Alternatives to Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, they are!

[pikeys]

Eric stopped making profiles a year or so back.

Brian A

Brian,
Who would you recommend?


Mike

[Ernst Dinkla]

Has anyone tried the Epson Exhibition Fiber as replacement for the Ilford GFS?
I have a box of it coming my way to do some testing

Not a good alternative for IGFS but also the paper that shifts its white the fastest of all fibre/baryta papers tested by Aardenburg Imaging. I would not touch it with a barge pole. Epson has some very nice art papers like the Hot and Cold presses mattes but this is not the one that deserves the Signature Worthy label.

--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
January 2014, 600+ inkjet media white spectral plots.

[hugowolf]

Brian,
Who would you recommend?

There is everything from itSupplies for about $25 to the more bespoke ones from Andrew Rodney (aka the Digital Dog) for $100.

http://digitaldog.net/services.html

To be honest, I would wait and see how the Epson profiles work for you; and even whether you like the paper or not. That fading white point did it for me. It would be a bit pointless paying for custom profiles for a paper you may not like.

Brian A

[pikeys]

There is everything from itSupplies for about $25 to the more bespoke ones from Andrew Rodney (aka the Digital Dog) for $100.

http://digitaldog.net/services.html

To be honest, I would wait and see how the Epson profiles work for you; and even whether you like the paper or not. That fading white point did it for me. It would be a bit pointless paying for custom profiles for a paper you may not like.

Brian A

Good point Brian,yes,I think I will wait
Like I said,brightness/thickness could ,& now fading,might kill it for me

[Geraldo Garcia]

Good news:

Hahnemühle is about to start selling a paper that may be a good (or excellent) substitute.
I have a printed sample on my hands and it looks very good.
Alpha cellulose, 310gsm, with optical brighteners (as Ilford GFS and Canson IBP), subtle (almost non existent) texture, almost matt on unprinted areas and satin gloss on printed areas.
The name will be "Photo Silk Baryta 310", and the use of the "silk" is no coincidence for sure.
I am waiting a sample roll to print and test but I can tell you for sure that it is a beautiful paper.

Best regards.   

[pikeys]

Good news:

Hahnemühle is about to start selling a paper that may be a good (or excellent) substitute.
I have a printed sample on my hands and it looks very good.
Alpha cellulose, 310gsm, with optical brighteners (as Ilford GFS and Canson IBP), subtle (almost non existent) texture, almost matt on unprinted areas and satin gloss on printed areas.
The name will be "Photo Silk Baryta 310", and the use of the "silk" is no coincidence for sure.
I am waiting a sample roll to print and test but I can tell you for sure that it is a beautiful paper.

Best regards.   

Went on the Hahnemuhle site,couldn't find any info on this paper
Geraldo,do you know if it uses photo black ink?

Mike

[Geraldo Garcia]

Looks like it will be part of their "Hahnemüle Photo" line of papers, but it is not on their site yet, heard it and got my printed sample yesterday directly from Hahnemühle´s top staff.
I did not ask, but I am sure it uses Photo Black ink. It should hit the market in a month or two, I think.
Here is a picture of it (sorry for the crappy iphone picture, i tried to catch a reflection to show the surface and the glossiness of the paper):

Edit: looking at the posted picture I noticed that the apparent texture is exaggerated on the area where the glare is. The paper is really smooth.

[pikeys]

Thanks Geraldo,
This explains the email I got from Hahnenmuhle about the WPPI show coming up
Any quick impressions you'd like to share?

Mike

[Geraldo Garcia]

From the printed sample I got all I can say is that it is a beautiful paper, quite similar to Ilford GFS and Canson IBP. It is slightly whiter and glows a bit more under UV light, so it surely has a bit more OBA (FBA) than the other two. Nice deep blacks and vivid colours.
As soon as I get my sample to profile and print on, I will be able to tell more.

Best regards.

[pikeys]

From the printed sample I got all I can say is that it is a beautiful paper, quite similar to Ilford GFS and Canson IBP. It is slightly whiter and glows a bit more under UV light, so it surely has a bit more OBA (FBA) than the other two. Nice deep blacks and vivid colours.
As soon as I get my sample to profile and print on, I will be able to tell more.

Best regards.

Thanks Geraldo,
I went ahead and ordered a box of Ilford GFS,couldn't resist the low price,now I have about a years supply
I'll be using this paper with the Canson photographique profile,I seem to be getting good results with that combo.
Geraldo,I look forward to your comments after you've had time to test the Hahnemuhle.

Mike

[TSJ1927]

This sounds like the unique characteristics of their Photo Rag Satin but with less texture.

[Geraldo Garcia]

Although the new "silk" is not super-glossy, it is way glossier than Photo Rag Satin on the printed areas.
Another good thing about it that I forgot to mention is that it does not have that magenta cast of the baryta FB.

Best regards.

[MHMG]

Too bad if Hahnemulhe seems to be headed in the direction of more OBA use rather than less. The more I study white point stability issues of media containing OBAs the more I'm convinced those media should not be described freely in the same context with "archival" fine art printing. It's not just that light exposed OBAs eventually lose their fluorescence. There is mounting evidence in my light faded print sample collection that the OBA degradation products do not always remain colorless once the prints are retired from continuous display to a low intensity or dark stored location. The widely held assumption that the OBA containing papers will simply revert to their "natural" white state after the OBAs fade may very well be wishful thinking. It's easy to understand why the phenomenon has had little discussion in the scientific literature.  Accelerated light fade test procedures normally don't include a subsequent recheck of the sample after a relatively long extended dark storage cycle. One has to do the experiment 

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

[Geraldo Garcia]

Mark,

Your point makes a lot of sense, I always had that feeling/fear about OBA decay having other effects than reverting the paper to its natural colour, but was never able to find any solid evidence of that.
On the other hand, Hahnemühle´s marketing director told me personally they face contradictory demands from clients: one crowd wants OBA free papers while the other crowd demands the brightest paper possible, so they are trying to have products to satisfy both. As long as they keep good OBA free options that is fine with me.

Best regards.

[huguito]

I made a print last night on Canson Baryta Photographique and compared the same image I had printed with GFS, a small difference on the surface color on the Canson, seems just a bit brighter, other than that, its a beautiful print and compares very well with the one made in GFS
Hugo

[pikeys]

+1,you can also use the Canson Profile on the GFS
Then compare the 2 prints
Canson profile on GFS,works better for me,on my R3000
The two papers are almost identical,I said,almost
Both exceptional papers,the Canson paper is more delicate-handle with care.

Mike