Ilford Gold Fibre Silk vs. Gold Fibre Gloss - OBA content

[rasworth]

Just received a box of Ilford Gold Fibre Gloss, printed out a profile target.  While it was drying I decided to compare it to a 8.5x11 sheet of Gold Fibre Silk, both under room lighting and an UV light.

The first attachment is an iPhone snap of the papers illuminated by room lighting, one can just pick up the slightly whiter shade of the Gloss.  The second attachment shows the two sheets illuminated by a UV light, the Silk clearly has some OBA content.  I was surprised, thinking I had read no OBAs in the Silk, but a quick check of the Ilford website revealed no claims of such for Silk, and a definite "no OBA content" for Gold.

To be fair, the Gold Fibre Silk glows much less than some resin based photo paper in my possession.  BTW "gloss" is a misnomer, should be labeled "satin" or "semi-gloss", I can't see any significant difference between the two surfaces.

I'm looking forward to cranking out a profile and doing some real printing on the Gloss.

Richard Southworth

[Ernst Dinkla]

Just received a box of Ilford Gold Fibre Gloss, printed out a profile target.  While it was drying I decided to compare it to a 8.5x11 sheet of Gold Fibre Silk, both under room lighting and an UV light.

The first attachment is an iPhone snap of the papers illuminated by room lighting, one can just pick up the slightly whiter shade of the Gloss.  The second attachment shows the two sheets illuminated by a UV light, the Silk clearly has some OBA content.  I was surprised, thinking I had read no OBAs in the Silk, but a quick check of the Ilford website revealed no claims of such for Silk, and a definite "no OBA content" for Gold.

To be fair, the Gold Fibre Silk glows much less than some resin based photo paper in my possession.  BTW "gloss" is a misnomer, should be labeled "satin" or "semi-gloss", I can't see any significant difference between the two surfaces.

I'm looking forward to cranking out a profile and doing some real printing on the Gloss.

Richard Southworth

In that Fibre/Baryta group in general there are more Cotton papers OBA free than Alpha Cellulose ones. Probably the aim is to keep the Cotton papers more in the longevity group, users associate cotton with longevity. Technically there is no limitation to add OBAs to cotton paper too. Alpha Cellulose papers can have similar longevity as cotton papers, it all depends on the fiber qualities used.

Ilford in its former incarnation had more analogy between the papers with similar names than it has now. The RC papers with similar names show different spectral plots now where the former company had more identical spectral plots for say RC gloss, silk and pearl. It now shows the paper range character of more distributors that relabel papers bought on the market while in the past it used to make its papers in its own Swiss plant.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[rasworth]

Ernst,

Thanks for the interesting data.

I created a profile, printed the Outback test image on my 3880.  It's a gorgeous paper - large gamut, bright white (98,0,1), deep black (4,0,0), no obas. Best semi-gloss paper I've ever used.

Richard Southworth

[Ernst Dinkla]

Ernst,

Thanks for the interesting data.

I created a profile, printed the Outback test image on my 3880.  It's a gorgeous paper - large gamut, bright white (98,0,1), deep black (4,0,0), no obas. Best semi-gloss paper I've ever used.

Richard Southworth

Yes, it would be nice to have a sample of the Ilford Gold Fibre Gloss to measure for SpectrumViz and then to see whether it is a unique inkjet paper.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[MHMG]

Ernst,

Thanks for the interesting data.

I created a profile, printed the Outback test image on my 3880.  It's a gorgeous paper - large gamut, bright white (98,0,1), deep black (4,0,0), no obas. Best semi-gloss paper I've ever used.

Richard Southworth

The media whitepont numbers along with descriptions of Gold fibre Gloss not really being gloss rather more of a semi-gloss both strongly remind me of Canson Platine Fiber Rag, Epson Legacy Platine, and Red River Palo Duro Soft Gloss, all of those being pretty much look-alikes with same media whitepoint value   Whenever Ernst or I manage to obtain a sample of Gold Fibre Gloss, then my curiosity may be satisfied!

best,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[rasworth]

Ernst, Mark,

I guess I've had too many years with Epson Premium Lustre and the like, lately I've tried Ilford Gold Silk, Epson Legacy Baryta, and now the Ilford Gold Gloss.  It's quite amazing to me how far quality ink-jet paper has progressed, it wasn't that long ago when the only way to achieve a "bright" gloss or semi-gloss surface was with resin coated stock and lots of obas.

Richard Southworth

[howardm]

it's interesting to note in SpectrumViz the difference between 2 versions of the Canson Platine and the PaloDuro.

[Ernst Dinkla]

it's interesting to note in SpectrumViz the difference between 2 versions of the Canson Platine and the PaloDuro.

My gut feeling is that the white reflectance improved over time due to better coating technology and/or a better paper base . I added three screengrabs here, one might divide them in two groups, yet I know of the group with the higher white reflectance that one of them is made/coated by Felix Schoeller and in the other group is a Felix Schoeller sample and the cooperation between Felix Schoeller and Canson is known as well. The stacking to the top is more or less a time scale too, Canson introduced that quality on the market first. The Arca sample is one of the latest.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[howardm]

but the 2015 CI Platine seems to be slightly (3-4%?) more reflective than what I am assuming is 'new stock'.

[unesco]

hi all,

ilford gold fiber gloss is my favorite fine art paper, it is gorgeous! I use it a lot, together with Harman Gloss Baryta Warmtone it is my best paper for B&W prints using QTR. I prefer it over HM Photo Rag Baryta however both are quite similar.

its surface is not glossy (compared to Harman), but exactly as should be expected. look and feel and touch tells me there is no OBA (similar to really good new ilford matt cotton rags), but I am curious about measurements.

color pictures also look great. fantastic color rendering, very deep shadows, in touch - like leather.
roll version is much cheaper than sheets which are really expensive

hope it helps

[Ernst Dinkla]

but the 2015 CI Platine seems to be slightly (3-4%?) more reflective than what I am assuming is 'new stock'.

Howard,


The Lab L values are like this:

Canson Platine 11-2012  97.0
Felix Schoeller  09-2014  97.4
Canson Platine 01-2016  97.7

Epson Platine   01-2016 98.3
Red River Palo  01-2016 98.4
Arca Superior   01-2016 98.8
MediaJet Silk   11-2016 98.6

Date of measurement quoted, which does not indicate date of introduction or date of manufacturing of the papers, in general I get samples faster from distributors than the big companies, faster from the EU than the US. Chasing for Felix Schoeller samples on the Photokina 2012 but did not get them, for distributors only, on the Photokina 2014 that restriction was gone.

And yes, I would like to measure an even more recent sample of the Canson Platine for its L value and see what the plot looks like.


Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[henrikolsen]

The Lab L values are like this:

Canson Platine 11-2012  97.0
...
Canson Platine 01-2016  97.7

And yes, I would like to measure an even more recent sample of the Canson Platine for its L value and see what the plot looks like.

And for further data points, my latest Canson Platine Fibre Rag, acquired Q1 2017, measures in at 99.1.

[Ernst Dinkla]

And for further data points, my latest Canson Platine Fibre Rag, acquired Q1 2017, measures in at 99.1.

Henrik uses a similar setup for measuring as I do and got from me the same background white museumbord + black background to measure on. However his X-Rite Eye One measures slightly higher white reflectance than my copy so the L value will be slightly higher anyway. More interesting is the spectral plot, the Canson Platine Fibre Rag measured Q1 2017, production ?, shows the more linear plot that the more recent papers from Arca, Red River, MediaJet, Epson show as well. Which makes one manufacturer as the source for all the papers the most likely explanation.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots