Digital BW, The Print

Hello Chris,

>Is an inkjet matte print as flat as a darkroom matte print? I have 
>never felt happy with the black obtained in the darkroom 
>(Ilford MG RC) on matte, c.f. gloss.
>Give me gloss any day.

I don't have any silver matte prints to compare (because I too never
used it much, only fiber glossy), but just from memory (having tried
some long ago) I think that an inkjet matte print is far richer than
the silver matte ever was.  They probably aren't really comparable.  

Part of this is a confusion of terms between the silver and inkjet
worlds.  There was a recent thread that discussed how "glossy vs
matte" in the inkjet world has been a reference to longevity as well
as appearance, where "glossy" in the silver world did not imply
longevity, only appearance.  The longevity debate in the silver world
was between RC and fiber, with glossy and matte surfaces being
available to both.

Today's matte inkjet papers are very rich in appearance, and the newer
glossy papers are narrowing the divide in the longevity dept.,  so
basically it's a whole new world and old definitions may not apply.


Regards,
Clayton


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