The difference between dye ink and pigment ink

Pigment ink and dye ink have their own characteristics, mainly depending on the purpose of your printed products.

Compared with dye ink, pigment ink has the following characteristics:

1. waterproof and light-resistant, not fading and ink stains. Printed works can be preserved for a long time.

Dye ink usually does not have waterproof performance, and its light and sunlight resistance are also poor, so printed works are not suitable for long-term preservation. But pigment ink is different. Dunhuang murals can be preserved for thousands of years, and the color components used in their drawing are minerals. The pigment ink produced in industry is somewhat similar to it, except that the pigment particles are smaller, but it is relatively easy to achieve color retention for decades.

2. The color is not as bright as the dye.

In fact, at present, the color of excellent pigment ink is very close to that of dye ink (see video: /x/page/m09393b06ev.html for the comparison of printing color effect of pigment/dye ink), and its color gamut is mostly higher than that of laser printed photos. Therefore, many photo studios and studios use pigment ink to make their image works, and many photographers also use pigment ink to print their works for exhibition and collection.

3. Some pigment inks have poor adaptability to printing materials.

Some pigment inks can only print RC waterproof photographic paper, but not PVC laminated card-free materials, cast-coated high-gloss photographic paper and waterproof photographic paper. Of course, there are also pigment inks (jyl) that can print the above materials. If you want to print more kinds of printing materials with pigment ink, you should carefully choose the right products.

4. The cost is relatively higher than that of dyes.

Judging from the relative price of ink, pigment ink is usually much higher than dye ink, but if printed works are included, the cost increase is still very small. Take the 6-inch ID photo as an example, each photo needs to increase the cost by 30 cents, but it can ensure that the photo is waterproof and sun-proof. Everyone can still weigh the pros and cons and make a choice according to their own needs.