Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for the heads up Tyler.

I just ordered the sampler pack from them.

Jules



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tyler Boley" 
<tyler@t...> wrote:
> 
> It seems as though there are finally some options for the 
performance
> Hahnemühle papers have been providing for B&W printing. I did some
> quick linearizations and test prints on Inovva Photo Smooth Cotton,
> Inovva Soft Texture Art, and another soon to be out labeled Inovva
> Rough Texture 315gsm, apparently to be called Cold Press 315 gsm.
> These are all coated 100% cotton (not sure if the rough is cotton)
> papers in the same family as other coated fine art papers like
> Hahnemühle, Somerset, and Hawk Mountain.
> What suprised me was that with Cone quad inks, the dmax for all were
> hovering right around in the same area as all the Hahnemühle papers 
we
> use. Within 0.01 or so plus or minus. Actually the highest was Soft
> texture, 0.002 higher than PhotoRag, these differences are hardly
> worth mentioning. Also interesting is that as they reached dmax they
> were not leveling off, as other papers including Hahnemühle seem to
> do. This suggests that the coatings take ink very well, and higher
> dmax might be possible with different inks or larger dot size.
> Photo Smooth Cotton would be the contender for a PhotoRag look, 
being
> the smoothest and whitest. Soft Texture Art and Cold Press 315 gsm 
are
> slightly less bright probably indicating less OBAs. The textures of
> these papers might be compared to German Etching and William Turner,
> but less coarse, as though the texture has been knocked down, more
> rolling and less granular. Very attractive. Initial test prints 
looked
> good, until I do more testing with different hues etc. it'll be hard
> to tell if there is a parting of the ways between these and the
> Hahnemühle papers in terms of image feel.
> I'm anxious to try some color on this stuff as well.
> That's all I have for now, but it's encouraging enough to report so
> those interested can begin testing for themselves. I'm also lead to
> believe pricing may be more palatable.
> As usual I would highly recommend Jim at shadesofpaper.com as a
> supplier, thanks Jim for the samples and the opportunity to test.
> Actually, just thanks for everything.
> 
> Options like this are good, we need more of them.
> Tyler