New papers comparison made
2008-01-11 by Scott Jones
Hi there, My local photo store finally got in many of the new fiber papers and after reading all the very excited discussions of these products online I was very excited to see these new products since everyone was going nuts extolling their virtues online. I am a user of Epson Premium Semigloss (EPSG) which is an RC type paper but has a nice creamy surface that I think is similar to air dried fiber of yore and not as stipply/sparkly as Luster. So I thought there was really going to be a revolution in the look of these products. I was amazed at how little a difference there was. Mind you I have always used photo black on a photo type paper and never have used mat papers and mat black ink. So I was already used to deep Dmax and high saturation. I looked at Epson Premium Semigloss (EPSG) and Luster, and then compared them to Epson Exhibition, Ilford Gold Silk Fibre, Hahnemühle baryta fiber 325. All the prints were of the same test image with B&W, color, skin tones, and tone ramps. Printed on the same R3800 with the K3 inks. Surprisingly all the prints to the naked eye looked to have approximately the same nice dense Dmax. Epson Exhibition maybe had a touch deeper black but it was VERY subtle. Colors and B&W all looked great. The only real differences were the base color of the papers which were very subtlely different and would only be noticed when seen side by side. EPSG/Luster slightly blue, Exhibition/baryta very clean white, Ilford gold slightly warm. The surface textures were very subtley different as well. Exhibition looked like air dried fiber but not highly different than EPSG, Baryta fiber looked very stipply like Luster, Ilford gold was also slightly creamy smooth like EPSG and Exhibition. The feel of the papers was different with the three new papers feeling hefty and like paper and not like the EPSG/Luster RC feel. BUT, when I put these papers up on a viewing rail in three different types of light nobody could tell the difference between all five papers except for some slight paper base tone doifferences (very slight). If I had to pick a favorite it would be the Exhibition probably because the base was the most neutral and brightest white, but these things are subtle. There was some gloss differential on all the papers especially in the highlights and the darket blacks, with again Exhibition maybe having a little less. Had to tilt all the papers just right to see this so again for exhibition purposes nobody is going to notice. So bottom line is I was somewhat shocked at how little difference there was between the old "RC" standbys and thee new "suerfiber" papers. I think mounted or framed or matted, there is really no significant difference. If feeling the print in your hand is very important then yes there is a different feel. The local digital expert at my store laughed and said he really thought there was so much hype about the new papers and felt that most of it was marketing push. He by the way is quite experienced and not your usual camera store sales guy. Now, if you have been printing on mat paper with mat black ink, you are going to notice a huge change. But if you have been using EPSG or Luster, then this is not a revolution IMHO, unless the feel of these photo papers in the hand just drives you nuts for some reason. With a 13x19 piece of Exhibition being 2.5X more expensive that a sheet of EPSG (Atlex), I am really not sure it makes sense. Perhaps I will use some for special projects. Or perhaps I will keep using the EPSG until I know I absolutely want a high grade exhibition print of a given image and then use the EEF paper. I am just not sure anybody except me or one of my super picky photo/tech friends would ever notice. I have not seen Harmon Fibre Gloss yet and will order a sample pack in that my local place will not be carrying that one. Hopefully some will find my experience helpful. Obviously these are very opinionated reactions coming from a certain working perspective. http://www.scottjonesphoto.com