PRESS ROOM STORY
HARMAN PHOTO PAPERS UNDERGO WILHELM TESTING
14th February 2008
HARMAN PHOTO PAPERS UNDERGO WILHELM TESTING
Leading imaging specialist to demonstrate the print permanence of its entire range
To give the global photographic community total reassurance as to the archival properties of its papers, HARMAN technology has submitted its entire HARMAN PHOTO range to the Certified Image Permanence Testing Program run by Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR). This move will enable consumers to make immediate side-by-side comparisons between the longevity of HARMAN PHOTO products and those of other well-known manufacturers.
An independent testing organisation and the world’s foremost authority on image permanence, WIR has researched the stability and preservation of traditional and digitally printed colour and black and white photographs and films for over 35 years. Its clients to date have included Canon, Epson, Fuji, Hewlett-Packard, and Lexmark, allowing it to provide consumers with unbiased and standardised print longevity ratings across a wide range of media.
Specifically, WIR is testing HARMAN PHOTO’s MATT FB Mp, MATT FB Mp WARMTONE and GLOSS FB AL papers - all of which benefit from a Baryta base enabling them to offer prints with greater detail, increased definition and a wider tonal range. The papers are being tested with Epson UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta pigment inks, Canon LUCIA pigment inks, and HP Vivera pigment inks using representative Epson, Canon, and HP professional printers. Upon completion, WIR will post comprehensive test results on the WIR website, and also make the data available to HARMAN PHOTO and ultimately the papers’ end-users. HARMAN PHOTO meanwhile will begin to use the WIR Certification Seal.
To qualify for this 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. All results generated during the rigorous testing process are also posted on WIR’s website (www.wilhelm-research.com), making them accessible to the wider photographic community. In addition, updated information - including ratings for unprotected ozone resistance, resistance to high humidity during display and storage, and water resistance – is uploaded to the same site as that data becomes available.
Speaking on the subject, Henry Wilhelm of Wilhelm Imaging Research said: “WIR’s standardised image permanence test methods and specifications provide consumers throughout the world with ‘apples-for-apples’ comparisons on a wide range of inks and photo papers. Further benefiting consumers, our stringent tests better encompass the wide range of lighting conditions that may be found where photographs are displayed in homes and offices. We are delighted that HARMAN PHOTO and its new range of baryta fibre inkjet products will now be part of the testing program.”
HARMAN technology’s Director of Marketing, Howard Hopwood, added: "As verification of our own internal testing and to provide customers with the ability to see independent image permanence ratings, we have submitted all our HARMAN PHOTO papers to the Wilhelm Imaging testing program. This program now covers more than 90 percent of the world’s leading manufacturers of inkjet printers, inks and inkjet photo papers. As such, its seal provides the consumer with an immediate and uniform method of comparing the different papers available for their digital prints.”
Wilhelm concluded: “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 packaging or in an advertisement, they can be reassured that the product has been tested according to WIR’s rigorous test methods – and that detailed permanence data for that product are available on Wilhelm Imaging Research’s website.”
More information on HARMAN technology Limited and the HARMAN PHOTO range can be found at www.harman-inkjet.com
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CAPTION: HARMAN technology has submitted its entire HARMAN PHOTO range to the Certified Image Permanence Testing Program run by Wilhelm Imaging Research (WIR).
NOTES TO EDITORS –
HARMAN technology Limited is a pioneering imaging specialist based in Mobberley, Cheshire. The company - which was born of the ILFORD formed by Alfred Harman in 1879 - now includes three, separate and well known brands: ILFORD PHOTO which manufactures traditional monochrome photographic products; HARMAN PHOTO which produces a range of high-end inkjet media for both color and monochrome prints; and KENTMERE PHOTOGRAPHIC who produce a range of photography and inkjet papers, including K.Opaljet.
The ILFORD range of inkjet products, including ‘ILFORD Galerie’, is not associated with HARMAN technology in any way, and is actually manufactured and marketed by a separate business based in Switzerland.
For more information on HARMAN technology and its brands, visit:
www.harmantechnology.com // www.harman-inkjet.com // www.ilfordphoto.com // www.kentmere.co.uk
Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. 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 www.wilhelm-research.com.
For more information on this story, please contact Wayne Mohammed at Manifest Communications on
01484 469601 or email wayne@manifestcomms.co.uk