Digital BW, The Print

I am just wondering since Epson already uses PA HotPress 205gsm for
it's Scrapbook paper...

Is Ultrasmooth Fine Art made for Epson by PremierArt?

Is it safe to assume that the heavier PA HotPress 325gsm would behave
in a similar fashion than the more expensive Epson USFA?

Thanks,

Denis

Denis,

Paul Roark might respond too, because I know he uses the 325gsm version of
the Premier Art Hotpress, but from my testing with QTR Create ICC, the
profiles from the Premier paper and Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art are
practically identical.  They also look identical.  The absolutely no way I'd
be able to identify which is which if someone tested me.  I use them
interchangeable with my QTR Create ICC profiles.  I have used them both for
the past 2 years.

Compared to HPR and other brightened papers, it's very warm, but it's
similar to other OBA free papers such as Museum Etching.  It's great paper,
and both versions are double sided, which is nice, since I use the second
side of my mistakes for proofing.

The box for the Epson version has to be the nicest packaging of fine art
paper I've ever seen.  Inside the box, the paper is surrounded by 2 inches
of styrofoam to protect the edges/corners from being crushed in transit.
Very nice.  I think the Premier version is about 40% cheaper . . . and I
haven't had THAT many crushed corners with the Premier packaging!  The
Premier version is available in a lot more sizes too.  USFA isn't available
smaller than 13x19.

Josh





On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 2:14 PM, the_des_bois <thedesbois@...>
wrote:

> I am just wondering since Epson already uses PA HotPress 205gsm for
> it's Scrapbook paper...
>
> Is Ultrasmooth Fine Art made for Epson by PremierArt?
>
> Is it safe to assume that the heavier PA HotPress 325gsm would behave
> in a similar fashion than the more expensive Epson USFA?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Denis
>
>
>
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

...
> Is it safe to assume that the heavier PA HotPress 325gsm would behave
> in a similar fashion than the more expensive Epson USFA?

Maybe better.  While it does not always seem to be the case, I 
generally have obtained a better dmax with Premier Art 325.  For 
example, comparing my QTR 1800 3MK profiles, you'll note the 
linearization table has L 17.46 for UltraSmooth and L 16.02 for Premier 
Art 325.

Paul         
www.PaulRoark.com

Thanks Josh for sharing your personal experience with this paper. 

Funny I was on the phone with someone from Premier Art (just after
posting) asking about printer settings and ICC for some color work.
Obviously they recommended custom profiles for the best results but
suggested Epson Ultrasmooth as a very good start point and told me
they where the ones selling the paper to Espon. I did some more
searches here and it has been mentioned in earlier (2005) posts here.
I guess Epson does not make much paper.

For the 205gsm, the VFA Espon profile works better and VFA paper
setting also. With USFA paper setting it overloads the paper. And the
Epson PA Scrapbook profile just does not print as nicely as with the
VFA profile. Again talking about color here.

Paul's curve for B/W 3MK with QTR are what I use for this paper. 

Thanks again,

Denis


> Paul Roark might respond too, because I know he uses the 325gsm
version of
> the Premier Art Hotpress, but from my testing with QTR Create ICC, the
> profiles from the Premier paper and Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art are
> practically identical.  They also look identical.  The absolutely no
way I'd
> be able to identify which is which if someone tested me.  I use them
> interchangeable with my QTR Create ICC profiles.