Digital BW, The Print

I've been a fan of Hahnemühle PhotoRag 308 for a couple of years, 
primarily because of the relatively high D-max, "hand" and thickness 
of the stock. The only problem was/is it needs pre-print brushing to 
reduce "flaking." Also, although it has little texture, I would like 
it even smoother for prints with fine detail.

I got some Innova Smooth Cotton 315 from http://www.shadesofpaper.com 
because I had read that it was comparable to PhotoRag, and less 
expensive.

The Innova is 100% cotton and acid free. The texture is between 
almost textureless Epson Enhanced Matte and lightly-textured Moab 
Entrada Fine Art 190. Although it's 315gsm, compared to PhotoRag's 
308, it feels thinner... maybe because it is more flexible. To my 
eye, it is slightly warmer than PhotoRag. (To guage where I'm coming 
from, Entrada Fine Art appears bright white to me, followed very 
closely by Enhanced Matte.)

My Epson 2200 with Ultrachrome inks, using QuadToneRIP, has been 
producing outstanding monochrome on PhotoRag 308. The QTR Innova 
print appeared to have the same D-max as the PhotoRag (deeply 
saturated blacks), but with obviously more shadow detail, and 
slightly more highlight detail.

For color printing, I've been using one of Eric Bullock's Enhanced 
Matte profiles for PhotoRag printing, with excellent results. 
Comparing the two papers, PhotoRag leaned toward magenta in neutral 
tones; Innova leaned toward cyan. The Innova appeared to have more 
shadow detail, which could account for PhotoRag's slightly more 
overall contrast. D-max and color saturation appeared equal on both 
papers.

I didn't pre-print brush either paper, and both "flaked" about 
equally.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Ken Schuster"
<xspamxken.schuster@e...> wrote:
...
> My Epson 2200 with Ultrachrome inks, using QuadToneRIP, has been 
> producing outstanding monochrome on PhotoRag 308. The QTR Innova 
> print appeared to have the same D-max as the PhotoRag (deeply 
> saturated blacks), but with obviously more shadow detail, and 
> slightly more highlight detail.

They do take ink slightly differently. I think if you were to
relinearize for the Innova, those differences would even out.

Tyler