Digital BW, The Print

Thanks to Clayton, Paul and Diana for their responses.

Yesterday I talked with reps from Hawk Mtn (Diana left a phone 
message and I actually spoke with someone else), Hahnemuhle and Red 
River.  The bottom line on actual driver settings:  HM Condor BW with 
Ultra Smooth Fine Art; RR Dourian with Velvert Fine Art; and HPR with 
Velvet Fine art.  Arches, with whom I did not speak, variously 
recommends Ultra Smooth Fine Art or Watercolor for smooth and VFA for 
the textured paper.   

Without identifying the particular companies, I also came away with 
the following observations:

1.  The setting is mostly about ink load and the differences among 
the matte paper type settings in this regard is very slight.
2.  The "fine art" papers all require a coating (at least for 
pigments) and the differences in the coatings are very slight in 
terms of ability to handle ink load.
3.  No one (as Diana suggested in her post) uses the EEM for 
anything.  Like Diana, I find the prints on this paper muddy (or 
dull) and the blacks uneven.
4.  At least one of the companies specifies certain paper types 
simply to allow more flexible loading options given the driver 
restrictions (e.g. EEM can be loaded in the sheet feeder and VFA 
cannot).  (This seems like a bad idea.)
5.  Like Clayton, I find some odd cast to the EEM prints (though I 
haven't tried the driver setting on other papers, other than HPR).  
It is my impression that this "cast" occurs fairly obviously with the 
driver setting on EEM and is probably visible with the driver setting 
on HPR.  I'm going to stop using it for anything.
6.  There was a great deal of admiration for Epson's ability to  
match printers to their papers and ink (or vice versa) and one rep 
said, "We can't do work of that precision."  Epson's dithering is 
also admired.
7.  One rep found credibility in Clayton's idea that the VFA paper 
type (and others) may well be doing more than adjusting ink load.  He 
mentioned "color correction" for the paper/ink combination, as well 
as dithering adjustments for the paper surface.  This was speculative 
I thought.  He imagined that if Epson could find a way to make third 
party papers unusable in their printers they would do that and that 
very specific driver/paper combinations would be one way to do it.

So, I'm going to do some tests on the five papers (VFA, EEM, RR 
Dourian, HPR and HM Condor BW) and try to get settled down on an 
approach.  I've been very happy with the image on VFA, but would like 
something with a little less texture.

Walt



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "wwodets" 
<odets@c...> wrote:
>
> There doesn't seem to have been much interest on the forum about 
this 
> printing issue (Clayton gratefully excepted), but I was able to 
have 
> informative phone conversations today with Hahnemuhle, Red River 
and 
> Hawk Mountain.  These guys were interesting and provided some 
insight 
> into the significance of this setting in the driver, what Epson is 
> doing with it, and how it relates to their papers. 
> 
> For such an OT-sensitive group, which is supposed to be about the 
> print not the printer, there is a surprising tolerance for printer 
> maintenance issues to the exclusion of issues that actually have to 
> do with prints.   
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "wwodets" 
> <odets@c...> wrote:
> >
> > On my 2400 I have been using VFA and HPR.  In the Epson driver I 
> have 
> > been selecting "Enhanced Matte" as the paper type for HPR.
> > 
> > I am now testing a few other papers: HM Condor BW, Arches Smooth, 
> and 
> > RR Dourian Art.  I am wondering about paper type selection in 
> general 
> > and in specific for these papers.  HM seems to 
> recommend "Watercolor" 
> > for the Condor; RR "EEM" for the Dourian; and Arches "Smooth Fine 
> > Art" (there is an "Ultra Smooth Fine Art" in the 
> > driver), "watercolor," or "Photobase."  I know others are using 
> these 
> > papers on the 2400/4800 and wonder what settings they've settled 
on.
> > 
> > More generally, am I correct that the issue with paper type 
> selection 
> > is the ink load?  Are other things being controlled with the 
paper 
> > type selection (other than forcing you to put it in one load slot 
> or 
> > another)?  With regard to ink load, does the specific paper 
coating 
> > make the difference or is it more a matter of texture?
> > 
> > I will be printing targets for QTR Create ICC so tonal scale 
> > differences are somewhat less important in paper type selection, 
or 
> > so I think.
> > 
> > Many thanks,
> > Walt
> >
>