Digital BW, The Print

Because printers, inks, densitometers, etc. are not completely consistent, I
wanted to be sure that I was making a fair comparison of this new paper to
the other papers I had mentioned in my first post, below.  So, I printed and
measured a fresh 100% patch on 5 papers -- Ink Jet Art's new Museum Digital
Art, Epson UltraSmooth Fine Art, "PhotoRag" (actually Media Street's Royal
Renaissance 189), Eclipse Satine Bright White, and Epson Archival/Enhanced
Matte (a relatively new batch).  The printer was the 1160, paper setting at
Heavy Weight matte, Eboni black ink, RGB file and "color ink" setting.

I measured both the 100%/dmax and the paper base.

Here are the results for the 100% black:

InkJetArt Museum Digital Art -- 1.58

Epson UltraSmooth -- 1.58

"PhotoRag" -- 1.64

Eclipse Satine -- 1.59

EAM/EEM -- 1.66


The paper base measures were as follows (c, m, y, and visual):

Museum Digital Art -- 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.03

UltraSmooth -- 0.02, 0.03, 0.05, 0.03

"PhotoRag" -- 0.03, 0.04, 0.03, 0.03

Eclipse Satine -- 0.02, 0.02, -0.01, 0.02

EAM/EEM -- 0.04, 0.04, 0.02, 0.04.

The Digital Art and UltraSmooth are the only two papers here that do not
have optical brighteners in them, I believe.  As such, they might be direct
competitors for those who want the most stable paper possible.

Based on this more accurate comparison of Museum Digital Art ("MDA" ?), I'd
say Epson's UltraSmooth could be in for some tough competition.  The printed
test strips look identical and very good.  It will be interesting to compare
prices when the Epson product is out and readily available.

One concern I have with MDA is flaking of the paper surface.  I have no way
to accurately and objectively compare the papers in this regard.  One MDA
test strip that had been rubbed by other papers in a pile showed serious
flaking, however.  This is, of course, a problem with many of these papers
(PhotoRag and Eclipse, specifically) but one that, I believe, Epson put some
effort into solving or improving with its UltraSmooth.  I have yet to see
such flaking on UltraSmooth, but this is just a casual observation and not
an objective comparison I'd put much weight on.

I hope this more accurate comparison helps.

For more information on this paper, see the InkJetArt website at
http://www.inkjetart.com/wc/museum/ .

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com
______________________



-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Roark [mailto:paul.roark@...]
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 8:28 PM
To: DigitalB&WPrint
Subject: [Digital BW] Ink Jet Art's Museum Digital Art paper


I just received my sample pack of Ink Jet Art's "Museum Digital Art" paper.
It's a 205 gsm, double-sided, acid-free, cotton paper that appears to be a
good value.

It feeds and prints well in my 1160 with the MIS Ultra Tone inkset.  The
standard curves could use a little tweaking to be perfect on it, but they
are very close as is.

The general look of the paper is very smooth.  I think the smoothness rivals
EEM.

The only problem I see with the paper is that the dmax is only 1.56.  The
competing cotton papers -- Epson UltraSmooth, PhotoRag, and perhaps Eclipse
(if there is any left) -- get a bit over 1.60.  EEM gets about 1.65.  So,
with Eboni black, the Ink Jet Art paper is at a disadvantage.

To see if a higher ink load such as what a RIP might be able to do, I double
printed a test strip.  The dmax stayed at 1.56.  So, I'd say it is doubtful
whether a RIP will be able to do any better than the Epson driver.

To see if less ink would raise the dmax, I printed a test strip with the
driver set to "Photo Quality Ink Jet" paper.  The dmax stayed at 1.56.

Perhaps a different black ink would do better, but with Eboni (and I'm
guessing Piezo Museum) 1.56 looks like it is about as good as we're going to
get on this paper.

Overall, aside from a slightly weak dmax, this paper looks like a winner.

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com




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