Testing inkjet papers

Fonts
The red and black boxes feature text in Times Roman, in font sizes ranging from 2 to 10 points.
We check how the type appears across the different font sizes?

Colour reproduction
The colour chart makes it easier to judge the approximate colour range of the inkjet printer and the way the inkjet material reproduces colours. We look to see how well defined the colours are and whether they blend into each other. We an also check to see if there's a clear distinction between different values of red, green, blue, purple and so on.

Hair Lines
Inkjet printers should be able to reproduce fine line art within reasonable limits. This test reveals how fine a line the printer can reproduce and, most importantly, how well the inkjet paper can reproduce a certain line width. Printing black on white and white on black gives clear evidence of how a line appears on the grid with the black background? And how fine a line can be reproduced in black against the white of the paper?

Drying
As soon as the first part of the print is revealed we touch to see if the paper is dry.
The same test is done one minute later and five minutes later.
Ideally the print should be dry immediately to avoid marks when you lift it away from the printer.

Paper tackiness
Place another piece of paper over a part of the photo as soon as it printed to see if it sticks.
A second test is done after 5 minute.
This shows whether you can take prints out and stack them without damage.

Smudge test
Once the paper is dry we use a finger to forcefully rub the paper to see if it will smudge.

Water resistance
We drop a small amount of water onto the surface, leave for 30 seconds and then try to blot it up rubbing to see if the water affects the printed image.

Coffee
We drop a small amount of coffee onto the surface, leave for 30 seconds and then try to blot it up rubbing to see if the coffee stains the printed image or affects the inks.

Scratch
A finger nail is used to try to scratch the surface of the printed image. This tests the paper's durability.

Lightfastness
The paper's ability to prevent fading when exposed in daylight for any length Ultraviolet fastness is determined by the specific inks and media used to create an image. Epson and HP are constantly claiming new lightfast figures but perfect UV stability does not exist yet. All materials show a loss of density under ultraviolet light. We are placing a test print in window light and leaving it there for six months to see what the effect of daylight will have.