There is nothing sinking about Hahnemühle. They have been the most popular high-end media since they started coating their papers for inkjet almost 20 years ago. They have also been the most consistent in regard to quality control in my experience for the last 18 years I've used them.
Now Canson who was their strong competitor for the las 12 years is another story. They have been sold so many times in the last few years that I can't keep up with them. They also were the first historic paper manufacturer to sell their formulas out right to Epson, who now sells their same papers under the Legacy name, while Canson attempts to sell the same media under their name, a very strange situation.
I have used the Canson Rag Photographique for 10 years because of its sharp coating with excellent color gamut and top of the line dmax. Now something has happened to their coating and dmax has crashed in a major way, making it unusable for the black and white work I do with several printers and inksets. I also see a reduction in the color gamut and have actually experience a color shift in some of my HPZ Vivera prints when exposed to light and even a fading of some mid tones in my own window tests when no color inks were even used at all. As an example with dmax it went from 1.8 down to 1.67 on the Z3200. On the Canon 8300 down to 1.58 from what used to be 1.69. And original piezography my dmax down from 1.67 to 1.58. That is a major change in coating no matter how you want to spin it. Last week I emailed Canson USA about this when the head marketing guy sent me a promotional email trying to get their company back in the game. They are going to do their own tests finally apparently and not take the French divisions word for it. I think he believes me. At least he didn't dismiss my observations. I've been a big cheerleader for Canson because of their use of Titanium white pigments in place of dye brighteners. Not enough of these papers were fade tested outside of Wilhelm.
So I switched back to Hahnemühle Ultrasmooth and Photorag 308 and both my color gamut and dmax are back where they should be. And that goes for ALL the high-end Hahnemühle media, very consistent for all these years. I have had no issues with Canson or Epson branded Platine, at least not yet. Or their rc media as far as that goes.
If people want to test these differences with your inksets print out a black square on Canson Rag Photo or Epson Legacy Fiber and do the same on any smooth or even not smooth Hahnemühle or Moab Entrada sheet and measure the density. See for yourself. I actually wish more people would do this and send the results to Canson and Epson. While your at it, print out the Atkinson printer evaluation target and see the hue saturation differences as well. Canson used to be the best matte rag gamut, slightly better than Hahnemühle. Now the Canson gamut is duller in my tests. I'm seeing it in things I've reprinted from years ago files.
So in testing the Canson and Epson smooth matte rag over the last six months from various batches it has proved unusable for me. Is it working better with the new Epson inks?, possibly, but that doesn't help me and I'm sure Hahnemühle will prove superior with those inks too. And regardless what Canson is hearing from France, changes to the coating have been made, maybe different factory, water, etc..... How many changes who knows. And has their stellar claimed longevity( Wilhelm ) changed as well? That is my biggest concern since I've made so many prints on Canson matte rag papers.
So for me, thank God for Hahnemühle and their commitment to excellence and quality control over the last two decades.
Moab doesn't make their media, they are made by Legion , Awagami and others from everything I've heard in the past. But they have some very nice papers, especially Entrada that tests very well at Aardenburg and is beautiful. I plan on using the natural version along with Hahnemühle.
John
Hello all,
I recently made a little over 100 test prints on a myriad of different papers. I'm looking to step up things a bit and get away from using some of the more generic papers when selling prints. Naturally, I would like to stick with the new paper of choice for at least a few years. After evaluating the prints, I ended up choosing the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl (the Red River Palo Duro Softgloss Rag was a very close 2nd), but have since noticed that all 4 of the paper suppliers in my area are clearing out their Hahnemuhle papers and don't intend to keep it in stock anymore (special order only). I don't mind buying online, but I'm a bit concerned that there might be a sort of Hahnemuhle exodus going on and that I might be better with the Red River paper over the long run if the Photo Rag Pearl is going to become harder to source.