Papers for Z3100

[damdeziner]

Hello everyone!
I am new to this forum and have just acquired a Z3100(24") printer.
I will be needing to buy two rolls of paper immediately for my color prints (Landscape and wildlife) and for black and white prints as well.
Can someone give me a head start and tell me which papers would be a good choice for these two situations.
I'm sure that individual preference will play a big part with this choice and I do plan on ordering many samples to try--but for now I must print plenty of both color and B/W.
Any help with my paper choices would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Dave

[dkeyes]

Hello everyone!
I am new to this forum and have just acquired a Z3100(24") printer.
I will be needing to buy two rolls of paper immediately for my color prints (Landscape and wildlife) and for black and white prints as well.
Can someone give me a head start and tell me which papers would be a good choice for these two situations.
I'm sure that individual preference will play a big part with this choice and I do plan on ordering many samples to try--but for now I must print plenty of both color and B/W.
Any help with my paper choices would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Dave
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=131833\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

If you like c-print like images/satin finish paper, I've tried most of them including the pearl papers. My favorite is the HP Professional Satin (not the Instant dry satin). The pro satin is really made for this printers strengths. It's the paper I use everyday and it has a one of the best longevity ratings from Wilhelm research when used with the HP inks (for whatever that is worth). For uncoated papers, the juries out. Many like the HP Hahnemuhle Smooth Fine Art.

[rdonson]

As already mentioned the HP Pro satin is super.  Due to its cost though I use the HP Premium Instant Dry Satin until I'm convinced the image deserves the Pro Satin.

On mattes I like the HP Hahnemuhle Smooth Fine Art.  I've also printed some images on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Satin.  Its not for every image but there are some where the sheen really works.

I've also had great luck with Moab Entrada.  Very close to the Hahnemuhle SFA but significantly lower cost.  

With the Z3100 I think B&W works on all these papers very well.

[Harris]

I have been using Innova paper almost exclusively.  The coton rag is available in at least two weights and I love it for B & W.  Does a great job on color as well but I have not been doing much of that.  Available at Shades of Paper - great service.
Harris

[Charles Gast]

One thing you must keep in mind with this printer is that if you want to print on fine art papers you need to do one of two things;

a) Fork over the $800 to $900 for the "advanced profiling solution" so that you can make good profiles. The profiling "solution" that comes with the printer makes uselessly poor profiles on anything other than glossy or luster papers.

 Use the HP/Hahnemuhle fine art papers and the HP provided profiles for those papers. Use the printers spectro only for Calibration of the paper.

I was printing on Hahnemuhle and Premier hot press papers I had profiled on this printer.  I do not have the advanced profiling solution.  I thought the reds were weak and that the images looked just a little flat.  I then loaded some HP Hahnemuhle smooth fine art paper in the printer and calibrated it then printed with the HP provided profile for that paper. Now I see an image that jumps off the paper! Side by side the image printed on Hahnemuhle and profiled using the z3100 built in profiler looks like bird cage liner.

[rdonson]

Now I see an image that jumps off the paper! Side by side the image printed on Hahnemuhle and profiled using the z3100 built in profiler looks like bird cage liner.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=132117\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Charlie you have a way with words.  

[adiallo]

Side by side the image printed on Hahnemuhle and profiled using the z3100 built in profiler looks like bird cage liner.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=132117\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Charles,
Other users have noted that the HPSFA output is more pleasing than the straight PR. But from what I gathered from HP these papers are not identical. There is a coating difference, as the HPSFA was optimized specifically for the Vivera inks.
After calibration, have you compared a print using a (non-APS) custom profile of HPSFA to a print using the canned HP profile for HPSFA? This would eliminate the coating difference as a variable. Again, if you're comparing a custom profile for PR with a canned profile for HPSFA, there may be more at play than just the profile.

[Charles Gast]

Charles,
Other users have noted that the HPSFA output is more pleasing than the straight PR. But from what I gathered from HP these papers are not identical. There is a coating difference, as the HPSFA was optimized specifically for the Vivera inks.
After calibration, have you compared a print using a (non-APS) custom profile of HPSFA to a print using the canned HP profile for HPSFA? This would eliminate the coating difference as a variable. Again, if you're comparing a custom profile for PR with a canned profile for HPSFA, there may be more at play than just the profile.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=132317\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I was printing with the HPSFA but I made the mistake of thinking that calibrating and profiling on my printer would create the best profile.   I printed quite a few images this way.  I only recently printed using HP's in-house created (canned) profile. The only thing I did on the printer was the calibration which if I understand correctly linearizes or characterizes the heads and ink to make better use of whichever profile the sending application (photoshop in my case) applies.

I now certainly understand that the only way to print on FA paper with this printer is to use HPSFA and their profile.  It make a HUGE difference to my eyes.

The only thing left to do as far as my workflow goes is to find a very high quality brush, unload the paper from the printer, pull the appropriate length of paper from the roll and drape it across the top of the (freshly Swifter dusted) printer and give it a brush-off , roll the paper back up and feed it back into the printer.  I have too many ruined prints from the flaking of the Hahnemuhle paper.  I have seen the same thing on PR308. It is somtimes not easily detected depending on the image area it falls on. Other times (too many) it is way too obvious(another expensive bird cage liner). I'm not sure if as I suspect the coating actually flakes off after the print or if flakes coming off the back of the paper lay on the front of the sheets, take the ink then fall away. A very frustrating problem for an otherwise *superb* substrate.

Charlie

[adiallo]

Yup, do the pre-print brush-down and you'll have far fewer prints ruined due to flaking. A clamp-on light above the printer helps because sometimes you'll actually find tiny artifacts embedded in the surface. One trick is to gently (I repeat gently) scrape it off the surface with a sharp utility blade. If you can do this evenly without making a divot, the slight area missing the coating won't be noticeable in the final print.
On the (admittedly few) test images I've compared I'm actually seeing fairly close results here between the canned and custom profiled output on HPSFA. Both are substantially better in accuracy, gamut and shadow detail than output on the stock Photo Rag. I seem to recall one of the past firmware updates made adjustments to the behavior of the profiles and I definitely have reprofiled since the last update. I wonder if that has a bearing on whether there is a huge difference bewteen canned and custom. I suppose the only way to tell is to buy APS .