Alternative to Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl

[torger]

I'm new to printing with an own Canon pigment ink printer and I'm currently testing through some papers to find a good one to start working with. I only want one paper to learn and become good at making prints for that.

I've found Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl, and I like it's similarity in look and gloss to high quality offset book prints. I also like that it's OBA-free and is high quality paper with good archival properties in general. The only disadvantage is that I would like it to be a tiny little bit whiter. This is a little bit more yellow than Photo Rag Baryta and Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk. A whiteness similar to those would have been ideal. I prefer the more discrete gloss and structure on the Pearl over the gloss/structure of the Baryta and the Gold Fibre Silk though, so if I have to choose I'll live with the "natural white".

I can settle with this paper, but I thought I'd first ask the forum for tips of a similar paper I should look at.

[aaronchan]

I'm new to printing with an own Canon pigment ink printer and I'm currently testing through some papers to find a good one to start working with. I only want one paper to learn and become good at making prints for that.

I've found Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl, and I like it's similarity in look and gloss to high quality offset book prints. I also like that it's OBA-free and is high quality paper with good archival properties in general. The only disadvantage is that I would like it to be a tiny little bit whiter. This is a little bit more yellow than Photo Rag Baryta and Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk. A whiteness similar to those would have been ideal. I prefer the more discrete gloss and structure on the Pearl over the gloss/structure of the Baryta and the Gold Fibre Silk though, so if I have to choose I'll live with the "natural white".

I can settle with this paper, but I thought I'd first ask the forum for tips of a similar paper I should look at.

Try Canson Platine Fiber Rag

[Geraldo Garcia]

Try Canson Platine Fiber Rag

+1 for Platine.

But I must tell you, I have the samples on my hand and I think PR Pearl is slightly whiter (less yellow) than Platine and PR Baryta.

[torger]

Thanks for the tip! How is the surface structure if you look at a reflection of the Canson Platine paper? My taste is towards a smoother surface and I like that the PR Pearl has a smoother structure than PR Baryta and Gold Fibre Silk. I also rather have slightly less gloss even if it costs me a little gamut and dmax.

Concerning whiteness it can be hard to see depending on viewing condition sometimes the PR pearl does look kind of whiter, but in a D50 condition it looks a little bit yellow. I found this http://daystarvisions.com/Docs/Rvws/FibrePaper/pg2.html which contains some white point measurements, and PR Pearl has 97.3/0.1/1.9 CIELab (ie a bit yellow), and Platine 97.0/0.0/0.4 which is more neutral.

[deanwork]

I have Photorag Pearl, Photorag Baryta, Canson Platine, and H Fine Art Pearl here.

The Canson Platine is a LOT whiter than the first two mentioned here and almost as bright as FA Pearl but with no optical brighteners at all.

The Platine has really grown on me. I love it for color and bw. At first I was concerned about it being a little too fragile but it seems to be working out fine. My main problem with it is in roll form when you get to the second half of a roll it can cause head strikes. Of course the FA Pearl can too but not quite as bad.

john

[torger]

Thanks. Just ordered a couple of Canson testpacks, I'm going to look at some matte papers too. I know I said I want to learn just one paper to start with, but I lied , I want one semi-gloss (the main paper) and one matte, seems like Canson has some interesting matte papers too.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Concerning whiteness it can be hard to see depending on viewing condition sometimes the PR pearl does look kind of whiter, but in a D50 condition it looks a little bit yellow. I found this http://daystarvisions.com/Docs/Rvws/FibrePaper/pg2.html which contains some white point measurements, and PR Pearl has 97.3/0.1/1.9 CIELab (ie a bit yellow), and Platine 97.0/0.0/0.4 which is more neutral.

Exactly the Lab numbers I measured for said papers. Well the links at that page may explain that.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2014 update, 700+ inkjet media white spectral plots

[torger]

Exactly the Lab numbers I measured for said papers. Well the links at that page may explain that.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
December 2014 update, 700+ inkjet media white spectral plots

Yep I noticed afterwards that he referred to your numbers :-). Great work, good to get an overview without having to buy every single paper out there.

Hopefully I get the Canson papers today, very excited to see how they look. I think I can live with the varm tone of the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl, so it will be a tough match.

[Ken Doo]

I really like Canson Platine Fibre Rag and have been using it for quite awhile.  Be aware that this paper can put off quite a bit of "paper dust" when cutting. All cotton rag papers can do this, it's just that I notice this more on Canson Platine Fibre Rag. On some rolls, it is worthwhile to use a soft anti-static dust brush to gently whisk the top layer clear of potential dust on the top before installing in the printer.

ken

[Rob Reiter]

On my Canon 8400 there is a Reduce Dust setting that prints a dark stripe exactly in the middle of the cutting line. This application of ink precisely where the blade cuts does actually reduce, but not eliminate, cutting dust.

I really like Canson Platine Fibre Rag and have been using it for quite awhile.  Be aware that this paper can put off quite a bit of "paper dust" when cutting. All cotton rag papers can do this, it's just that I notice this more on Canson Platine Fibre Rag. On some rolls, it is worthwhile to use a soft anti-static dust brush to gently whisk the top layer clear of potential dust on the top before installing in the printer.

ken

[Geraldo Garcia]

Concerning whiteness it can be hard to see depending on viewing condition sometimes the PR pearl does look kind of whiter, but in a D50 condition it looks a little bit yellow. I found this http://daystarvisions.com/Docs/Rvws/FibrePaper/pg2.html which contains some white point measurements, and PR Pearl has 97.3/0.1/1.9 CIELab (ie a bit yellow), and Platine 97.0/0.0/0.4 which is more neutral.

As my printed sample of Platine was definitely yellower I looked into the measurements taken during my last profile creation and turns out you are right. I was using as reference a relatively old and small printed sample of Platine (handled with bare hands by clients for a few months) against a fresh printed samples of PR Pearl and PR Baryta. That is why the Platine was looking a bit more yellow, it was stained by handling. Now with freshly printed samples I agree that Platine is the brighter of the three, they are close actually, but Platine is the brighter.

I would also say that PR Pearl is the less glossy of the three and PR Baryta is the glossier of the three, leaving Platine in the middle. But, again, they are close.

[torger]

I now got my Canson sample packs, and printed a test picture on the Canson platine rag, and compared to Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl.

I find it quite difficult to separate the two concerning whiteness, depending on viewing light. Also the Photo Rag Baryta is hard to differ. For fun I took spoot readings of the paper whites, and in terms of Delta E the three papers differs less than 0.5, so they're indeed virtually the same. I guess this is as white OBA-free paper gets. The Canson is slightly whiter though.

Concerning gloss and texture the Canson Platine looks very similar to Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, I like that texture, smoother than Photo Rag Baryta for example. However like Gold Fibre Silk the Platine makes stronger reflections than Photo Rag Pearl, and therefore I prefer the gloss and texture of the latter even more.

I also like the feel of the Hahnemuhle rag better, which is a bit thicker. According to measurements the Photo Rag Pearl has a Dmax of 2.4, the Platine has around 2.2. I couldn't measure my sheet though because the ICC profile from Canson was not so and did not print blacks as black as they can be, a value of 2.2 seems likely.

I would probably choose the Platine over Gold Fibre Silk (as I like the cotton rag, Gold Fibre Silk feels like alpha-cellulose), but when it comes to the Photo Rag Pearl I think it stays as my favorite so far.