Light Fade Test Results

Click on the link above to view the summary list for all Light Fade Test Results. The results can be sorted by further clicking on the column headers in the list. To download a full report click on an individual sample number in the "test report" column. To return to home page click on the picture of the historic Hyde House. Remember blue colored links are public reports, green colored links are reserved for membership.

Sample Documentation Form and Image Test Target

AaI_Testing.zip
Posted: 2008-06-20  Revision: 2008-06-20  (426 Kb)

This zip folder contains the documentation and image target you will need in order to submit samples for testing at Aardenburg Imaging & Archives.

Our goal is to test as many materials as often as we can. The scheduling of new tests is allocated largely on a first-come-first-serve basis. We also consider how many replicates may already have been tested (replicated tests are good), and we try to make room for members who have not previously submitted samples. We also consider value of the proposed test to the entire membership. For example, a sample with experimental chemistry or processes which are not commercially available to other members may get tested, but a sample made with materials that other members can also acquire and use will get higher priority. The reasoning behind our testing priorities is therefore to build a comprehensive database on the materials and processes most relevant to the entire membership while making the sample testing opportunities as fair and accessible as our equipment test capacity allows.


To submit samples, members are asked to follow a few basic guidelines.

1). Click here to notify AaI&A. Let us know what print samples you would like to submit (e.g, specific printer/ink/paper combinations, dye/sub, xerographic, pro lab prints, etc), and we will get back to you within 24 hours on testing status.

2). Download the AaI_Testing.zip folder from the AaI&A website (see above). It has a Sample_Record.pdf file and an imaging test target for printing.

3) Print out the Sample_Record.pdf file and fill out the information as completely as possible. Send this document to us along with your printed samples. Sample documentation is extremely important. We want to document all samples carefully and provide our members with as much information as possible about each and every test. A well documented sample is one where other members can follow exactly the same printing methods, materials, and settings necessary to make a replicate of the one that is being tested.

4) Make sure your printing equipment and materials are producing the highest quality prints that your system is capable of making at the settings you have chosen. For example, you may perhaps want to test a printer in its "normal" or "draft" mode rather than a slower speed "highest quality" mode, but the print that you make should be the highest quality possible with the chosen settings. Dirt, scratches, blemishes, smudges, banding, and other system flaws that reduce the color patch quality in the test target will require reprinting and resubmission of samples for test. Submitting a clean sample at the start avoids unnecessary rework and more mailing costs.

5) Print two copies of the appropriate test target as per the instructions in the sample_testing.zip folder and mail them to us.

6) Purely optional... not required, but greatly appreciated. Please consider donating to the Aardenburg Archives a pictorial print made at the same time and with the same procedures as the submitted test target sample. A signed or unsigned print is greatly welcomed along with any documentation you'd like to have archived as well. We are trying to build a world-class materials and process collection of 21st century photographic and fine art printmaking processes. It is my hope that members' personal prints and the stories they tell will eventually become a historically important part of the history of photography.


Thank you,

Mark McCormick-Goodhart
Director, Aardenburg Imaging & Archives