OK - matte, glossy, satin or otherwise: What are your favorite papers for printing B&W on the z3100 and why?
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Depends on the image, but my favorites so far:
1) HP professional satin- A beautiful paper that's closer to a semigloss than a traditional satin surface. It yields a very deep black, a clean bright white, and good tonal separation. The surface doesn't intrude on the image. Pretty close to a traditional darkroom print, in a good way.
2) Hahnemuhle photo rag satin- kind of hard to describe. There's a gentle surface texture that helps some images. Once the Z3100's ink hits the paper, it produces a complex and subtle gloss differential that actually improves tonal separation in the shadows. Resulting prints look like they're etched in steel, yet blacks are still pretty good. Some images really sing on this paper.
3) Hahnemuhle fine art pearl- brilliant clean whites with a slightly cool tone. The brilliant highlights compensate for a slightly weaker D-max than Crane's silver rag. Silver rag has a warm paper base that makes cool toned prints impossible, which just doesn't meet my needs.
4) Epson premium glossy- I have a bunch of it around, and it's pretty inexpensive. Excellent sharpness/detail and a very smooth surface; looks good with warm toned prints.
As always, your mileage may vary. These papers just match my requirements.