Digital BW, The Print

> >   
> I'm not picking on anyone here, least of all djon43. Let that be said.

Thanks! I needed that!

My only alpha cellulose experience is with Moab Kayenta and one of the
Inkjetart.com house brands, whose surface was a little rougher.
Neither is as perfectly smooth as EEM, so more handsome to some, less
to others. Both come out of the box as white as EEM and have stayed
whiter through my short experience. 

Both Moab and Inkjetart suggest these as "proofing" papers, which
might have to do with their lust for the bigger dollar products. Think
that's possible? 

The latest inkjet photo papers have become ridiculously more expensive
than the silver papers from the same companies. Marketing by PT Barnum! 

> 
> But I have to ask the group members who are harping on alpha cellulose 
> some questions: are you the same people who have been begging for
inkjet 
> papers that replicate that air-dried F surface darkroom paper look? And 
> have you been begging for it to be less expensive? And are you aware 
> that all the excellent darkroom papers of the 20th century were alpha 
> cellulose?
> 
> Those old Adams, Weston, et al prints that everyone loves so much on 
> Kodak, Ilford, Agfa, etc. papers are alpha cellulose, not cotton rag. 
> They seem to be holding up rather well. And they certainly seem to be 
> holding their value.
> 
> I for one would love to see more alpha cellulose papers on the market.
> --
> Bruce Watson
>