Digital BW, The Print

Hello woody,

>You know, it is kind of interesting to me that, after
>much discussion to the contrary, it turns out that
>Epson EEM actually has great archival properties. (See
>the Wilhelm Research Website for details).
> 
>If the data at that website is correct (and why not to
>believe since this seems to be the final voice on such
>matters) then all of the other wonderful qualities of
>EEM are truly available for us to sell our fine art
>prints, eg brightness, luminance etc. And finally,
>given the price of EEM, this has to be one of the
>truly great papers out there.

If you tack a piece on your wall and watch it go yellow over a few
weeks you may change your opinion.  I'm not sure what Mr. Wilhelm is
measuring, but ask any experienced user and you'll hear about it
yellowing.  Maybe he's just measuring whether the ink fades or
something.  It used to be called EAM (Epson Archival Matte) and Epson
changed the name and removed the "Archival" part after they got fussed
at about it.  IMO it would be a big big big mistake to sell anyone a
print on this paper and call it archival.  Please be careful and do
the homework.


>I have spent inordinate time (as have most of you
>judging from the threads in this forum) trying to find
>a paper that meets EEM's characteristics and with
>superior archival qualities. Are we overlooking the
>obvious.........that EEM is our saviour all along?
>What am I missing?

Photo Rag, Dourian Art and Kayenta all have very similar contrast
curves to EEM.  I often print on them with no adjustment after working
up a proof on EEM.  PR and Dourien (nearly identical) are close to
EEM's color, medium warm.  Kayenta is cold tone.  Innova's Fiba is
also similar in tone and contrast to EEM, but it prints darker so some
lightening will be needed to match the EEM proof.  But the end result
is excellent.  There are really a LOT of good papers out there.

I have just uploaded a revised Great Paper Chase article (been working
on it for several weeks).  It now lists 24 papers with their color,
ink tone and dmax attributes, plus other observations.  This might be
helpful in finding something new to try.

Regards,
Clayton


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