Digital BW, The Print

"fh.g" wrote:
> 
> I have not yet bought a printer to dedicate to B&W - but I'm reading all I
> can to catch up and establish whether I'll be able to set up a
> printer/ink/paper flow that will produce prints which approximate
> traditional fibre base silver prints. My question now is which papers would
> come close to a glossy fibre base (Not RC) surface with the attendant depth
> of tone ? I have seen samples of inkjet prints done on Epson Archival matte,
> Somerset Velvet, & ConeTech Chelsea. These, of course, do not. Fibre base
> glossy usually is not a high gloss like the "plastic" finish of RC gloss,
> but it has a sheen or lustre, which can produce rich dark tones,  which
> matte surface lacks. Any ideas ? Better yet, anyone willing to mail (I'll
> gladly reimburse) me a sample ?
> thanks
> Frank
> http://www.frankgross.com/

Frank;

I too have been looking for a paper that would approximate a traditional
fibre print. I do a lot of portraits with very smooth even tones and
don't really care for papers with a lot of tooth that tend to disrupt
the image. The best paper I have found so far is Kodak Satin inkjet
paper. To the touch this paper does feel like plastic  BUT to the eye it
is VERY much like a traditional fibre glossy air dried print. The paper
has a wonderful sheen to it without being too glossy... nice tonal
depth! There are a few drawbacks to this paper:  It currently only comes
in one size, 8 1/2" x11" . It does come in 2 weights. <Ulitma> 71lb 270
g/m . For a little less money it comes in <Premium grade> 59lb 220 g/m.
But so far NO larger sizes. With the MIS inks.. the prints come out of
the printer ALMOST dry but not totally. I tend to let them dry overnight
or hit them with a hair dryer on the COOL setting. I have a feeling that
with the Cone inks, they may exit the printer even less dry. When these
prints are viewed off angle they appear quite metallic! To get rid of
this problem I have been spraying them with Lumijet inkjet uv spray.
Once sprayed the blacks on this paper become even more luscious. Because
this paper is less porous than fine art inkjet papers there is less dot
spread. If you have any  banding it will be more visible on this paper.
Any dot visibility is also more apparent.

My 2nd choice for a really smooth paper is Legion Photo matte. It is
matte paper so it does not have the sheen of an air dried fibre paper
but it is a VERY smooth very white paper that produces excellent blacks!
Under glass it would be VERY hard to distinguish it from a Fibre print.
This paper come in 3 sizes that I know of. 8 1/2 x 11, 11 x 14 & 11 x
17.  

-Jeff