Digital BW, The Print

One of things I have found most difficult evaluating an inkjet print 
(not paper) has been the apparent sensitivity to lighting condition.  
So, using an old Minolta color meter, I've been looking at prints 
under a 5K light at 450-500 LUX and then walking it around the house, 
near windows, and in the kitchen where I have set up an easel under a 
combination of window light during the day and both halogen and 
incandescent lighting day and night.  I have been using largely the 
VFA.  

These evaluations have been difficult to pin down and I have had some 
surprises looking at prints in other environments, including recently 
a gallery under mostly halogen light.  I've mostly chalked it up to 
the increased sensitivity we all have about the digital process, 
exercising standards and technology that we never used in "wet" days.

Well, after two days looking at the USFA, I noticed that it was very 
consistent in different lighting conditions, sort of what I remember 
from darkroom days.  It finally dawned on me that the tonal scale of 
VFA (with its OBAs) is partly (and significantly) a product of not 
only illumination levels and white balance, but the amount of UV 
present in the light source.  Duh!  This, in my book, is a good 
reason all in itself to avoid OBAs.  The other reasons I'm not sure 
about, but an OBA-free paper certainly can't hurt anything.

Walt