Digital BW, The Print

Joe,

>Now that you have cited the Permajet paper as your
>paper of choice, you have piqued my interest.  ...
>...why you now prefer this new paper?  

These are the factors:

1. Cotton, buffered and acid-free for longevity.

2. No optical brightening agents ("OBAs").  These coating additives
(typically titanium dioxide) convert UV to visible light.  They give the
paper a very bright white appearance -- which can be good for cool images,
but not so good for warm ink tones.  Unfortunately, OBAs burn out and turn
yellow or leave the paper looking relatively yellow.  This will make the
print appear to be deteriorating.  Also, the brighteners, as they burn out,
put out very reactive oxidizers.  That is what wrecked the older RC photo
papers.  To mop these up, the photo companies added antioxidants.  Then
these yellowed.  Now they have, hopefully, better antioxidants.  However, I
prefer to just avoid these OBAs in the first place.

3. Non-flaking surface.  Most cotton papers have a problem with "dusting" or
"flaking."  This can be largely avoided if the paper is brushed or wiped off
first, but I'd rather not have to do this.  Also, with roll paper, it is
hard to wipe off the surface.  Moreover, I think flaking is a warning that
the paper coating is not well attached to the underlying substrate.  I worry
that it is the "canary in the coal mine" that could indicate trouble down
the road.

4. Good dmax.  Both Permajet Alpha and Epson UltraSmooth (aka Scrapbook and
Premier Art Hot Press) satisfy 1 - 3, above.  However, whereas UltraSmooth,
like several other good cotton papers, has a dmax in the 1.60 - 1.62 range,
the Alpha samples I've tested are in the 1.67 - 1.71 range.  This is in the
EEM and PhotoRag class, and it makes a difference in some photos.  (Note
that lots of cotton papers have dmax's of less than 1.6.  A year ago I was
excited to have UltraSmooth.)

5. Finally, Alpha has the nice 300 gsm feel, like the 300 weight PhotoRag.
When matted this really doesn't matter, but if you just hand a person an
un-mounted print, the feel of these thicker papers does convey feeling of
quality.

I hope the final production versions meet these expectations.

I'm hopeful that we'll have a number of excellent papers come out over the
next few years.  So, 6 months from now some other paper may be my favorite.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com 

For UT2 information, curves, and settings see:
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