Collection: Cibachrome Definition and Art Gallery Collection

Cibachrome (also known as Ilfochrome) is a dye destruction positive-to-positive photographic process used for the reproduction of film transparencies on photographic paper. The prints are made on a dimensionally stable polyester base as opposed to traditional paper base. Since it uses 13 layers of azo dyes sealed in a polyester base, the Cibachrome print will not fade, discolour, or deteriorate for an extended time. Accelerated aging tests conducted by Henry Wilhelm rated the process as producing prints which, framed under glass, would last for 29 years before color shifts could be detected. Characteristics of Cibachrome prints are image clarity, color purity, and being an archival process able to produce critical accuracy to the original transparency.

The composition of the emulsion used in Cibachrome prints is responsible for color purity, image clarity, and archival permanence. Azo dyes, which provide stable vivid colors, are embedded in the Ilfochrome emulsion and bleached out in processing. Since the dyes are in the emulsion rather than formed from couplers in the chemistry, the image is also much sharper and clearer because the dyes create an anti-light-scattering layer which keeps the image from being diffused when viewed. As the azo dyes are far more stable than chromogenic dyes, prints made by this process are of archival quality and galleries and art collectors report they do not fade in normal light.