Digital BW, The Print

.... and here are some brief comments on how I saw the beta Oriental Fiber 
Based paper:

1. I think it wins on being the only one of the "glossy" types to be so thick and 
OPAQUE. Unlike many of the Epson and Ilford papers this one you can't see 
through to the back.

2. It may also win on longevity tests, though that remains to be seen. If indeed 
it has OBAs as Robert found out, it may yellow "down" a bit, but the backing 
and coating may be more archival than other similar papers.

3. The sheen of the surface is not quite a shiny as an air-dried fiber paper, it 
appears duller. In my rub-down tests (rubbing the surface with sterilized 
cotton), I noticed a white "dust" coming off, much like a clay-coated paper. This 
may make the surface delicate. No telling if this is how the final release will 
be, however.  There seems to be an unusual 3-layer coating that produces 3 
distinct  surfaces when rubbed away. 

4. Next to the Ilford Smooth Pearl, this paper produced an even bronzing in 
the denser areas without color shifts (used with UltraChromes and IJC/OPM). 
Ilford, produced a different color bronzing in the mid tones than the shadows 
which I found annoying. Oriental probably has the least bronzing of many 
other "glossy" paper I've seen with UC inks (printed samples courtesy Robert 
Morrison). 

5. Despite the low bronzing and good look-and-feel, when I held up a real 
double weight fiber print, the difference in surface sheen produced by the 
amount of ink on the Oriental prevented it from looking like a darkroom print. It 
does look like one when the light hits it at 45 degrees and the ink doesn't 
shine. Otherwise, it looks funny, just as any pigment inkjet print  on glossy 
would. In that respect, we are not there yet.

6. Using Inkjet Control to profile and OPM to drive the 2200, I made a neutral 
profile (i.e. with some LCyan and LMagenta) that brought the dmax up to a 
respectable 2.14.  With the same software, however,  I brought the Ilford 
Smooth Pearl to around 2.4. It's a trade off between bronzing and dmax it 
seems. For those who want to play, both profiles are in our Files section, 
(though it may be a while before Oriental samples  become readily available).


In conclusion, if I wanted a digital paper that felt a lot like a darkroom 
double-weight fiber paper, I would have no other choice but to go with 
Oriental.  It is still a compromise compared to a silver print, but a light coat of 
Krylon would probably mask the slight bronzing, and logevity would be better 
than other similar papers. 
However, I'll have to wait for the final production sheets to see if the surface is 
smoother and less delicate than this sample. After all, I only had 2 sheets: 1 to 
make a profile and one to print a picture!! So, please take these comments as 
very preliminary and with a large grain of salt.  Many thanks to Robert 
Morrison for generously sharing the very few sheets he managed to get his 
hands on for these tests.


Antonis