Digital BW, The Print

A quick report...

I'm printing with an Epson R2400, UltraChrome K3 inkset, standard
Epson drivers on Windows Vista, ABW mode.

After hearing about SilverRag and FibaPrint Ultra-Smooth Gloss, I
figured I really had to try them.  Here's the results of my
initial test.

I printed 51-step test patterns on both papers using the following
settings:

Paper type: Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster
Mode: ABW/Normal/Neutral/Photo Black(PK)
Resolution: PhotoRPM/Fast

The patterns were allowed to dry overnight and black-only
profiles created using PrintFix PRO and QTR-Create-ICC.

Dmin/Dmax for the two papers are:

Museo Silver Rag	0.04	2.54
Innova FibaPrint US	0.05	2.50

The Silver Rag base appears slightly warmer.

Printing the same test image on both papers resulted in,
to my eye, extremely similar results.  Silver Rag appears
slightly warmer and perhaps very slightly brighter than the
Fibaprint (no surprise).

Gloss differential is slightly more noticeable on the Silver Rag,
but you have to look for it on both papers; under glass, it would
be very difficult to see, even if you're looking for it.

Both papers are outstanding and, of course, pricey.  The slightly
lower cost of the Silver Rag along with the slightly greater density
range makes me think I'll favor it in the future, but I'm
splitting hairs.

Dana

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Dana H. Myers" <dana.myers@...> 
wrote:
>
> A quick report...

Hello Dana, a quick question for you and a small segue in the thread.  Did you find any 
extremely small dots without ink in the Silver Rag much like tiny flaking on a matte paper.  I 
get them with SR using UPGPP setting on an R220.  I don't know if it is from the texture of the 
paper misdirecting a jet or from a too low ink setting within the epson driver.   They are tiny 
but with a 3X glass I can usually find a dozen really easily on an 8x10 and I don't get them on 
any other papers.  I'm looking at other F types that may be smoother if it is a texture 
problem.

Second part for anyone out there.  Does anyone know of a scale for ink density among the 
various Epson paper settings and printers.  All the different printers have different settings 
but I'd assume Premium Glossy vs Premium Luster (or any other combo) would be relative 
from one printer to another.  Any thoughts?  This comes up because I read somewhere 
recently that glossy paper settings have a higher ink density than matte and I'd always 
thought it was the other way around.  But for profiling it would be nice to know how Espon 
ranks the ink density for papers.

robert49brake wrote:
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint%40yahoogroups.com>, "Dana H. Myers" 
> <dana.myers@...>
> wrote:
>  >
>  > A quick report...
> 
> Hello Dana, a quick question for you and a small segue in the thread. 
> Did you find any extremely small dots without ink in the Silver Rag
 > much like tiny flaking on a matte paper. I get them with SR using
 > UPGPP setting on an R220. I don't know if it is  from the texture
 > of the paper misdirecting a jet or from a too low ink setting within
 > the epson driver. They are tiny but with a 3X glass I can usually find
 > a dozen really easily on an 8x10  and I don't get them on any other
 > papers. I'm looking at other F types that may be smoother if  it is
 > a texture problem.

I haven't produced a _lot_ of prints on the SR yet, but I've
looked very closely at one with a lot of dark areas and could find
no dots like you've described.  I'll keep an eye out for them, though.

Cheers,
Dana