company, today
announced that Canon U.S.A., Inc. will participate in the new WIR Certified
Image Permanence Testing Program. With comprehensive test data provided by
Wilhelm Imaging Research, Canon will begin using the WIR Certification Seal with
a range of qualified photo printing products.

“In addition to our own photo imaging permanence scale,
we are providing customers the ability to see independent image permanence
results that allow an easy comparison of the available photographic materials by
supporting the new Wilhelm Imaging test certification Seal,” said Yukiaki
Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager of the Consumer Imaging
Group at Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. “The new seal program
provides an immediate, uniform test method to provide consumers with the
information needed to understand the difference between various products used to
print their digital photographs.”

With more than 90-percent of the worldwide market,
Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark are the world’s leading manufacturers
of inkjet printers, inks, and inkjet photo papers.

The WIR certification program has three components: (1)
The WIR Certified Tests – a comprehensive set of test methods developed by
Wilhelm Imaging Research to evaluate image permanence; (2) WIR Test Data –
permanence data generated with the WIR Certified Tests; and (3) The WIR Seal –
signifies that the product has been tested by WIR, and that detailed image
permanence data are available on the WIR website http://www.wilhelm-research.com.

“WIR’s
standardized image permanence test methods and specifications provide consumers
throughout the world with ‘apples-to-apples’ comparisons for a wide range of
inks and photo papers, much like the government-mandated fuel economy ratings
relied upon by people shopping for a new car,” said Henry Wilhelm, president of
Wilhelm Imaging Research. “Imagine the chaos that would exist if every car
manufacturer had its own proprietary test method for fuel economy claims for its
vehicles. That is exactly the situation the photography industry has been facing
without uniform permanence testing standards.”

The
display permanence ratings, album/dark storage permanence ratings, and ozone
resistance ratings of the many inkjet ink and paper combinations offered to
consumers vary over a wide range – from truly excellent to extremely poor. For
example, most people do not know that, with a given printer, the choice of
inkjet paper can have a tremendous influence on the permanence of the resulting
print. Permanence ratings also differ greatly among brands of traditional
silver-halide prints and dye-sub prints.

The WIR
testing program helps consumers differentiate between printer manufacturers’
papers that have been optimized for that company’s inks, and third-party and
store-label “universally compatible” papers that may use less demanding test
methods or supply no image permanence information at all about this critical –
but initially hidden – aspect of total product quality. Further benefiting
consumers, WIR’s stringent tests better encompass the wide range of lighting
conditions that may be found where photographs are displayed in homes and
offices.

Some
third-party ink and paper manufacturers give display-life predictions for their
papers based on tests that assume prints will be displayed under 120 lux
UV-filtered illumination, instead of the higher standard of 450 lux
glass-filtered illumination employed by WIR, and use a single density point for
measuring fading compared with the two density points that WIR measures; taken
together, these differences in test methods result in claims of display-life
ratings that are between 4 to 15 times greater than those given by WIR.

For
example, WIR gave one leading third-party inkjet paper a WIR Display Permanence
Rating of 11 years when printed with an HP printer and the HP No. 57 inkjet
cartridge. The paper’s manufacturer rated the display life of the same paper at
162 years by using far less rigorous tests with 120 lux UV-filtered illumination
and measurements made at only a single density point.

To
qualify for use of the Seal, a product must have a minimum WIR Display
Permanence Rating of 25 years and a WIR Album/Dark Storage Rating at least equal
to the display rating. Complete results and details of WIR test methods are
available at http://www.wilhelm-research.com. Updated information, including ratings
for ozone resistance, resistance to high humidity during display and storage,
and water resistance are posted on the WIR website as data become available.

“HP
strongly supports the use of the new Wilhelm Imaging Research Certification Seal
as an industry standard for image permanence,” said Pradeep Jotwani, senior vice
president, Imaging and Printing Supplies Organization of HP. “We’ve been
impressed with WIR’s commitment to stringent, credible permanence testing, and
the seal will enable customers to make meaningful comparisons between products
and brands, and will ultimately eliminate confusion.”

“Photographs are among people’s most valued possessions, but with so many
differences in the photographic materials available, understanding how long they
will last is complicated,” said Greg McCoy, senior product manager, Professional
Media and Supplies, Epson America, Inc. “WIR gives valuable, unbiased
comparative print permanence data based on uniform, rigorous test criteria that
photographers of all levels can use to make informed choices about the
photographic materials with which they print their precious memories or stake
their professional reputations.”

At
present no standards are available from the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) or the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for
testing the image permanence of digitally printed photographs. According to
Wilhelm, “We have been an active member of ANSI and ISO standards committees for
more than 25 years, and we strongly support the development of uniform, global
testing standards. When such standards become available, WIR will be among the
first to apply them to product testing. But consumers need meaningful permanence
data now, and the WIR Certified Testing Program and Seal are designed to meet
that need.”

Photography has always been about preserving a moment, a special memory,
or a loved one’s face in time, and people care very much about how long their
valued photographs will last. Consumers want objective permanence information to
help them decide which products to buy. When consumers see a WIR certification
seal on a package or in an advertisement, they will be reassured in knowing that
the product has been tested according to WIR’s rigorous test methods – and that
detailed permanence data for the product are available at
http://www.wilhelm-research.com.

About
Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc.

Wilhelm
Imaging Research, Inc. http://www.wilhelm-research.com has for over 35 years conducted
research on the stability and preservation of traditional and digitally printed
color and black-and-white photographs and motion pictures. A major activity of
WIR is the development of improved accelerated image permanence tests and
advanced, full tonal scale, colorimetric analysis methods for the fading and
staining that occurs with color and black-and-white photographic images over
time. As an independent testing laboratory, WIR publishes brand name-specific,
comparative permanence data for desktop and large-format inkjet printers and
other digital printing devices. WIR has provided standardized test data to many
of the world’s leading imaging and photographic companies, including Canon,
Epson, Fuji, Hewlett-Packard, Lexmark, Ilford, Arches Paper Company, Premier
Imaging Products, and others.

Wilhelm
Imaging Research also provides consulting services to museums, archives, and
commercial collections on sub-zero cold storage for the long-term preservation
of still photographs and motion pictures.

President
and co-founder of the company, Henry Wilhelm appears frequently as a speaker on
inkjet printing technologies and print permanence at industry conferences, trade
shows, and museum conservation meetings. His 744-page book, “The Permanence and
Care of Color Photographs: Traditional and Digital Color Prints, Color
Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures” is a standard reference in the field.
The complete book, originally published in 1993, may be downloaded at no charge
from http://www.wilhelm-research.com

[Author]

April 16, 2005 at 11:27 AM