Digital BW, The Print

> 
> Can anyone confirm that Legion Matte actually HAS optical 
> brighteners in it? After reading this thread, I cancelled an order 
> from MediaStreet for LegionMatte, for fear of fading due to the 
> brighteners. Cannot find any info about it on Legion's site:
> 
> http://www.legionpaper.com/digital/media.htm
> 
> Are we in agreement that optical brighteners are bad news as 
a 
> general rule? I do not know for sure.  -Mark Tucker

The Legion rep confirmed on the phone that there are optical 
brighteners in the paper. Pretty much any paper that white has 
brighteners in it, including Archival Matte. My own opinion, as I 
said at the top of the thread, is that  brighteners are not all  the 
same in terms of permanence. 

My impression is that the main fear with some brighteners is that 
they may lose their effectiveness and leave the paper looking 
relatively yellow, not that they will fade the inks.
  
One thing to also be aware of is that optical brighteners may 
achieve their effect by radiating UV light. (I have read that this is 
true of titanium dioxide.) In this case, framing behind glass will 
counteract the effect. People who plan to frame their prints 
routinely should look at brightened papers behind glass before 
betting the farm on them.

All things considered, I think each paper has to be evaluated for 
permanence the best we can, based on limited information. I'm 
at least as worried about coatings as about brighteners. (Look at 
what Somerset Photo Enhanced does to Lysonic inks!) My 
experience with photo papers leaves me open to the idea that  
brighteners are potentially long-lasting and stable components 
of art papers. I'll be very interested in how the Legion Matte tests 
out.

--David Stock