Digital BW, The Print

Guess I've never seen the "smooth" good stuff.  The deep "stippling"  
is present on all of the F-type that I have right now (17x22 and  
11x17 inch sheets).  Jim Doyle has probably seen more of this paper  
than most of us so he may be able to comment more on consistency.

On Jun 20, 2006, at 2:53 PM, Kirk Thompson wrote:

> I'm surprised to encounter so much inconsistency in the Innova F- 
> Type surface.
>
> A couple of weeks ago I borrowed some sample sheets from a lab/ 
> printer in my building.
> We thought the surface was unattractive - not like an air-dried  
> gelatin silver paper, but
> stippled or indented.
>
> But I tried again:  After reading Michael Reichmann's Luminous  
> Landscape review that
> praised the paper, I wondered if I'd seen a bad lot.  I tried a new  
> package of letter-sized
> paper.  Out-of-the-box, the surface looked a little different, and  
> prints on it looked
> noticeably better - smoother surface, higher reflectance, & less  
> (though still slightly)
> stippled.  I was won over by it & sent some targets off for color  
> profiling.  The blacks on
> the target prints looked very deep & I could see why Michael was  
> impressed.
>
> Planning to print a portfolio on it, I bought two packages of  
> 17x22" paper - only to find
> that they matched not the letter-sized paper, but the 'cardboard'- 
> surfaced  version I'd
> seen at first.
>
> I subsequently got a private e-mail from a member of this forum,  
> saying that the first
> batches or runs of F-Type did look somewhat different.
>
> I've sent an request to Innova for a return or replacement  
> authorization of what I suppose
> was a bad batch or early version.  I understood that the 17x22"  
> packages had been sent to
> my dealer quite recently, so apparently it's still being sent out   
> in some sizes or to some
> dealers.
>
> I'd urge anyone interested in trying the paper to be sure they can  
> return it if it looks
> deeply stippled, or simply inconsistent.