Digital BW, The Print

Sarah,

Some possibilities.....

Innova Papers are about 1/3 the price of the HPR.  Supposedly, some 
people from Hahnemuhle formed Innova, so the weight is similar.  The 
Fiba-print and Smooth Cotton papers are acid free and have about the 
same Dmax as HPR.  I have just run a few Dmax tests, but haven't 
built any profiles or done any prints yet.  www.shadesofpaper.com has 
a sampler pack with two sheets each of 4 different Innova papers, if 
you are interested.  Included in the sampler are Cold Press Art and 
Soft Textured Art papers, but of which are much more textured.  I 
didn't see any mention of optical brighteners in any of the 
litereature, so you will probably have to ask Jim Doyle at Shades of 
Paper if they have any.

Another good paper at a reasonable price is Moab Entrada.  These 
papers are reasonably priced and coated on both sides.  The Bright 
White has optical Brighteners, but the Natural has none at all.  Both 
are acid free.  I have lots of nice prints on both.  Moab papers had 
some paper dust problems initially, but they responded to complaints 
and are doing a good job now of shipping dust free product.  

Crane Museo II is a gorgeous, heavy paper (365 gsm), but has more 
texture than the ones mentioned above, more like the textured Innova 
papers.  It is more expensive than the above papers, but less than 
HPR.  Museo II is coated on both sides and the quality is superb.  
Dmax is comparable to HPR from what I have seen in my tests.  

Epson Velvet Fine Art is also a wonderful archival paper.  It has the 
best Dmax of any paper I have personally used so far (with UC-MK 
inkset), but is a little pricey.  Sheet sizes are limited, but 
available in 13x19.  One of my favorites.

Epson Enhanced Matte is also a great performer, but is not acid 
free.  Many have commented on yellowing, but I haven't seen any in my 
EEM prints (so far).  I use a fair amount of it, but not for prints I 
would sell.  It's not worth the risk to me.  Probably one of the best 
performers, right behind VFA.  Actually, I was testing the Innova 
papers looking for an acid-free archival EEM substitute that is 
reasonably priced.  They are nice papers but don't have quite as good 
a Dmax in my testing so far.  The smooth cotton and fiba-print are 
contenders with a similar smooth finish but heavier than EEM.

All the papers above are available in sheets, and many in rolls.  I 
use them with both my 2200 and my 4000 with the UC inkset.  I have 
also used some of them with MIS UT-7 inks in my 2200 and they perform 
well.  FWIW, the 4000 driver seems a little weak on matte papers, but 
QTR (with standard UC inks) can hit higher Dmax levels than the 
driver.  I suspect the 4000 driver was set a little conservatively 
for matte papers, but Epson will never admit it.  The fact that I can 
get the 4000 to reach higher Dmax levels using QTR with UC inks tends 
to support this contention, so it isn't the printer itself.  This 
doesn't seem to be an issue with glossy, semigloss or luster media.  
I haven't had this issue with the 2200 and the 2200 driver, which 
seem to perform well with the standard UC inkset on matte papers.  

Hope this provides some food for thought.  

Lou

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "sagaface" 
<sagaface@y...> wrote:
>
> I have read with great interest Clayton's article on papers but 
wondered what some of you 
> are gravitating towards, specifically, what are you all printing on 
for sale or exhibition? I 
> like HPR's characterisitcs...all except the price and the flaking. 
Ultrasmooth sounds 
> promising but I'm on a 2200 and would like sheets.
> 
> Anyone?
> 
> Sarah
>