demise of Gold Fibre Silk?

[kmhpix]

I just talked to Darren from DTG (dtgweb.com) about an order I had place for Ilford Gold Fibre Silk paper. He told me that DTG hasn't been able to get Ilford Gold Fibre paper. He said Mac Group, which is the USA distributor for Ilford paper, will stop supplying Gold Fibre Silk. He suggested that changes may be made Ilford's Smooth Glossy and Smooth Pearl.

Can anyone confirm this information? Will we be able to get Gold Fibre Silk in the future, or is it being phased out?

Cheers,
kmhpix

[Mark D Segal]

There is no demise of Ilford Gold Fibre Silk - I have made enquiries and learned on very good authority. But I have no idea what DTG's or Mac Group's stories are all about.

[Geraldo Garcia]

If you can´t buy the Ilford Gold Fiber Silk try the Canson Baryta Photographique. Pretty much the same.

Best regards.

[tsjanik]

Why would a best seller be killed?  Try here:
http://www.atlex.com/shop-by-brand/ilford/gold-fibre-silk-baryta

[Brenda K. Hipsher]

Be assured that ILFORD GALERIE Prestige Gold Fibre Silk is not going away.  The product is a mainstay of the ILFORD GALERIE line and will continue to be distributed by Mac Group in North White Plains, NY. 
Here is a link to the product page on the NEW www.ILFORD.com.
http://www.ilford.com/en/products/photo-inkjet/galerie-prestige/gold-fibre-silk/

Brenda Hipsher
Mac Group Field Marketing Manager, ILFORD

[kmhpix]

I guess I panicked unnecessarily. I am glad to hear reassurances from you all.

Thank for your comments,
Ken Hanson

[Ernst Dinkla]

I guess I panicked unnecessarily. I am glad to hear reassurances from you all.

Thank for your comments,
Ken Hanson

Well, something positive happened after you panicked. We now know another industry representative reads this forum.


--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

340+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
update april 2012: Harman by Hahnemühle, Innova IFA45 and more

[neile]

Well, something positive happened after you panicked. We now know another industry representative reads this forum.

Or they have a Google Alert set up for IGFS

Neil

[tsjanik]

Be assured that ILFORD GALERIE Prestige Gold Fibre Silk is not going away.  The product is a mainstay of the ILFORD GALERIE line and will continue to be distributed by Mac Group in North White Plains, NY. 
Here is a link to the product page on the NEW www.ILFORD.com.
http://www.ilford.com/en/products/photo-inkjet/galerie-prestige/gold-fibre-silk/

Brenda Hipsher
Mac Group Field Marketing Manager, ILFORD

Hi Brenda:

I see that smooth high gloss is now available in sizes other than 8.5x11, but no 17" width, is there a reason for that?  Great paper, it's very close to Cibachrome in appearence.

Tom

[GaryBarker]

The information communicated regarding the availability of Ilford Gold Fibre Silk was the exact information as provided to us yesterday by customer service at MAC Group, the exclusive US distributor for Ilford products. It appears that this information provided to us was inaccurate based on the subsequent postings as listed here. I have asked for additional clarification since there appears to be conflicting information being provided.

It is true availability has been constrained on many products including Gold Fibre Silk. The current information we have from MAC Group is back ordered product will begin shipping sometime in June, which has changed from the earlier projections of May.

In terms of the product line as a whole, there are indeed changes to the line. As you can see by the page listed (http://www.ilford.com/en/products/photo-inkjet/) there are some products being newly introduced, some have been discontinued and the products have been grouped into new product families and are being repackaged; Prestige and Premium.

DTG will be updating our website to reflect changes to the Ilford product line as this information is made available. If you have questions regarding the Ilford product line or other alternative papers please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.

Gary Barker
DTG National Sales Manager

[GaryBarker]

Additional clarification on the Ilford product line...

While Ilford is "discontinuing" products in reality what they are doing is expanding and reclassifying the product line. The Prestige products will be considered a Five Star premium product which will typically contain heavier weight papers. Papers like Gold Fibre are being discontinued under the old name/packaging and being reintroduced under the Prestige group of products.

Ilford is also adding a more economic selection of products under the Premium classification, which will be considered Four Star products. These products will offer a high quality product that is more cost effective for the home studio, student and ardent amateurs and passionate photographers.

Again, DTG will be updating our website to reflect these changes as product transitions from the current products and packaging to the new Prestige and Premium offerings. If you have questions regarding availability during this transitional period please do not hesitate to contact us.

[mac_paolo]

The package changed, the paper is the same.
I opened the previous and the actual profile for my Epson R3000, exact match. They have just renamed the profile.

