Replacement for Epson Ultra Smooth Fine Art Paper

[dandeliondigital]

Hi all,
I've been printing a job on Epson Ultrasmooth Fine Art Paper S041896 over a few years now and I've run out. I wanted to get a replacement roll paper that would give me very similar characteristics. I checked Epson's site and they appear to have dropped the S041896.

I am asking here hoping someone else has made this change and knows a comparable replacement FAP with very similar characteristics.

I had a small amount of Breathing Color Sterling 210g FAP and it is very close although is a bit lighter in weight. Heavier is preferred.

BTW, I am printing on an HP Z3100ps. I remember when I choose this Epson paper I did so because it was unequalled for the particular job I was doing.

Thanks in advance, and so long for now, TOM

[dchew]

Epson hot press is close.  It now comes in rolls.

Shades of Paper is having a buy 2 get 1 free roll sale:
http://www.shadesofpaper.com/index.php?cPath=26

Dave

[Sven W]

Epson hot press is close.  It now comes in rolls.

Shades of Paper is having a buy 2 get 1 free roll sale:
http://www.shadesofpaper.com/index.php?cPath=26

Dave

Yes, that's the one. If you go for "Natural".
And also with a bit more D-max and colorgamut, compared to USFA,

/Sven

[dandeliondigital]

Yes, that's the one. If you go for "Natural".
And also with a bit more D-max and colorgamut, compared to USFA,

/Sven

Hi Sven,
The important thing is this for this particular case: Is the hot press paper "ultrasmooth"?

Also weight-wise how does it stack up? I've been told that the Epson sheets which come in a very thick 325g, which we like, are much heavier than any roll stock I could buy. I tried printing on a very similar 210 g roll paper, and even though it did a good job, it's a bit too thin.

You are also confirming that the "natural" cold press Epson paper is very close in color to the Ultrasmooth?

Thanks in advance, and so long for now, TOM

[Alan Goldhammer]

Hi Sven,
The important thing is this for this particular case: Is the hot press paper "ultrasmooth"?

Also weight-wise how does it stack up? I've been told that the Epson sheets which come in a very thick 325g, which we like, are much heavier than any roll stock I could buy. I tried printing on a very similar 210 g roll paper, and even though it did a good job, it's a bit too thin.

You are also confirming that the "natural" cold press Epson paper is very close in color to the Ultrasmooth?

Thanks in advance, and so long for now, TOM

You can get a sample pack from Shades of Paper and try it and see if it is a suitable replacement for your needs.  Hahnemuhle Photorag Ultra-Smooth may also be to your liking as might Museo Portfolio Rag.  Both are heavier in weight than the Breathing Color paper you mention.

[dchew]

I have sheets of both papers here. I just compared them.  They are both very smooth.  USFA has a bit more of a "soft velvet" feel to it, while hot press feels "harder."  But I could not tell a difference in roughness.

I have bright, which is significantly whiter than USFA.  So I ditto what Sven said; go for the natural if you are trying to match color as well.

Regarding cold press, I haven't tried it, but Mark reviewed these papers here:
Four New Fine Art Papers from Epson

He didn't like the cold press much, and he felt it had too much texture.

Dave

[natas]

I like the hot press better than the ultra smooth. The dmax is a little better and it has less surface texture.

[Sven W]

To sort it out:
Epson Hot Press comes in two versions; Smooth Natural & Bright.
Epson Cold Press comes in two versions; Textured Natural & Bright.

The most USFA look-alike is the HP Natural.

Epson US has the complete info on their papers here

/Sven

[JeffKohn]

Does anybody have paper white spectro measurements for the hot-press natural? I'm wondering just how warm it is...

[Alan Goldhammer]

Does anybody have paper white spectro measurements for the hot-press natural? I'm wondering just how warm it is...

There is data up on the Aardenburg site (of course you need to be a supporting member to access it but the $25 is well worth it).  One of the strange things is that the first set of test results showed that the natural showed much more fading of the white point than did the bright (which contains OBAs).  I sent a note to Mark asking about that and he responded "...also a bit surprised at the extent of light bleaching we are seeing in the Hot Press natural over the first 10 megalux hours of exposure. However, light bleaching of cellulosic fibers is well known in the conservation literature, so I always expected to see instances of it happening as we started to test more and more OBA-free papers."   "For all of these reasons, the term  "natural white" paper probably allows no more certainty than "bright white" paper when it comes to choosing a highly stable paper.  It is an excellent example of why we need to test each printer/ink/paper combination in order to have accurate information available for the serious printmaker.  I only wish that more printmakers cared. There are already a couple of other examples in the database of paper white bleaching rather than OBA burnout, but the Hot Press Natural is definitely the most pronounced example of this phenomenon I've run across so far.  I do anticipate both Hot Press papers will slow down now in their rate of change, so the lower AaI&A conservation display limits may or may not be reached quickly."

It's interesting that we worry about OBAs and there may be other things happening as well.  Of course such test results are done under careful conditions and depending on how your image is displayed fading may be more or less.  I liked the way the Epson papers performed and Epson suggests using the higher setting of 2880 dpi for this paper (which is different from all other matte papers where 1440 is to be used).  This may be one reason for the improved density and gamut.  I plan on doing some more printing with this paper and it may be that I switch from Museo Portfolio Rag depending on the results.

Alan

[dandeliondigital]

Thanks Alan,

I appreciate the pointers.

So long for now, TOM

You can get a sample pack from Shades of Paper and try it and see if it is a suitable replacement for your needs.  Hahnemuhle Photorag Ultra-Smooth may also be to your liking as might Museo Portfolio Rag.  Both are heavier in weight than the Breathing Color paper you mention.