How are you finding the Hahnemuhle Canvas as compared to Brand F?
Well I'm still suffering from traget fixation on the poor mechanical qualities of the Fredrix 24" rolls. But in general, Daguerre is quite similar to Fredrix 777 Vivid, except with better mechanical QC and slightly more texture.
What I like about Fredrix 777 Vivid...
Very fine weave without any particular weave polarization. Image sharpness is not seriously compromised by the weave. Prints look fine, as good as any canvas I have ever used and in its own way as good as any matte paper, except different. Easy to handle. Cool rather bright white that works well with landscapes. Surface texture is actually less than most matte papers that call themselves textured.
What I don't like about Fredrix...
They can't wind the stuff straight on the rolls! DUH! And that leads to rolled-under edges that bump and clog the print heads. Also, there are a few too many "seeds" which are nasty little black thingys embedded just under the coatings that you don't notice until one lands in a pristinely smooth section of blue sky that is the focus of your image. If you print over one, and it's in a smooth, important area, kiss your 35 x 90 print goodbye. Trying to dig one of those out is to come to understand the dynamics of icebergs, they're mostly under the surface. And if you try to paint them out, they skew your nice acrylic blues towards green.
What I like about Hahnemuhle Daguerre...
Excellent QC. The sides of the rolls are neatly trimmed and perfectly aligned. In (admittedly only) three rolls I have had no losses from seeds or other defects. So far.
Reservations about Daguerre...
More texture than 777, but still much less than BC Lyve which is totally over the top texturewise, IMHO. Daguerre is relatively sharp printing, maybe a teense less that 777. The Daguerre weave texture is somewhat more pronounced across the width of the roll. This is fortunate because when my wide panos are lighted from above the texture pretty much disappears. The depth of the Daguerre texture is minimal, which somewhat makes up for its coarser frequency compared to 777. Like 777 the texture is fine enough that I can almost completely cover it up with 3 thick coats of Glamour, if I am so moved to do so.
It's a little hard to get. All my suppliers that carry it drop ship from Hahnemuhle in Chicago and there is no reliable way to find out whether there is anything actually there in stock, or if I will simply wait and wait for who knows how long. So far the wait is pretty much two weeks from order, but with no confirmations or acknowledgments or tracking from whoever does the shipping.
FWIW...
My homebrew Fredrix 777 and Daguerre profiles are so similar that they are essentially interchangeable. Prints on the two look almost exactly the same, even in the 9880 sky blues. That's really good, because I recently spent months tweaking my prints for Fredrix 777. Which is reason enough to own a profiling system. But you can still tell which is which because of the texture differences.
Also, I mentioned in a previous post the the Hahn canned profiles for Daguerre as basically right-on. I lied. They're too dark, and too contrasty. Like most canned profiles. I was basing my assessment on two high key subjects that didn't have enough dark areas to be noticeably dragged down. Anybody printing any kind of canvas should make their own profiles, or have them made, and that's a fact.
But...if Fredrix could get that winding thing solved, it would be my baby again, even with the seeds. I do like those sharp, fine textured prints. For some reason the winding issues only seem to seriously affect the 24" rolls. Out of 18, 24" rolls I've opened since September, more than half had 10 or more miswound and rolled-under feet that I judged not safe to use. However, all the 36" and 44" rolls seemed fine, at most a minor misalignment towards the end. Go figure.
