Digital BW, The Print

Was your image in RGB mode when you printed?  If not, that might 
explain the bluish cast.  I've found that Photo Rag prints from a 2200 
are actually quite warm in tone compared to EAM or Eclipse Satine-BW - 
probably because of the comparatively warm white paper base of PR.  I 
like eclipse satine and to my eye at least the blacks are equally deep 
on all 3 papers.
On Tuesday, November 19, 2002, at 11:22  AM, chipcarterdc wrote:

> OK, this is not intended as flame bait or to disparage this paper or
> anyone who uses it.  Here's the story.  I have an Epson 2200 printer
> and am trying different papers.  I recently ordered 2 sample sheets
> of Photo Rag to try out -- after reading all the glowing reports on
> it here and elsewhere, I though I'd give it a shot.
>
> The problem is, while I don't dislike the paper, I don't particularly
> like it either.  Last night, I printed the same image on Epson
> Enhanced Matte and Photo Rag and preferred the Enhanced Matte print.
> The Photo Rag print tended toward the cold side, with a bluish cast,
> while the Enhanced Matte looked like a more neutral black (I found
> this to be true under a variety of lighting conditions (incandescent,
> halogen and daylight) -- the Photo Rag looked bluish while the
> Enhanced Matte looked more neutral.  In terms of the density of the
> blacks and detail of the image, they looked the same -- this wouldn't
> be a strike against Photo Rag, except that it's so much more
> expensive that I was hoping there'd be a substantial enough
> difference to justify the cost.
>
> Here are the possibilities that have occurred to me:
>
> (1) Personal preference -- those who really like Photo Rag prefer the
> cold tone bluish cast and I don't (which is fine)
>
> (2) Photo Rag doesn't work particularly well with the 2200, and/or
> the people who really enjoy Photo Rag are using different systems,
> like the third party quadtone systems so many people here are using
> (which would dictate that I not use Photo Rag, since I don't
> currently plan to investigate third party inks)
>
> (3) There's something wrong with my settings, resulting in the bluish
> cast on Photo Rag (I used Postscript Color Management in the
> Photoshop driver and Color Controls: Photorealistic in the Epson
> driver; media type was set to Epson Watercolor Radiant White, as
> recommended by the Inkjetart website).  I also used Matte Black ink,
> not Photo Black, for the Photo Rag and Enhanced Matte prints.
>
> (4) The standard response: get a custom profile (yes I recognize the
> value of this; no, I have not decided to get custom profiles made
> yet).
>
> As things stand, the only advantages of Photo Rag over the Enhanced
> matte are (1) it "feels" better because it's heavier (not very
> important to me personally); (2) I do like the very slight textured
> appearance of Photo Rag; (3) most importantly, Enhanced Matte is not
> as archival as Photo Rag (from what I've read, even if the
> Ultrachrome inks are equally archival on both papers, the Enhanced
> Matte is slightly acidic and the paper will start to yellow in about
> 30 years).
>
> So, am I missing something or doing something wrong with Photo Rag,
> or is it really a difference in personal preference and/or equipment?
>
> Your thoughts are really appreciated, and sorry for the long post.
>
> BTW, I foolishly bought 2 packs of Photo Rag before doing my
> testing.  They are unopened, however, so I'm trying to figure as much
> of this all out as possible before I open those packs so I can return
> or sell them if necessary/
>
>
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