Digital BW, The Print

I have done the beta tests of Silver Rag along with many other people
around here and here is a synopsis of what I found out.

I agree with the previous posters on this toppic Keith Johnson and
Ellie Kennard (you can search these archives as well as the digital
large format list for their comments), that it is a very interesing
and innovative paper.

I actually liked it even better than I had thought I would and, my
clients are already wanting me to do work for them on it. For me it is
a huge step beyond rc. Like Keith, it is the kind of thing that makes
me want to reprint past work with it. It is strikingly close to the
old Agfacolor fiber based type c media that was abandoned after
everything went rc. And, I always loved that surface and opulance.

1. In tests on the Epson 2400 K3 machine, the black and white work was
perfect using the ABM mode, very neutral, intense blacks, and no gloss
differential or bronzing at all, none. The color gamut for a color
tests was excellent. This inkset and this media is a perfect
combination. This would be my first choice, definitely. Its a breeze.

2. Much to my surprise the color tests with Ultrachrome K2 and the
9600 using PK and the Crane supplied SR profile was also really nice.
By really nice I mean more of a brilliant expanded gamut than the same
file printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag with a custom profile and much
blacker blacks. I am not doing scientific measurements or dmax density
plots but direct visual expriments. Of course the rc gloss papers with
PK also give you a better gamut and dmax than matte rag media so this
is no surprise.

As to gloss differential with the color 9600 prints it is almost
invisible, it has the very very slight relief effect of a dye transfer
print, you really have to look for it under strong light at a specific
angle. I did a 16x20 without spraying it and it is gorgeous the way it
is. With Premium Luster Epson I ALWAYS have to either spray or
laminate the work because of the gloss and bronzing problems.

3.What surprised me also was that I was able to do some nice black and
white prints using QTR and the 9600 PK on the Silver Rag. But, only
after spraying with Premier Art spray. When I first printed the print
I was able to achieve a nice neutral print easily, with fantastic
tonal range and dmax but the gloss differential and shadow bronzing
was pretty major (like all the gloss papers printed this way). I tried
spraying the monochrome prints with K2 with the Lascaux spray and it
didn't change anything for me. But when I tried some using Premier Art
the bronzing went away totally and the gloss differential fell in line
with the color work, which is to say you have to look very very hard
to see the relief image at all (like dye transfer prints). The print
color with QTR is controlable enought to produce neutral, warm, and
probably sepia work on it.

4. Finally, I tested SR with the Piezo Tone K6 neutral inkset on my
7000. The image did stick with no rub off, the tonal range was
outstanding even without any kind of curve made for this media, the
color warm neutral, almost exactly like Portriga Rapid. However, the
gloss differential and the bronzing in the maximum back areas was
totally horrible. No spray helped. To be fair though this is a matte
black in that inkset with heavy carbon content, and this paper was
definitely designed for PK. Also with a rip and channel partitioning
to control the amount of ink being laid down in the deepest blacks, it
might be possible to use this inkset for it, but you would have to
substitue somekind of photo black in there and who knows what that
would do to the carefully worked out consistency of the neutral color.
I'll leave that test to others. But if I were Inkjet Mall I would
certainly be seriously considering this possibility because the
combination would be awesome if possible. Apparently the Cone Quads
don't stick at all and are not workable.

Now the texture. I like it fine. It is to me somewhere between an
Epson Semi Gloss RC surface and the dye transfer color fiber paper
mentioned before. Once flattened the prints lie flat for me, and curl
on a roll the same way a gelatin silver paper would. Of course the rc
glossy papers curl a lot too. With the prints that I sprayed with
Premier Art spray this very slight texture is amost totally smoothed
out, and then you really have a darkroom gelatin silver look, if that
is important to you. This texture being a very slight luster, is not
the kind of mechanical texture you get with Premium Luster or Type C
luster which is run through a texture machine. It looks more natural
to me.

We will have to work a few months with this media to explore it fully
but so far I'm impressed and wish I had it 7 years ago. The only thing
we don't know about this coating is its potential longevity. In order
for me to start really cranking out tons of work with it I want to
learn someting substantial in this regard. Lets hope Crane is working
on that now.

John