Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: Roscolo on August 13, 2007, 12:01:49 am

Title: z3100 - Best Papers For B&W?
Post by: Roscolo on August 13, 2007, 12:01:49 am
OK - matte, glossy, satin or otherwise: What are your favorite papers for printing B&W on the z3100 and why?
Title: z3100 - Best Papers For B&W?
Post by: Geoff Wittig on August 13, 2007, 06:58:10 am
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OK - matte, glossy, satin or otherwise: What are your favorite papers for printing B&W on the z3100 and why?
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Depends on the image, but my favorites so far:

1) HP professional satin- A beautiful paper that's closer to a semigloss than a traditional satin surface. It yields a very deep black, a clean bright white, and good tonal separation. The surface doesn't intrude on the image. Pretty close to a traditional darkroom print, in a good way.

2) Hahnemuhle photo rag satin-  kind of hard to describe. There's a gentle surface texture that helps some images. Once the Z3100's ink hits the paper, it produces a complex and subtle gloss differential that actually improves tonal separation in the shadows. Resulting prints look like they're etched in steel, yet blacks are still pretty good. Some images really sing on this paper.

3) Hahnemuhle fine art pearl- brilliant clean whites with a slightly cool tone. The brilliant highlights compensate for a slightly weaker D-max than Crane's silver rag. Silver rag has a warm paper base that makes cool toned prints impossible, which just doesn't meet my needs.

4) Epson premium glossy-  I have a bunch of it around, and it's pretty inexpensive. Excellent sharpness/detail and a very smooth surface; looks good with warm toned prints.

As always, your mileage may vary. These papers just match my requirements.
Title: z3100 - Best Papers For B&W?
Post by: SeanPuckett on August 14, 2007, 12:01:01 pm
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OK - matte, glossy, satin or otherwise: What are your favorite papers for printing B&W on the z3100 and why?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=132919\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I'm very happy with Red River Ultrapro Satin, which is extremely neutral and has a mild texture. White is white, tones hold, blacks are dark and shadow detail remains.  Without gloss enhancer, some directional bronzing occurs with the medium grey ink, which can add a touch of interest to some images.

For matte printing I continue to favour sketch and watercolour papers.  While they don't have much in the way of dmax, they more than make up for it in velvety texture and detail reproduction. You owe it to yourself to pick up a big book of heavyweight acid-free sketch paper, profiling it as Fine Art paper, and giving it a try.