Digital BW, The Print

Hello All;


I've spent the last month trying out a paper called Sunset Photo 
eSatin Paper 300g
sold by Lexjet. It is reasonably priced, available in all sizes and 
rolls, and I'm told its OBA-free (I'm not sure I belive this, but 
having no UV light I can't verify) but not acid-free. It is the 
heaviest, stiffest RC paper I've seen or handled. It should be quite 
easy to use in large sheets without creasing. Here are my 
impressions:

I'm getting an uncoated dmax of 2.37 after dry-down, over 2.5 with a 
coating. This with MIS K4 inks on an R1800.
Surface color is a bit yellow out of the box, in fact it looks and 
measures just 
like a satin version of the Costco paper might. There's a glossy 
version I haven't yet tried, and probably won't.
Surface texture has been the major dissapointment. It looks very 'RC 
papery' with a mechanical stipple similar to Epson semi-gloss or any 
other RC luster or semi-gloss paper. If you don't mind that, this 
paper is a winner.

The first week of fade-testing it appeared to be getting bluer, but 
now it seems to have stabilized at a bit yellower than it started. 
The difference is so slight I sometimes see it & sometimes don't 
depending on the light. The spectro puts the B value at a starting 
average of -3.5 and a 3-week average value at -3.45

Three weeks of south window exposure with sunlight 4-5 hours a day 
has 
produced no visible or measurable change in the dmax, but a slight 
change in 
all other densities. From 95% through 70% it has lost .02, and from 
65% to 05% it has lost .01. I don't know if this small a change is 
statistically 
significant, but the change and trend were very consistent, so even 
though it is not visible yet, I expect sooner or later it will 
become so. Still, this seems 
to be a relatively stable paper that would do fairly well under 
glass in 
normal display conditions.

The weight and heft of this paper are by far its greatest appeal-at 
300gsm it feels good in the hand, and doesn't flex as easily as most 
RC papers. 

And it does print well, with good presence for an RC paper, good 
shadow separation, great dmax. It 
produces a really nice snappy print that in most ways is better than 
any halide RC print I've ever seen.
 
Not bad, but I'm still looking.  

Steve