Digital BW, The Print

A few weeks ago I received a sample roll of Sihl Iridium Satin. I've
been very impressed with the surface -- just enough gloss to enhance
the image without distracting reflections, and the the same goes for
its texture. I'd like to continue using the paper, so what you report
concerns me. However, 1) if the the yellowing is only noticeable
through comparison with "fresh" sheets, 2) it stops yellowing at that
point, and 3)there is no significant/noticeable fading, then this
paper may be good for my purposes. After all, doesn't traditional
fiber paper with OBAs yellow to some extent also? At any rate, thanks
for the information. I look forward to reading any fade test results.

Chris Hargens



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steven
Karafyllakis" <stevekphoto@...> wrote:
>
> 
> 
> 
> Some may remember a few months back I expressed interest in a paper 
> called Sihl Iridium Satin. It is very nice material for an RC paper, 
> but the biggest drawback (until now) was unavailabilty in sheets. 
> That discouraged any real interest by list members, and its just as 
> well. I finally got around to doing an informal south-window 
> yellowing test, and the results were not good. But I put up some 
> other papers that have also been mentioned on this forum lately, and 
> one that hasn't, and I can at least suggest a viable new candidate 
> for those needing a luster/satin RC paper for commercial printing.
> 
> The papers I put up were: Sihl Iridium satin, Magiclee Lustre 
> Photobase, Inkpress RC Lustre, Ilford Soft Gloss (yeah I know, it's 
> glossy not lustre) and Oriental Graphica lustre RC. As control and 
> comparison I also put up Photo rag, William Turner, and Epson 
> enhanced matte. The enhanced Matte went up 3 days after the rest, it 
> was a bit of an afterthought.
> 
> I left them up for only 12 days before I checked them, and after 
> that short a period this is what I saw:
> 
> The enhanced matte (after only 9 days!) yelloewd the most, enough 
> that no control print comparison was needed to see the shift. No 
> surprise there.
> 
> Next in order of visible change was the Magiclee Photobase, Sihl 
> Iridium, and the Inkpress Lustre. The Oriental Graphica survived the 
> best of the lustre papers, on a par with the Ilford Soft gloss. 
> There may be a measurable yellow shift in those two, but since I 
> don't have a spectro, I can't verify.
> 
> There was no visible shift in either the Photo Rag or the Willie 
> Turner.
> 
> 
> That's the bad news. The good new is that the Oriental Graphica is a 
> fairly attractive paper (for an RC) prints well in color, takes the 
> K3 & K4 inks well (but not the older UC inks) has good Dmax (anyone 
> care to measure it for the group?) and is available in both rolls 
> and sheets up to 13 x 19. Guess I'll give it a whirl.
> 
> Steve Karafyllakis
>