Digital BW, The Print

Hello James,

>My preliminary experience with MuseoMax has been somewhat different. 
>Using QTR and the Moab bright-white curves, the prints were exquisite. 

In looking back over the various comments so far, it seems like there
is pretty good agreement among them.  As to general appearance, for
example, you say "exquisite", and in my review I say "an exceptionally
beautiful paper".

As for dmax, there seems to be agreement that it is good but not as
good as the best ones.  In my system, for example, most of the A/B
papers have dmax of 4.0, with Innova papers at 4.5, and PR at 5.0.  I
rated Max at 4.2.  Here are some densitometer measurements from Greg's
post: "...dmax is around 1.66 for my inks...dmax of around 1.73 for 
many of the Hahnemuhle papers", John Moody reports "Dmax is 1.674",
and you say "...the d-max (by eye) looked similar to other 
premium papers".  So there's a lot of consistancy on this part.

I reported "...very high contrast which makes the blacks look too
blocked up...Requires an adjustment curve to lower the contrast...and
open up the blacks", and John reported essentially the same with
different terms: "...a distinct and abrupt change in the slope of
density vs. ink load...I can see why it blocks up...".


>...less prone to scuffing than virtually any paper I've used.

I agree (and I omitted this from my review, so I have revised it this
morning to include that - and it also resists burnishing), but I don't
recall seeing a report that said otherwise (did I miss one?).  John's
remark was about handling, not scuffing: "It is as sensitive to
contamination as they say...One light touch, and it leaves a distinct
fingerprint in the image".

So over all I don't see a wide disparity among the reports.  I think
we're getting a real good picture (so to speak <g>) of what this paper
is all about.  I suspect that further reports will reinforce these. 
It's scuff and burnish resistance should make it good for photo books.
 I think this will become a popular paper.

Regards,
Clayton


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