Digital BW, The Print

I just printed some comparison images on these three papers.  I've been
looking for a good smooth archival paper.

I printed the images with the 7500, using my new UC VM 4.3 inkset.  (MIS UC
clone-based variable-tone/mix "quad")  The MIS mew high-load 7600 matte
black seems to be about the same as the PiezoTone Museum black -- which
means excellent.

Epson Ultra Smooth Fine Art ("USFA" ?) is a cotton paper that prints much
like EAM/EEM.  It might be the true Archival Matte.  I received a small box
from Epson for sampling, but have no inside information about the product.

From a distance, the Eclipse prints cooler than the others, although with
the "nc" curve they all look like nice silver prints (with a matte finish).

The Ultra Smooth and Eclipse Satine print a little lighter than the EAM/EEM
(a new box of EAM that is apparently the new EEM coating).

The X-Rite measures the following dmax's for the papers:

	EEM - 1.68

	Epson Ultra Smooth - 1.60

	Eclipse Satine - 1.60.

The paper whites are (c, m, y, visual order):

	EEM - 0.04, 0.04, 0.02, 0.04

	Ultra Smooth - 0.03, 0.03, 0.05, 0.03

	Eclipse - 0.02, 0.02, -0.01, 0.02.

I have no information about relative amounts of optical brighteners, if any.
The creamier tone of the Ultra Smooth suggests it has no or fewer
brighteners.

On close inspection, the EEM has the smoothest tones in both the mid-tones
and shadows.  Ultra Smooth is second in the mid-tone smoothness contest.
Eclipse is second in the shadow smoothness contest.

The sample of Ultra Smooth I have is thin.  It probably will feed very
easily through  3000, but I have not tried it.  Epson undoubtedly has a
thicker version that most will prefer.

With the particular images I'm looking at, based just on image quality, I'd
pick EEM as best, Ultra Smooth as second best, and Eclipse as third best.
However, the rough shadow tones of the Ultra Smooth will put it at the
bottom of this list for a number of my images.

If the paper proves to be non-flaking (none noticed so far) and is priced
reasonably, it'll almost certainly find a good market.

(I will also be testing a Wei To de-acidification spray on EEM.  An
adequately buffered EEM may still win the race.)

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com

On 2/17/03 12:44 PM, "Paul Roark" <paul.roark@...> wrote:

> With the particular images I'm looking at, based just on image quality, I'd
> pick EEM as best, Ultra Smooth as second best, and Eclipse as third best.
> However, the rough shadow tones of the Ultra Smooth will put it at the
> bottom of this list for a number of my images.

Of course this is almost a given, seeing that you have developed your curves
for EAM/EEM.  Each paper has its optimum ink loads to perform best and needs
to have profiles made specifically for it to reach optimum performance.  I
don't use the epson driver for doing quad printing, so I don't know whether
the type of fine grain control that you need to make these various papers
sing is there.

Robert