Raw & Post Processing, Printing > Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks
Opinion needed: Best Rag paper for archival printing
Geoff Wittig:
--- Quote from: Henry Goh ---Geoff very useful info all. One question, when a rag paper uses only matt black, does it mean I replace the photoblack cartridge with a matte one?
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Depends on your printer, but if it's an Epson that requires black ink swapping then yes, for matte cotton rag papers you'll generally need to use the matte black ink. As I understand it, matte black ink uses larger/coarser pigment particles that don't sink deep into the soft surface of rag papers so they produce a better d-max on these papers than the finer photo black ink. If you use matte black ink on a glossy/semigloss paper, it can rub off like charcoal.
If your image depends on a very deep black and wide dynamic range or color gamut for its impact, it'll look better on semigloss/luster paper surfaces with photo black ink. On the other hand, there are plenty of images that look great on the 'gentler' matte cotton rag papers.
For small printers like Epson's 2400/2880 etc. the black ink swap is simple and doesn't waste too much ink. For the bigger printers, it's an expensive PIA that drove me to HP's larger Z3100.
Henry Goh:
--- Quote from: sesshin ---I print fine art reproductions and have sampled every matte rag paper on the market while getting input from a number of artists on which ones they prefer. The paper I have settled on for the majority of my printing is Museo Portfolio Rag, which is 300gsm and smooth rag with no optical brighteners. Museo II and Museo Max are also very good, still with no optical brighteners and 365gsm instead of 300gsm, but a little more texture. Silver Rag has a semi-gloss finish, not matte, which doesn't always go well with fine art reproduction. Same with Hahn. Photo Rag Pearl & Baryta.
Other brands of matte rag paper without brighteners that are popular are Epson Ultrasmooth and Hahnemuhe Museum Etching. Neither have the dmax of Museo Portfolio Rag though.
If you choose to have brighteners in your paper you have quite a few more options (Espon Velvet Fine Art, Hahn Photo Rag, etc). While these papers may still technically be "archival" personally I wouldn't use any of them for prints that need to look the same now as 30 years from now.
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Thank you for sharing the info. Great help to me!
Henry Goh:
--- Quote from: Geoff Wittig ---Depends on your printer, but if it's an Epson that requires black ink swapping then yes, for matte cotton rag papers you'll generally need to use the matte black ink. As I understand it, matte black ink uses larger/coarser pigment particles that don't sink deep into the soft surface of rag papers so they produce a better d-max on these papers than the finer photo black ink. If you use matte black ink on a glossy/semigloss paper, it can rub off like charcoal.
If your image depends on a very deep black and wide dynamic range or color gamut for its impact, it'll look better on semigloss/luster paper surfaces with photo black ink. On the other hand, there are plenty of images that look great on the 'gentler' matte cotton rag papers.
For small printers like Epson's 2400/2880 etc. the black ink swap is simple and doesn't waste too much ink. For the bigger printers, it's an expensive PIA that drove me to HP's larger Z3100.
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Thanks again Geoff. I'm using an old Epson Pro 4000. Not familiar with HP. Does it not use photo black or is it "intelligeint" enough not to send the photo black ink to rag?
Paul Roark:
--- Quote from: Henry Goh ---I wish to move to using rag-based archival media. I have no experience yet with rag, using mostly Epson Premium Luster and Gloss papers. I want to now use rag for better permanence. Can you guys please share some of your findings because it is quite difficult to even buy such material where I am so experimenting is going to be tough. Thanks a zillion.
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The ultimate in permanence is probably an un-coated paper like Arches Hot Press. It has the best dmax that I've tested for un-coated papers, but it's still not close to the best coated matte papers. Arches and all un-coated papers also print rather roughly. It may print smoothly enough with some inksets and 1.5 pl printers, but I'd assume it's not really ready for prime time for most of us. So, we usually have to use a coated inkjet papers, which introduces un-known long term risks due coatings tending to separate.
You can look at Wilhelm for some information, and a lot of this really depends on how seriously you want to pursue longevity. There is a huge number of acid free, cotton papers that'll probably last a long time -- maybe hundreds of years. But we really have no history with these papers. So, there is uncertainty. Thus for some uses, some prefer to go as far as possible to eliminate the potential sources of trouble, and some papers are made more for longevity than for things like the highest dmax.
Age testing, as oppose to fade testing, is very difficult and uncertain. So much of what the purists rely on is based on history and educated guesses.
Among relatively normal inkjet papers, Epson states that its "Premier Art Scrapbook" paper is, "Our most archival paper!"
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/Product...6&category=
Epson UltraSmooth is about the same and in larger sizes. I use the Premier Imaging version -- Smooth Hot Press 325 -- for my museum restorations/reproductions. In addition to being made for longevity, it has a nice dmax of up to 1.69 (with a rip).
See http://www.premierimagingproducts.com/prod...p?product_id=24
In general, if you really want archival keeping with the least image change, you'll want to stay with un-brightened, non-OBA papers. OBAs are mostly dyes that fade quickly and make the paper appear to be yellowing. People will thing the paper is cheap acidic paper even if it's buffered cotton.
Paul
www.PaulRoark.com
Geoff Wittig:
--- Quote from: Henry Goh ---Thanks again Geoff. I'm using an old Epson Pro 4000. Not familiar with HP. Does it not use photo black or is it "intelligeint" enough not to send the photo black ink to rag?
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HP's Z3100 has both blacks always loaded; it knows which to use depending on the paper preset you choose, and for some rag papers it actually uses both. I print a lot of black & white on a variety of papers, so this was a big deal for me. Canon's bigger printers also have both matte and photo black loaded at all times.
I still own an older Epson 7600, which does a perfectly good job on matte/cotton rag papers, less so on luster/semigloss papers compared to newer models. The next generation (K3) printers are much better on glossier papers, but the black swapping was a deal-breaker for me. Even now Epson makes you buy a much more expensive 24" printer to have both blacks loaded simultaneously.
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