Digital BW, The Print

Hello All,

I have been doing more work with Merlin Smooth and the more I use it
the more impressed I become.  This is a unique paper and I think it
deserves a place alongside PhotoRag and other top-rung papers.  It is
a heavy cotton paper with a very nice smooth surface.

It has two features that give it a unique look:

1) With Eboni ink (and other carbon inks, according to other reports)
it gives a much cooler tone, almost neutral.  With this paper I can
finally produce prints that don't have that characteristic brownish
look that is nearly synonymous with carbon ink prints.

2) The paper has a long tonal scale that is reminiscent of platinum. 
It doesn't look exactly like platinum, but it has that nice ability to
look both razor sharp and pleasingly soft at the same time.  Hard to
describe, but quite distinctive.  The result is prints with a
beautiful look unachievable with other papers.  

Please note that this is not a replacement for Photo Rag or any of the
other good papers.  It is unlike them and should be considered another
part of the arsenal to choose from.  For me it belongs in the elite
circle of a few top-notch papers that stand out above the rest.

It doesn't have quite the Dmax of PR and VFA, but it is still very
good.  It is a moderate bright white surface (very close to but
slightly warmer than PR) and has OBA in the coating.  So far I haven't
seen any flaking (an ongoing problem with PR that causes me to toss
out a significant number of prints, which makes it even more
expensive).  It is heavy enough that my 2200 sheet feeder has a hard
time, so I use the rear feeder with it.  Merlin Smooth is very
reasonably priced and can be ordered from  
http://www.hawkmtnartpapers.com

NOTE: Be sure to specify the original "Merlin Smooth".  They have a
new paper called "New Merlin" (or just "Merlin") that is _not_ the
same.  It is just another brownish paper with inadequate Dmax like so
many others (I also recently tested some samples from Red River but
didn't find anything worthy of note).  The original Merlin Smooth is
"The Right Stuff".  

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm