Red River Polar Pearl Metallic Paper for Black and White

[Remo Nonaz]

I have not been so thrilled with Red River Polar Pearl Metallic paper for color images and my box of the material has languished in a cabinet for quite a while. Yesterday I tried it for two black and white images that I just couldn't get right on a couple of other papers.

WOW! Brilliant whites and deep, deep blacks. I had some issues with too much ink in the darkest places but fixed it by moving the dark end of the levels setting from 255 to about 215. I also had to adjust the mid number to about 1.05.

I printed the images on an Epson 1400 using the MIS UT14 ink set without the Ebony black. I used printer controls with the gamma at 1.8; 2.2 yielded prints that were too dark. My only complaint is that the paper does not lay very flat and a show image would need either glass over the matte or binding to the backing.

Has anyone else tried this paper for black and white prints? Is there an ICC for the UT14 ink set floating around anywhere? This paper looks so different than anything I've printed black and white on before that I'm going to have to rethink, and possibly reprint, a number of my images.

[Ernst Dinkla]

You will get your answers on the Digital B&W list without doubt.

The paper ¨white" reflectance is actually not that brilliant, about 75% reflectance where other satin white RC papers have 90% refelctance. It must be the metalic effect that gives the brilliant impression.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst
Shareware too:
340+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
update april 2012: Harman by Hahnemühle, Innova IFA45 and more

[Remo Nonaz]

Ernst:

I posted the same question on the Yahoo Groups forum, 'Digital Black and White, The Print'. I got a response back from Paul Roark that not only is he having great success with the RR-PPM, but he has developed a 6 cartridge dye-based inkset for it along with ICCs and ACVs. The ink set only requires Claria ink, Paul's custom dilution liquid (which you can purchase at inksupply.com) and empty cartridges. I have all but the dilution liquid, which I ordered, and I going to see how much of an improvment this makes.

I tend to make black and white prints on non-glossy paper, but RR-PPM paper really does make a great glossy image. I'll post results when I try out Paul's ink set.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Paul and more people were using it so I made that reference. The Claria/Noritsu dyes are probably the best inks for the metallic effect. The longevity of the dyes on that paper may not prove as good as the dyes would achieve with Claria compatible papers but there is always a compromise to be made. Pigments still last longer than Claria but do give the same metallic/gloss effect.


--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

340+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
update april 2012: Harman by Hahnemühle, Innova IFA45 and more

[John Nollendorfs]

In using dyes on micro porous papers made for pigments, you should frame under glass, or seal the paper with a compatible spray or laminate. The dyes are very susceptible to fading from atmospheric contaminates, especially ozone, a strong oxidant.

[MHMG]

Sample ID #s 182-184 in the AaI&A light fastness database (http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/cgi-bin/mrk/_4899c2hvd19kb2NfbGlzdC80 ) are tests of Claria black ink printed on three different papers in a single channel mode on an Epson 1400, i.e., effectively creating a full tone scale but using only the black Claria dye to create the image. Compare ID#s 183 and 184 to see the benefit of a protective spray. Two things surprised me in these tests: First, the tests clearly and dramatically show why it is necessary to test a full tone scale image rather than just reporting fade performance of inks deposited at maximum density ink loads only. Dmax in these samples holds up very well because there is an excess ink load giving many "sacrificial molecules" that can fade without impacting the measured dmax very much. When the dye is jetted at much lower ink volume and area coverage to create lighter tones, excess ink is no longer available and the patches show much more visually noticeable fading. Second, I was anticipating lightening as the Claria black dye faded (by photo oxidation mechanism mostly), but there is considerable hue shift occurring as well.

Again, these four samples were made using single channel undiluted black Claria dye only.  I would expect Claria black dyes diluted for the purpose of creating more shades of gray and jetted using more channels for smoother tones would exhibit comparable or even worse fading performance, but confirmation tests would be useful.

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