I print with a Canon PRO 100. For those who don't know, it's a dye photo printer rather than pigment printer. Dye printers have a different set of challenges than pigment printers. Although dye printers print spectacularly on most RC papers, rag and baryta type papers have, for me at least, been an almost universal disappointment. This is especially troubling because I have wanted to see color printed the old air dried fiber base glossy surface from the wet lab days.
I am now about halfway through Hanemuhle's "Glossy Fine Art" sample pack. Although glossy is perhaps a bit of a misnomer because this pack includes satin and pearl surfaces, each of the papers included has printed beautifully. Some of the surfaces have not been to my liking, but each paper so far has printed with a rich DMAX, good color and contrast and a nice tonal scale. Hanemuhle says that these papers are optimized for both dye and pigment printers and indeed they are. So far my favorite has been the FB Baryta. I also am impressed with Photo Rag Satin.
I'm posting this because I am sure I am not the only dye printer who has looked for rag/baryta papers that will work with dye and been disappointed with most of the ones tried.
Here are the papers included in the sample pack:
- Fine Art Perl
- Photo Rag Satin
- Photo Rag Baryta
- Photo Rag Pearl
- Fine Art Baryta
- FB Baryta
- and (oddly) Leonardo Canvas
Just wanted to take the opportunity to tell anyone else who might be looking for nice paper alternatives.
