Digital BW, The Print

The Da Vinci sounds really nice, except for the bronzing. If they used
Epson k3 inks there shouldn't be any at all. In my test of Silver Rag
with the K3 set for black and white I had neither bronzing or gloss
differences. Of course this issue of "sparkle" with SR is annoying. I
find it far more noticeble with smaller black and white prints than
large (16x20 up)color prints which I think is a good use for this paper.

There is definitely a big market for the most perfect media that gives
this deep dimensionality that glossy papers can provide without
surface distractions. The race is on.

I have three prints laid out on my table this am made from the same
greyscale file.

Ultrachrome K2-QTR on Hahnemuhle Museum Etching

Cone K6 on the same paper

and Silver Rag with K3 inkset

They all look good but the SR shown in the same context has truely
great dimentsion and a damax that makes the others look like platinum
prints by comparison. Interestingly enough, both of the Hahnemuhle
prints look sharper though, even when one is printed on an Epson 7000
and this is a fairly textured paper.

John




--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Steve Kale
<stevekale@...> wrote:
>
> 
> I just received a few sample sheets of this paper and their test image.
> Annoyingly the sheets were bent in the post and I am going to have to
> flatten them out somehow before printing on it.  The test image
included a
> step wedge and 100% K measures Lab 4.9, -0.2, -0.2.  So not quite
the 2.7D
> they themselves claim but a nice result nonetheless.  Actually I
just took a
> soft cloth and buffed the step wedge.  100% K now measures L* 4.0. 
Paper
> white measures 96.9, 0.8, -4.7.  Is it very much whiter than Crane's
Silver
> Rag.  The test image is simply said to be an RGB file and was apparently
> printed on a 4800 with K3 ink via the Epson colour driver (not Epson Adv
> B&W).  To my eye, there is considerable bronzing in the test image
in the
> lighter areas.  
> 
> While the surface is definitely a gloss rather than semi-matte, I
think they
> have definitely got it a lot better than Crane.  It's hard to
describe and
> communicate these things but the Da Vinci surface looks a lot more
natural
> and doesn't have the "sparkle" that Silver Rag has.  The texture is more
> pronounced than the Crane surface but more natural.  The Da Vinci
paper is
> not a cotton rag base but rather a 300gsm "acid free alpha
cellulose".  It
> does not have the pronounced curl of Silver Rag.
>