Digital BW, The Print

Hello Amadou,

>A couple of years ago I tried some sheets of the PremiereArt Hot
>Press, and while the Dmax with the Cone inks was relatively low,
>their coating held a very very tight dot, providing excellent image
>sharpness. The Innova papers hold a tight dot as well, compared to 
>the Hahnemühle lineup. I find that on images with lots of fine 
>detail and selective focus a tighter dot can give a greater sense of 
>depth or dimensionality.

I'm always amazed how different papers can be in this impression of
depth.  VFA is outstanding in this regard.  VFA also has some texture
and is not a hard surface, but somehow manages to retain very fine
detail.  It's biggest problem is a tendency to flake (and it's
expensive).  I put up with it because it's so good looking and nothing
else (that I've tried so far) beats it visually (with K3).

I tried PA Hot Press when I was using primarily MIS inks and was
impressed with everything except dmax.  If it wasn't for that I would
have used it.  I haven't tried it with K3 ink, I guess because I
haven't heard that it's any better and don't want to spend money to
find out.

So I was really surprised by the dmax of MBW.  I wish whatever is
producing the dmax there could be transferred to a warmer paper.  If
Hot Press had that dmax....now that would be a winner.

I still have hope that my dream matte paper will arrive some day: the
beauty and feel of VFA with the dmax of SR and physical durability and
non-flakiness of Museo Max.  I'm not asking too much am I?


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm