Digital BW, The Print

Hello All,

A few days ago I mentioned the Innova Fiba Photo paper (IFP).  It's
very good and renders Eboni ink quite warm, similar to EEM and PR. 
It's the thickest alpha cellulose paper I've tested, most luxurious
feel of them all - only drawback is a pronounced curvature.  Excellent
Dmax and very smooth surface that makes BO look smoother.  Top notch
paper.  

However, I prefer a more neutral tone and so have been trying other
samples.  Here's what I found so far:

Legion Photo Matte (LPM) - nice cool tone similar to Condor, excellent
Dmax, smooth hard surface which makes BO prints look smoother, but has
two drawbacks: a blueish cold-white paper color that is a bit harsh
and unattractive, and it compresses the low shadow zones beyond what
can be rescued with a curve - requires a lot of fiddling and you never
quite get what you want.  Frustrating to use because of this.

Kayenta Photo Matte by Moab (KPM)- THE WINNER!  Has all the positive
attributes of LPM, with a slightly warmer, very attractive paper color
and actually opens up the shadow zones a bit more than EEM.  There's
more: it has a contrast curve very close to EEM, which means we can
print directly to it without adjustment curves.  It's also 2-sided,
lies perfectly flat, and is relatively inexpensive ($19.95/50 at
Adorama).  Has a fine balance between ink and paper color, and is
producing beautiful prints. Been using it for 2 days now and am
delighted.  Is proving to be economical in time as well as $.

Green Pix by Red River (GPX) - slightly cooler than EEM but still
looks warm, lower contrast so will need an adjustment curve.  Not
as nice a balance between ink/paper colors.  Good Dmax, but not
excellent.  Surface not as smooth, so BO prints look grainier.  Does
not make my A-List.

Grayhawk I by Hawk Mtn (GHK) - Ditto everything said about GPX.  Very
close match.
-------------------------------

So the two winners IMO are Innova Fiba for warm tone and Moab Kayenta
for cool tone.

I also did some research on alpha cellulose paper and found this web
site with a good concise explanation of what it is and why it's
considered as archival as cotton papers:

  http://www.artpaper.com/news.html

Here's a quote:

"High Alpha Cellulose - a very pure form of wood pulp which is
considered to have the same longevity as cotton or other plant
fibers."


Regards,
Clayton


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