QTR-Quadtone RIP

I've come tot he conclusion that one of the problems with getting
non-neutral (or at least slightly unpleasant metamerism) despite using QTR
is caused by the interaction of the inks and the optical brighteners in
different lights. This is usually worst in any mix of tungsten and daylight.
As such I've narrowed my choice of papers down to this without optical
brighteners (or that seem to have minimal brighteners). Of course a side
effect of this seems to be that the OBA's lose their effectiveness over time
anyway and so many "bright white" papers become warmer anyway... Having no
OBA's means you know from the start more how the warmth of the paper/print
looks.

As such, despite using Photo Rag extensively I've found the following papers
work well:



Arches Infinity (my current favourite - and of course, the most expensive
possible choice...)

Red River Dourian Art 2-Sided (next beast favourite) - seems to have a small
amount of OBA's but it is very close to the Arches - great DMax, slightly
cooler (and double sided which means you can re-use duff prints for
testing) - a very nice paper

Entrada Natural (not too bad - used to have big flaking issues, okay DMax,
but not the  worlds greatest and has a "flop" I just don't like...).

Innova Soft Textured Art - not bad, a bit more texture than some

Innova Cold Pressed Art - nice if it wasn't soooo textured

(The Innova Photo Smooth Cotton is also pretty nice, despite the OBA's -
however Innova does it isn't as objectionable as most)

I'll interested to see what the new Crane Museo Max (or whatever it's
called) performs along these lines (I never really liked Museo)

I thought Hahnemuhle was going to make a non-OBA Photo Rag, which would be
very attractive, but I don't remember it ever showing up yet (William
Turner, which I don't think has OBA's, would be nice if it didn't flake if
you blink at it).


tim a