Digital BW, The Print

I have been testing/experimenting with Ink Jet papers for
somewhile....as Clayton coined..."the Paper Chase"  In general, matte
papers and the typical RC Ilford Pearl type papers seem to follow a
general pattern and stay more or less in a price range that seems
appropriate to cotton papers or RC mass produced papers.  I fully
appreciate the expense of cotton as a fibre base...so gladly accept
the higher price.  And the RC papers are remarkably good in
general...with the exception of the Mass Market kind of a plasticy
finish....but hey, what do you expect for a cheap paper???

I am confused about the F Type papers.  The coating and results are
not all that different than RC papers..and most of them are Alpha
Cellulose.  Yea, sure they are better than RC...but are they really
worth the significantly extra expense???

  This question came up again because I recently bought a test pack of
Legion/Moab which includes their "new" Colorado fiber.  I am appalled
how expensive this sheet is in relation to the cheap feel and the
apparent low quality control.  Light, curls like a SOB, and it has all
sorts of surface coating flaws.  I have looked at em all, and frankly
think the Innova F type are quite good...but  expensive IMHO for an
alpha cellulose base. 

Soooo...my question is...why is this stuff so expensive???  Might as
well be using precious metals?  I used to pay less and think I still
could pay less for Gelatin Silver. Of course, I understand the waste
and chemical expense with Gelative Silver...but I just cannot
understand why these so called Gelatin Silver look alikes are so
overpriced for such a low cost base.

I perceive this F type overpricing as just a market ploy.  Am I incorrect?

By the way,in testing the Legion test pack... I did find that the
Lasal Lustre is a lovely, less plastic looking paper...candidly it
tests much better than their so called top of the line Colorado...and
it lays flat as a pancake.  Similar Dmax, better hand, similar color.
 Does anyone else have experience with Lasal RC papers.  Kind of weird
when you look at em close...translucent...but the prints are quite lovely.

My wish is for a great general purpose alpha cellulose Ftype paper ,
similar consistency of RC type papers with a less mechanical look, and
one that is realistically priced in relation to the true costs of
making alpha cellulose base ( this should be relatively cheap...should
be lower than cotton, right???)...and a paper that is flat after
printing...hey is this tooo much to ask????

Thanks for your impressions!



Phil