Hello Ernst,
Firstly, ILFORD developed the Gold Fibre Silk with the goal of enabling photographers to reproduce the look of a traditional color photograph. Importantly, the paper features a barium sulphate layer, which produces a wide tonal range and colour gamut as well as enhanced image clarity. The traditional photo feel is enhanced by the fibre base, warm base tint and the fact that it’s a heavyweight paper.
With the new Gold Mono Silk we wanted to complement the range by offering a product developed especially for black and white printing. The paper has a very obvious difference in base tint compared to the Gold Fibre Silk, as we’ve given it a cooler white point using optical brighteners. The idea behind the cooler white tint, as well as the fibre base, is to replicate the qualities that photographers most appreciated about silver halide black and white papers. The results will differ depending on the inks used however, in general terms, when used with dye-based printers, Gold Mono Silk offers a much higher Dmax than Gold Fibre Silk, and also gives the same high Dmax as Gold Fiber Silk on pigment printers. Gold Fibre Silk is recommended for best use with pigment printers only. So overall we hope that the introduction of Gold Mono Silk provides a greater choice for photographers looking to recreate the look of a traditional photograph.
Finally, in response to the confusion about GALERIE Gold Cotton Smooth and Gold Cotton Textured, in fact both of these products exist and can be found on the ILFORD website here: http://www.ilford.com/en/products/photo-inkjet/galerie-prestige/gold-cotton-smooth/ and here: http://www.ilford.com/en/products/photo-inkjet/galerie-prestige/gold-cotton-textured/
Thanks again for your interest. Please let us know if you would like clarification on any further technical details, and in the meantime we hope that you enjoy the results when printing with the new products. We’re making sure that the Luminous Landscape team receive samples for testing, so hopefully you’ll see the results of that here on the site.
Thanks,
Jenny - ILFORD
Jenny.lee@ilford.com
Hello Jenny,
Thank you for the clarification.
Whether it cuts any wood (straight translation of a Dutch saying) is another matter. The cooler white point I dig, the lower weight is a choice and the rest seems vague with the dye ink references. Respectable photographers/print shops will not use dye ink, the more if the print should have a longevity that resembles that of silver halide B&W prints. Both papers are not of the swellable type that should give better longevity with dye inks, your old Classic range had that property. That black dye inks give higher Dmax on gloss and matte papers is no news. I presume that GFS is no dog either with a black dye and I expect a higher Dmax from that paper too with black dye. With the same pigment ink used the Dmax is equal to the Dmax of the Gold Fibre Silk (your words). That and the Dmin = L value of the Mono Silk paper white a lower number than that of the IGFS (Ilford site's Lab numbers) should make it clear that the resulting dynamic range is actually shorter than the dynamic range of IGFS. I welcome any new quality paper but this thread was on what makes an inkjet paper a Mono = B&W quality and I do not think this question is answered yet, other than a cooler white point which could refer to the old Agfa Brovira quality etc. However similar cooler white point inkjet fibre papers exist already without that mono label.
One sample of the Ilford sample book I brought back from the Photokina is a 190gsm textured, 100% cotton paper which has the following name printed on it: Smooth Fine Art. The texture is actually coarser than 220gsm Fine Art Textured. I made a mistake on the name in my first message but it is that sample I had in mind. There is also a 310gsm Smooth Fine Art Matt sample in that book that is really smooth. I think the first sample mentioned has a wrong imprint on it or the name is plain wrong.
No part of the LL staff so I rather receive some A4 sheets of the Ilford papers I did not measure so far for my SpectrumViz application. The Mono Silk and several other ones from the Galerie Prestige, Premium and all the samples of the OmniJet range. Or sample books that have all the qualities bundled if it is too much asked.
The ones measured already are:
Ilford Gal. Prestige Fine Art Smooth D.S. 220.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Fine Art Textured D.S. 220.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Gold Cotton Smooth 330.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Gold Cotton Textured 330.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige GoldFibre Silk 310.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Smooth Fine Art 190.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Smooth Fine Art Matt 310.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Smooth Fine Art Weave 210.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Smooth Gloss RC 310.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Smooth High Gloss Film 215.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Smooth Lustre Duo D.S. RC 280.xls
Ilford Gal. Prestige Smooth Pearl RC 310.xls
+ some obsolete Ilford papers
Kind regards,
--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm400+ inkjet paper white spectral plots, October 2012:
Extended: Ilford-Innova-Hahnemühle-Pictorico,
NEW added: Tetenal-Mitsubishi, NEW halfway: Kodak-Bonjet,
NEW to do: Permajet-FelixSchoeller-Sihl
Would like to get samples: InkPress-JonCone