Digital BW, The Print

I am just starting to get into printing B&W and more than just 4x6 
vacation snapshots at home. I am researching paper choiced and ordering 
samples where possible. I am having a problem, however, finding samples 
of PR. inkjetart.com has samples, but they want to charge me almost 
seven dollars to ship two sheets of PR. That seems a little ridculous, 
especially since Moab is shipping my samples for only the cost of the 
paper.

Does anyone know of any place I can get a couple of sample sheets of PR 
308 gsm to try and not have to pay a fortune in shipping costs? Any 
help would be greatly appreciated.

By the way. The amount of information available through this group is 
amazing. I only wish I had the time to go through it all. I am sure I 
could learn a ton from you guys.

Thanks,

Steve

You can get the entire sample pack from http://www.shadesofpaper.com , 
then you can decide if any of the other Hahnemuhle papers look 
interesting. I think that pack is something like $30, you might want to 
grab the Innova sample pack as well.

$7 breaks the piggy bank? 

Heres a plug for Inkjetart.com (I hate to hear good people demeaned):

Inkjetart.com is maximum competitive, has big inventory, is reliable
and helpful: Their website is *much* more informative than most.  

They sell many/most fine brands of photo/art paper, not just the house
brand (Illuminata...nice stuff), at low prices.

I always buy their modest minimum ($100?) so I *never* pay for
shipping...and my supplies (eg Epson, Moab) arrive in two working days
(eg last ordered Friday afternoon, got this Tuesday morning). 


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steve"
<smoon4@y...> wrote:

>
> I am just starting to get into printing B&W and more than just 4x6 
> vacation snapshots at home. I am researching paper choiced and ordering 
> samples where possible. I am having a problem, however, finding samples 
> of PR. inkjetart.com has samples, but they want to charge me almost 
> seven dollars to ship two sheets of PR. That seems a little ridculous, 
> especially since Moab is shipping my samples for only the cost of the 
> paper.
> 
> Does anyone know of any place I can get a couple of sample sheets of PR 
> 308 gsm to try and not have to pay a fortune in shipping costs? Any 
> help would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> By the way. The amount of information available through this group is 
> amazing. I only wish I had the time to go through it all. I am sure I 
> could learn a ton from you guys.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steve
>

Thanks for the new source. I will check it out.

Steve

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Greg" 
<dfaprinting@y...> wrote:
>
> You can get the entire sample pack from 
http://www.shadesofpaper.com , 
> then you can decide if any of the other Hahnemuhle papers look 
> interesting. I think that pack is something like $30, you might want 
to 
> grab the Innova sample pack as well.
>

I am sure that they will be glad for your free advertisement, but I 
am looking for help, not ridicule. If I wanted ridicule, I would be 
posting over at dpreview.

Maybe you have money to be throwing down the toilet, but I certainly 
don't. Charging $7.00 to ship two sheets of paper is on the verge of 
ridiculous. When Moab will ship multiple sample orders for free, that 
tells me that they are working hard to earn my business. I may not 
buy directly from them, but if I like their paper, they will get my 
business. The same goes for red River. I am getting a 28 page sample 
pack sent to me for only four and a half dollars shipping (plus the 
small cost of the sample pack itself). Hawk Mountain is sending me a 
swatch book of all their papers for no cost whatsoever. I may not be 
able to print on them, but at least I will be able to see what all of 
their papers are like.

I am a pretty savvy consumer. I like to deal with companies that show 
a little effort in trying to get my business. I may not be a huge 
paper consumer at this point, but I will remember companies that put 
in a little effort to get my business when I am.

I don't want to offend anyone who likes inkjetart.com. These are just 
my opinions.

Steve


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "djon43" 
<djon43@y...> wrote:
>
> $7 breaks the piggy bank? 
> 
> Heres a plug for Inkjetart.com (I hate to hear good people 
demeaned):
> 
> Inkjetart.com is maximum competitive, has big inventory, is reliable
> and helpful: Their website is *much* more informative than most.  
> 
> They sell many/most fine brands of photo/art paper, not just the 
house
> brand (Illuminata...nice stuff), at low prices.
> 
> I always buy their modest minimum ($100?) so I *never* pay for
> shipping...and my supplies (eg Epson, Moab) arrive in two working 
days
> (eg last ordered Friday afternoon, got this Tuesday morning). 
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steve"
> <smoon4@y...> wrote:
> >
> > I am just starting to get into printing B&W and more than just 
4x6 
> > vacation snapshots at home. I am researching paper choiced and 
ordering 
> > samples where possible. I am having a problem, however, finding 
samples 
> > of PR. inkjetart.com has samples, but they want to charge me 
almost 
> > seven dollars to ship two sheets of PR. That seems a little 
ridculous, 
> > especially since Moab is shipping my samples for only the cost of 
the 
> > paper.
> > 
> > Does anyone know of any place I can get a couple of sample sheets 
of PR 
> > 308 gsm to try and not have to pay a fortune in shipping costs? 
Any 
> > help would be greatly appreciated.
> > 
> > By the way. The amount of information available through this 
group is 
> > amazing. I only wish I had the time to go through it all. I am 
sure I 

> > could learn a ton from you guys.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > Steve
> >
>

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Steve" 
<smoon4@y...> wrote:
>
> I am sure that they will be glad for your free advertisement, but I 
> am looking for help, not ridicule. If I wanted ridicule, I would be 
> posting over at dpreview.
> 


I take that kind of personally. You would have received the exact 
same answer (from me) if you posted this question over there. But 
that said, no offense taken, I do know what you mean.

And one thing to point out, looking at the paper surface is not 
always enough to judge a paper, so the smaller swatch book is a handy 
reference for after you have printed something on that paper. I'm 
thinking that I really need to build a binder full of all the papers 
that I've tried, with some kind of test print on each paper, and 
maybe notes about why I did or didn't like that paper, for this you 
really need full "letter" sized sheets. Also note that paper made 
specifically to work well with the Epson matte black, may not give 
the same results with an all pigmnet matte black like Eboni, some 
papers have better dmax, some worse. So if you change inks, you may 
need to do all that testing again (which is where I'm at right now)! 
So that Hahnemuhle sample pack that Jim has is looking really good 
right now, as soon as he has some Photo Rag Satin, I'll order the 
other sample pack too (and maybe the Innova again while I'm at it).