Digital BW, The Print

This is REALLY weird. I consider photo rag to be a very warm paper no
matter what inks are used on it.  It has a slightly cream colored base,
so a cold tone print wouldn't look good on it at all.  I have printed
with Paul's curves on it with the cold tone, and it just doesn't make
it. It's very nice with the neutral curve, but still a tiny bit warm.
The paper IS way overpriced.

... 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)

I've never heard of anyone who called this paper cool with a bluish
color cast!!!!!

> 
> (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)

This may be the cause. the 2200 may indeed give you bluish results, but
the VM quads sure don't.

> 
> 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).

Probably much sooner than that.

> 
> So, am I missing something or doing something wrong with Photo Rag,
> or is it really a difference in personal preference and/or equipment?

Yes, it's a difference in personal preference and equipment.

Jerry