Digital BW, The Print

Hello All,

I've been using mostly VFA for a long time because it has great dmax,
depth, richness, etc., really gorgeous paper.  But it's so white it's
hard to find mat board for it.  I have an on-going project selling
matted prints at a gift shop, and the recent non-OBA paper threads got
my curiosity up so I've been searching for the best non-OBA matte
paper for K3 inks (my earlier paper tests were with Eboni - there's
quite a difference - see my other post on Eboni/K3 differences).  The
main ingredient of "best" for me is dmax, followed by other things.  I
would like a paper on which my prints can hold their own with the VFA
prints.

Paul suggested I try Premier Fine Art Hot Press 270 (PFA) so I got
some and gave it a test run.  An important part of this test was the
availability of an accurate dmax reading with a densitometer a friend
now has and has graciously offered to read my test prints.  

I ended up not liking PFA very much, but found one I like better in
Innova's Soft Texture Art (STA).  First thing was dmax.  With K3 ink,
VFA dmax is 1.75 (I think the best matte paper dmax I've heard of), so
that's my baseline for comparison.  PFA is 1.61 and STA is 1.66.  I
also tried Merlin Natural (1.55) and Museo max (no number yet but
looks slightly less than PFA and has the sheen problem mentioned below).

Here some other observations about PFA:

- hard to feed into printer, STA feeds much easier (maybe the rollers
can't grab the smooth surface...)

- burnishes and scuffs easily, even after extended drying.  Large
black area had a nice shiny roller mark.  STA had no such problems.

- black areas have a reflective sheen at certain angles which has the
effect of looking like very weak dmax.  STA print does not do this.

- bad low end shadow compression; difficult to correct, with most
efforts weakening the dark areas even more.  STA has very nice shadow
separation, plus better dmax to start with, so is much easier and
more satisfying to work with.)

- requires long drying time before evaluation can take place, with
dmax looking best after 4 to 5 hours.

- doesn't take K3 inks as easily.  Spent more time correcting for
color casts to get a convincing photographic look, was never fully
satisfied.  STA handled this much more easily.  

- is a nice bright paper, hard smooth surface.  STA is medium
textured, similar to VFA (Innova also has Cold Press Art, all else the
same but with heavy texture)

- Print looked a bit flat and lifeless compared to STA version (same
for Museo Max, BTW).  STA version has a 3-dimentionality and richness
that resembles VFA.  This is a very subtle thing, maybe not an issue
for some but I'm sensitive to it.  PFA made a nice looking print, but
the STA and VFA versions look better to me.

- Much cheaper than VFA, STA in between
 VFA at Atlex = $24.88/20 -> 1.25/sheet
 PFA at Atlex = $16.65/25 -> 0.67/sheet
 STA at Shades = $20.49/25 -> 0.82/sheet

STA is a tiny bit warmer in color than PFA, but both look good with BW
Westminster rag board.
>---------------------------------------------------------

Bottom line for me was STA was much easier to work with (printer feed,
open shadows, great K3 response, faster dryup time), made better
looking prints (dmax, depth, richness), and was more durable (no
roller marks, scuffing, burnishing).  With PFA I always felt the paper
was fighting me.  STA felt like a long-time good friend helping me to
do the work.

The STA prints don't have quite the dmax punch of VFA, but the prints
still look great.  The warmer paper tone adds a richness that VFA
lacks.  I think it will be good for this project.  I've ordered some
and will report back after some time with it.

So far, having tried PFA, Museo Max and Merlin Smooth (and with
Richard Smallfield reporting that Condor Natural has poor dmax),
Innova's STA is the only one that even comes close to competing with
VFA.  If anyone has any other non-OBA matte paper they think I should
try please contact me.


Regards,
Clayton


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