Digital BW, The Print

I posted a message awhile back and wanted to provide some feedback on 
my testing of Crane Museo Max and Museo II paper.   

First, this is gorgeous paper, nice texture, well made, resists 
scuffing, and comes with a slip sheet between sheet of paper.  Nice 
stuff with very good quality control.  

Using QTR, I am able to reach a Dmax of about 1.66 on an Epson 4000 
at 60% ink flow.  The paper has good latitude and even at 75% ink 
flow, the Dmax only drops to 1.65, so it seems to be forgiving.  I 
have found on highly textured papers that I sometimes get slightly 
lower Dmax readings than I do on very smooth papers, perhaps having 
to do with the way light is scattered at different angles.  Anyway, 
at 1.66, this paper exhibits nice rich visual blacks.  So, for B&W 
work and a B&W RIP, it is a viable paper.

The Epson driver, at least so far, has not been as successful.  I 
tried a whole lot of settings and did a bunch of tests on my 4000 
with the Epson driver.  The best Dmax I have gotten so far is 1.57.  
The SuperX microweave should be UNCHECKED (it seems to lower Dmax in 
all my tests).  Also, the Epson Print Service Utility 2 allows you to 
change the dither pattern, and going from standard to dither #2 
pattern boosts Dmax just slightly, but not as much as turning off 
SuperX.  My thanks to Shilesh Jani for those suggestions.  Thanks, 
Shilesh.  The other driver settings were EEM paper setting, 1440 dpi, 
No Color Adjustment, slow speed, no edge smoothing, paper thickness 
of 6, and the Ink Density Slider set to -20%.  Apparently, this paper 
prefers less in than EEM.  At standard ink density, the Dmax dropped 
to about 1.52.  As a basis for comparison, my 4000 with the Epson 
driver delivers a Dmax of 1.67 on EEM using the same tests.  Your 
printer may deliver better or worse results, but the relative 
performance will probably be very similar.

That's a lot of work just to get 1.57 Dmax.  The average person using 
the Epson driver will probably see a Dmax of 1.55 or less.  I have 
been speaking to Crane and they are actively testing to find settings 
that will give a better Dmax.  I hope they do, because it is really 
nice paper.

At least so far, I believe that if you want superior results from 
this paper for color work, you probably need a full featured RIP.  
Crane told me, and I have confirmed in my testing, that Museo Max and 
Museo II do much better at the dark end with more black ink and a lot 
less color ink in the mix.  This means a good CMYK RIP and heavy GCR 
in the shadows should make it sing.  Unfortunately, the Epson driver 
is a black box and you have very limited control.

So, at this time, I can summarize as follows:

Gorgeous paper, well made, scuff resistant, nice texture, etc.
Should get very good results with QTR, IJC/OPM or other B&W RIPs.
For Color, you probably need a good CMYK RIP that controls individual 
ink limits, and you need heavy black generation in the deep shadows.
At least so far, the Epson driver is weak with this paper for color 
work.

If I learn anything more, I will share it.  I am impressed by Crane's 
response and desire to help.  Maybe they will find the magic settings 
in the Epson driver that unleash the paper's full potential.

Regards,  Lou Dina