How many years do photo books last?
June 30, 2017 10:14 AM   Subscribe

There's one thing that reviews of photo book services (Mixbook, Shutterfly, Apple Photos, etc.) never take into account: how long will they last? Are they archival-quality like conventional photo prints? Are some better than others? I am looking for something that will last decades.
posted by Seeking Direction to Computers & Internet (2 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Until an expert happens by, we can look at what the companies themselves say about their printing process. Here's what Shutterfly says on the subject:
Shutterfly uses state-of-the-art Fuji Frontier digital printers designed for professional photo finishers to print on Fuji Crystal Archive paper, which has been rated to have not only superior color, but to be the most durable photographic paper available. These printers expose the paper using red, green, and blue lasers to produce the sharpest prints possible. The exposed photographic paper also goes through a silver halide chemical process, the same way as in traditional photo labs.

Shutterfly also uses digital off-set presses to print on archival-quality paper which is acid-free to ensure your pictures will look great for years to come. These printers, combined with Shutterfly's proprietary imaging technology, result in the best possible prints from your pictures.
Here's what I could find on Mixbook's website:
For our traditional photo books we use a silk, semi-gloss, 110 lb. paper that is both acid and lignin-free. We use Electroink 4.0 for printing, which is also acid-free.
And Apple Photos:
We print your photos on high-quality, resin-coated, silver-halide color paper optimized for digital printers. A light source inside our digital printers exposes the photographic paper pixel by pixel. This process mimics traditional photography, in which light from the subject exposes photographic film inside of a camera.

Apple Print Products provides archival prints of your digital photos, which should last as long as the prints you would receive from a traditional photo-processing laboratory.
I was unable to find any discussion of the books specifically, though this thread (several years old) quotes Apple Customer Service as saying that the book paper is "acid-free". I would suspect that you could contact them and ask about their print process if you're looking for an update.

I have no idea how much of the above actually affects longevity and how much is puffery, so hopefully someone who knows more about this will be able to comment on the subject soon.
posted by Johnny Assay at 11:21 AM on June 30, 2017


FWIW, I have a book from Blurb that's 10 years old and another one that's probably eight years old and they were 100% fine last time I looked at them.
posted by cnc at 1:07 PM on June 30, 2017


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