Moreover, opening the profile in ColorSync, here is the CIED field:

CTI3  

DESCRIPTOR "Argyll Calibration Target chart information 3"
ORIGINATOR "Argyll chartread"
CREATED "Tue May 10 15:42:56 2011"
KEYWORD "DEVICE_CLASS"
DEVICE_CLASS "OUTPUT"
KEYWORD "COLOR_REP"
COLOR_REP "iRGB_XYZ"
KEYWORD "TARGET_INSTRUMENT"
TARGET_INSTRUMENT "Xrite DTP41"
KEYWORD "SPECTRAL_BANDS"
SPECTRAL_BANDS "31"
KEYWORD "SPECTRAL_START_NM"
SPECTRAL_START_NM "400.000000"
KEYWORD "SPECTRAL_END_NM"
SPECTRAL_END_NM "700.000000"

So, despite they say the profiles have been generated with...


...the truth is that they used Argyll CMS and the old Xrite DTP41. Not a big deal but, why did they tell a lie?

[agthomas81]

Brenda, can you update this group on the availability of the repackaged/renamed Gold Fibre Silk? Also, I hope that Ilford improves the packaging. The boxes on the discontinued version of Gold Fibre Silk were so flimsy that I never once received a box of 17x22 paper that was undamaged. (The boxes would always shift inside retailer's carton and get bashed corners.) Thank you!

[joedecker]

Brenda,

If it's not going away, then why do my orders for it keep getting cancelled?

--Joe

[Wayne Fox]

Brenda,

If it's not going away, then why do my orders for it keep getting cancelled?

--Joe

Maybe because your dealer doesn't know the new product cat # and name ....


http://www.ilford.com/en/products/photo-inkjet/galerie-prestige/gold-fibre-silk/

[Jan Morales]

Maybe because your dealer doesn't know the new product cat # and name ....

Many, if not most, packages of GFS (sizes and sheet counts) are missing not just from my local dealer's inventory, but also from the on-line product listings at B&H, Adorama, and Shades of Paper. For example, I just checked, and a box of 13"x19" can only be found at Adorama and Shades of Paper, and both of them are listing only the box of 10 sheets. The other places don't have it at all. It really looks to me like dealers are running out of stock.

If this is because Ilford has plenty of stock and it's just that every one of these dealers is unable to figure out what new SKUs to use, then that sounds like an Ilford problem, not the dealers' problem. To me it doesn't add up. I'm definitely confused.

I bought some Canson Baryta Photographique today just to try it out. That seems to be in stock everywhere.

[Tony Jay]

Jan, according to many in the know (my own experience is limited with Ilford GFS) Ilford GFs and Canson Baryta Photographique have very similar (perhaps even identical) characteristics.
I can vouch for the Canson paper and the manufacturers profiles (at least for Epson Pro 7900/9900 printers) having a very good Dmax and again, at least for the Epson printers, excellent colour gamut.

I do have some smaller paper sizes of Ilford GFS and I liked the results but from many months ago could not really find the paper sizes I wanted.
Hence, after some research, I made the move to Canson Baryta Photographique.
At this point, as far as semi-gloss papers are concerned, I have found my home.

The next goal for me is decide on a canvas surface...

Regards

Tony Jay

[Mark D Segal]

Maybe because your dealer doesn't know the new product cat # and name ....


http://www.ilford.com/en/products/photo-inkjet/galerie-prestige/gold-fibre-silk/

The paper is here to stay from everything I've been informed, but the packaging remains a mystery. There is nothing I could find on their website that specifies whether the packaging remains the traditional 10 sheet and 50 sheet boxes. If they have discontinued 50 sheet boxes and are focusing on selling 10 sheet boxes at the prices they've been charging for this packaging, it's a deal-breaker. I would like to see an official definitive statement from the company regarding pricing and packaging policy, just to put the whole matter to rest.

[deanwork]

Yes the Canson Baryta is so similar as to be almost identical.

But I moved on to the Harmon Baryta and Baryta warmtone a long time ago. Especially for bw the Canson and Ilford had way too much bronzing and gloss differential for me on the new Canon and the HP Z. Even with a post coat of uv spray it was unacceptable. With True Black and White on the Canon the Harmon is just outstanding for monochrome work.

john

[Mark D Segal]

Yes the Canson Baryta is so similar as to be almost identical.

But I moved on to the Harmon Baryta and Baryta warmtone a long time ago. Especially for bw the Canson and Ilford had way too much bronzing and gloss differential for me on the new Canon and the HP Z. Even with a post coat of uv spray it was unacceptable. With True Black and White on the Canon the Harmon is just outstanding for monochrome work.

john

I see zero bronzing from this paper printed in an Epson 4900. As for gloss differential, if no ink is sprayed onto a certain spot in the print because the highlights are completely blown, and you examine the print at an unusual and unconventional angle for normal print viewing, then yes, that spot will have a slightly different reflectance than the rest of the image; but it becomes apparent under rather unnatural viewing conditions and if one is controlling one's histograms properly it just shouldn't be an issue when looking at prints in a normal viewing position. That's my experience with IGFS in both the Epson 3800 and 4900.