Acid free mat or not

I use acid free mat for photographs.
I just do not see sense (might be I am wrong) to use acid free mat for digital image (print), and would like to know is in this case non-acid free way to go (cost less), and in what time (in general) non-acid free mat shows its talent.

Thanks for advise.

At the risk of being labeled a heretic, digital work has the potential to last longer than a traditional silver print. This is true because some inks are carbon pigmented and the paper which is available has not been subjected to acidic chemicals, in many cases, in the processing of a photographic image.

It should be noted that this is not true in every case but it is true in some cases.

This might be something to consider when you make your determination.

I've had non-acid free matt yellow well washed RC prints in less than a year. I will never use it again and tend to buy buffered or other archival board instead.


Mike

I'd never use anything other than museum grade archival boards for mounting clients photo's or any artwork that is to be preserved. The pure cotton rag, non bleached, and chemically stable board will make your art more permanent in the long run. Why chance it? For digital images / prints it might be different, but still no one truly knows how these materials will perform after a number of years. Sure the tests might indicate that they may last, but it's not guaranteed. Silver and Platinum prints have be shown to be archivally stable if processed as such and kept on, or in archivally safe materials. The test of time and countless environmental effects are already known. Do we know for 100% certain that digital and so called carbon pigment inks won't have environmental effects impacting them over time? We don't. Environmental effects alone will cause a regular non acid free board to yellow in no time. Why risk it?

If you are printing digitally the matt will last longer than the print, so you shouldn't care. Even the "archival, pigment" inks I have seen fade. it is not from UV but from atmospheric contaminants. It is the biggest reason why I went back to silver printing. If this wasn't APUG I would go into further detail.

Always use the best matboard you can.

Patrick

Acidic boards are great for framing Cyanotypes...

What website is this?

The main reason I started using 100% cotton rag board is that even with acid free paper base mat board, the bevel cut doesn't stay white, it turns a brownish color after a while. With cotton rag board, the bevel cut stays white.

Crescent claims that all their mat board is acid free, even their cheap paper base mat board.

The least I will go with is acid-free - for complete conservation I go with conservation board by crescent, or another 100% rag mat board.

If you're doing archival digital prints, why not go all the way? If you're just printing for something you plan to not have around for another year, then go with the cheapest you can get I say.

I find that the non-acid free and the acid free boards go for almost the same price around here anyway - maybe the former is a dollar or two cheaper, but why bother I figure?