Longevity of Laser Printed Photos

[Charlie Bucket]

Hello

I hope soon to get my family history printed by a commercial printer using a commercial laser printer.
A lot is written on the topic of how many years that  photos printed on an inkjet printer will last. However there appears to be nothing on those printed on a laser machine.
Has anyone come across any such information?

Regards, Charlie Bucket.

[Woodentop50]

Hello Charlie,

In my opinion , not unless you are getting it done free , don't bother. The quality of today's inkjets is quite adequate , so, if you have made a good quality scan of your photo and saved it as a 'tif' file, then you can print off as many as you like , whenever you like.
People in the future , if necessary , can print off on whatever printers there are , in the future.

Any photo , if protected from the light , should last a long time.

'The light giveth and the light shall taketh away' (adapted from somewhere) 

I'm sure you will get more on this subject.

                                                                                                                Jim

[LoneyBones]

I think a lot of publishing/printing depends on the quality of the inks or dies used.
You say a "commercial printer", do you mean a publisher?
If so, they should be able to give you an idea how long the inks will last.
Family Trees, maps and other published works are reputed to last indefinitely.
But who's going to be around in the definitive future to say if they have
 
Leonie.

[Suttonrog]

I will lay a bet that any laser print will last longer than a CD or DVD. Even if the CDs do last who will be able to read them in 30 years time? (I can't use my old games on tape any more)

Inkjets now use pigments rather than dyes and they are suposed to last 100 years. Lasers melt the plastic into the paper and should be quite permanent. The quality of the paper has a great affect on the quality.

So why not get it printed and keep an archhive copy that you may have to update to new technology every 10 years or so.

Rog

[Charlie Bucket]

Yes. By "commercial printer" I mean "publisher".
My query really is will a laser printed book with text and photos last for many years? Such a book, distributed around family and libraries, is more likely to be kept than a collection of photos which may be lost or dispersed in time.

Charlie.

[LoneyBones]

I have a "cheap & nasty" book published about twenty years ago, the only thing wrong with it now is that the tacky binding is just that, tacky. But then we are in the tropics and lots of things get tacky after a lot less years than that. 
I also have an inexpensive publication of a local history that's about 15 years old, it's in perfect condition and looks to last another 100 years at least.
Both printers guaranteed their work would last 100 years.   
A great deal depends on the original quality of the paper and inks, but a lot also depends on how the publication is kept. If you treat it well you should be able to hand it on to your children's children.
After all, books have been around for centuries 
Leonie.