Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for that paper update.

It seems like I have heard somewhere that Epson takes the Premier Art rag and coats it 
again to produce thier Ultrasmooth. If you are seeing less scuffing on the Ultrasmooth that 
could be the reason. 

Unfortunately from what I can remember the Ultrasmooth is not available in 300 gsm dual 
sided, only Premier Art Hotpress. The US is available in 400 gsm dual which is too thick for 
books. And that is too bad because I found this paper to transfer blacks less than any 
paper around. ( the Crane Museo Max is new and I don't know about it yet and its not as 
smooth). I also find the Ultrasmooth to be the sharpest paper I've seen in a 100% rag. It 
also shows a lot less metamerism with some inksets due to that lack of OBAs.

I hope what you experienced is not the norm but if it happened on two different batches 
that is a  real concern.

John


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "wwodets" <odets@c...> wrote:
>
> I recently went to Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art for an OBA-free paper and 
> was impressed with it:  good image, impeccable quality, etc.
> 
> Having heard that Premiere Hot Press was the same paper, I ordered 150 
> sheets of it.  It looks like the EUS, measures like it and their 
> profiles are essentially identical.
> 
> The Premiere paper, however, shows *terrible* quality control: bad 
> edges, miscuts, insects smashed in the coating (really) and, worst of 
> all, radom scuffing of the coating that is quite visible in black areas 
> of the print.  
> 
> At the same time I bought a box of the Premiere Hot Press Textured and 
> these sheets were so badly cut and stiff and deformed that I had 
> difficulty loading them into the printer.  It is a very rough surfaced, 
> ugly, badly finished paper.
> 
> So, if you're thinking about a Premiere paper, watch out.  I was 
> shocked.
>