Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: keith_cooper on July 26, 2008, 08:37:41 am
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After doing a few short paper reviews on the 4880 that Epson UK lent me, I got to try out two canvases from Innova. Photo Canvas Matte 350gsm (IFA 35) and Photo Canvas Ultra Gloss 380gsm (IFA 36).
Some observations at: Innova canvas review (http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/paper/innova_canvas.html)
The glossy one prints just like their Fibaprint papers and comes out of the printer with a glossy finish, with greater colour depth and deeper blacks than you get even after varnishing more traditional canvases.
Not being a great canvas printing fan, I was wondering if anyone uses the glossy canvas at all for their work, and how they found it compared with other types? (apart from 'not cheap' ;-) )
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After doing a few short paper reviews on the 4880 that Epson UK lent me, I got to try out two canvases from Innova. Photo Canvas Matte 350gsm (IFA 35) and Photo Canvas Ultra Gloss 380gsm (IFA 36).
Some observations at: Innova canvas review (http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/paper/innova_canvas.html)
The glossy one prints just like their Fibaprint papers and comes out of the printer with a glossy finish, with greater colour depth and deeper blacks than you get even after varnishing more traditional canvases.
Not being a great canvas printing fan, I was wondering if anyone uses the glossy canvas at all for their work, and how they found it compared with other types? (apart from 'not cheap' ;-) )
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Is the Ultra Gloss canvas available in the USA or is Innova restricting distribution to UK only?
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Is the Ultra Gloss canvas available in the USA or is Innova restricting distribution to UK only?
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I don't know of any limitations, since I've seen most of their media mentioned in the catalogues of US distributors. It is a relatively new product though...
[a href=\"http://www.innovaart.com/en/canvas.html]www.innovaart.com/en/canvas.html[/url]
The UG canvas is quite expensive, so that might limit initial dealer uptake. I know my local paper supplier did suggest it wasn't a product he'd want too much of sitting on his shelves ;-)
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well The Canvas is not restricted just really expensive due to inport duties on Canvas and finished goods. If I get enough people asking I will bring it in
So chime in and let me know what sizes!
Cheers
Jim Doyle
http://www.shadesofpaper.com (http://www.shadesofpaper.com)
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I saw it at the Focus show in Birmingham in February and was very impressed with it. Still have not tried it myself though. I like the F-type gloss paper very much, so the canvas is a known quantity in a way.
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The glossy one prints just like their Fibaprint papers and comes out of the printer with a glossy finish, with greater colour depth and deeper blacks than you get even after varnishing more traditional canvases.
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FWIW, just the 2 cents of a inexperienced amateur : I tried the 2 Innova canvases as they were included in the sampler they sent me (many thanks to their french distributor [a href=\"http://www.novalith.com/]Torpedo[/url]).
The high gloss of the glossy one surely helps much with gamut and DMax, but it gives a strong emphasis on the canvas texture that I really find disturbing - it actually reminds me of cheap painting reproductions printed on similar material (think ueber-kitschissimo pictures of cats or horses ).
It's probably a cultural problem - for me, canvas is more made to be hidden by the texture of oil painting itself - and even with fiber papers, I also strongly dislike the Naugahyde vinyl (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/surface-reflections.shtml) look of some (if not many) of them.
But beyond this taste problem, I also struggled to find a way of lighting it without having the reflections on the canvas surface interfering with the content of the image (to the point of partially hiding it).
Post-relecture note : I realize now that the samples I got were not the ones you review, but were the older CG15/MC12 canvases, so all the above does not apply to the IFA36. Oooooops.
That said, I still wonder what is the correct way to light such a glossy canvas without getting disturbing specular reflections.
And if anybody is interested in these older products, from what I see in Keith Cooper's review, the difference between CG15 and MC12 is more pronounced concerning the gloss, and less so concerning the black depth/gamut imvho.
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But beyond this taste problem, I also struggled to find a way of lighting it without having the reflections on the canvas surface interfering with the content of the image (to the point of partially hiding it).
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I realize that the poster of the above comment was referring to another Innova canvas beside the new glossy one, but the problem he mentions is one that I had when trying both the PremierArt glossy canvas and the Intelicoat Torino 21G glossy canvas. I circumvented this problem by using the Breathing Color Chromata glossy canvas, but had trouble with flaking, and I now see BC isn't selling a glossy canvas anymore (so I guess it wasn't just me).
Anyway, Keith, I was wondering what the new Innova glossy canvas is like in this respect. I realize that you don't have a lot of experience with canvas, but the reflectance problem the previous poster mentioned is pretty obvious, inasmuch as it makes it fairly hard to find a good angle for viewing the print and avoiding a dulling glare. The BC glossy looked almost like a glossy fine art paper, and from the description of the surface, it sounds like the Innova would look pretty similar, but I thought I'd check.
Kind Regards,
Mike
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It's tricky showing things like the glossiness, but the photographs in the review (http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/paper/innova_canvas.html) were taken under a variety of lighting conditions and I think taken together should give a good idea of it's like.
The pictures by the printer have ceiling halogen spotlights, and the ones showing the gloss differential are on my 'print viewing piano' :-) ... I used the black glossy top of this the other day in a new review of Pinaccle Photo Oyster (lustre) paper (http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/paper/pinnacle_oyster_lustre.html). The first shot in that review shows the lighting conditions
Remember though, that I was going out of my may to show the reflections. I would see it as no more of a problem than putting a glossy finish varnish on ordinary canvas.
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It's tricky showing things like the glossiness, but the photographs in the review (http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/reviews/paper/innova_canvas.html) were taken under a variety of lighting conditions and I think taken together should give a good idea of it's like.
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They give me the feeling that the glaring problem is significantly reduced with the IFA36! Well worth a try if I can grab some here in France.
Many thanks & kudos for your reviews, Keith!