Digital BW, The Print

http://www.moabpaper.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=112

I'm a longtime fan of Kayenta. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll be
forced to deal with with what seems a New York City front
organization. Maybe a deal I can't refuse. 

RIP Kayenta (whiter alternative to EEM, two sided, cheap, hi rez)....

HELLO Lasal (like all Moab, a name from my neighborhood
http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/mantilasal/

Lasal MAY BE BETTER. (All I've got is the info on the website and some
background gossip on alpha-cellulose future)

COMPARE the minimal Kayenta info from graveyard page to Lasal page:
two improvements for sure (gained gsm, got $1 less expensive per 50 in
letter size) ... MAYBE one more improvement: the new stuff's described
as "smooth" whereas Kayenta's faintly textured (or maybe smooth isn't
an improvement...eye of beholder). 

WORRIES are:

a) Kayenta's 205 gsm feeds reliably in stacks from my 2200 for
multiple prints ... I suspect Lasal's heavier gsm won't.

b) Kayenta's somewhat unsmooth surface is literally (loupe) higher
resolution (detail) than some other papers... I hope Lasal's is as
good in that respect.

C) Dmax? I don't measure, I make prints. Kayenta looks fabulous behind
glass or in an estar sleeve, better than nude, and it doesn't benefit
by photo sprays in my tests. I hope Lasal's as good. Only a few papers
are as white as Kayenta, and those don't seem to stay that way.

Alpha-cellulose (and SE Asian farmed-bamboo-based papers from Ilford's
Chinese successor) are the FUTURE. 

I doubt anyone will see ANY merit in cotton, currently 4X the price of
AC because of coatings, treatments, and PT Barnum factor. Consider
what WILL be (or become) equal or better archival characteristics of
there more advanced materials, along with upcoming "air-dried silver"
appearance and the brilliant unwhitened-white inherent in
alpha-cellulose. All sorts of textures will become available with
alpha-cellulose. We'll see more a-c manufacturers/distributors. I've
mentioned this before :-)