Looking for feedback on Museo II and Museo MAX

[JeffKohn]

Title pretty much says it, I'm looking for feedback from anybody who has experience with these papers, both relative to each other and relative to other brands of similar paper.

When I got the 2400 I tried several fine art samples (but not the Crane stuff), and settled Hahnemuhle Photo Rag for the DMAX, gamut, and detail. I like the smoother surface of this paper compared to some of the more heavily textured papers such as VFA. My only complaint with the Photo Rag paper is flaking; I found this to be a real issue and since I'm currently using a 13" roll, pre-brushing the paper is difficult/inconvenient.

I see that Crane claims to be superior in this regard as well as DMAX and gamut, and so I'm wondering if anybody thinks the Crane paper lives up to their promises. And of course there's also the decision of whether to go with Museo II or Museo MAX, from reading the descriptions it's kind of hard to tell what exactly the differences are between the two.

Thanks,

[JeffKohn]

If anybody's interested, I ordered sample packs of both Museo II and Museo MAX to try the papers out for myself. The Museo MAX paper is too heavily textured for my tastes, the texture noticeably obscures fine details in some prints. The Museo II is two-sided has a smooth surface very similar to Photo Rag and a "velina" surface with a hair more texture although still relatively smooth compared to many textured fine art papers. I actually prefer the "velina" side for most prints.

After profiling the paper my impressions are that it does indeed have excellent DMAX and gamut, but it's not head and shoulders above Photo Rag. In fact based on my profiles it appears that Photo Rag has a slightly larger gamut. On the plus side the coating does seem more durable based on early testing; I've yet to see any flaking on my prints so far although it's really too soon to be 100% sure about this.

Since I still have a 13" roll of Photo Rag I'll continue to use that for panos or for prints where the slightly larger gamut would make a difference, but for the rest of my 13x19" prints I'll be using Museo II since I like the surface a little better and the coating seems less prone to flaking.