Choosing a Paper
Last exhibition was printed on Moab Entrada Natural with Epson K3 inks. It worked well, but having since switched back to Piezography, I ran a few comparisons between what I had in stock. It turns out that Entrada is somewhat duller with NK7 inks while Hahnemühle Photo Rag really shines. Deeper blacks, more sparkle in the highlights, and something I can’t really identify combine to give much more pleasing prints. NK7 on Entrada are good prints and I would probably not find flaws if I had not compared to the same on Photo Rag. But I did. And it is like someone turned on the light on the Photo Rag one. Hard to believe.
A close examination also shows the print surface is flawless with Photo Rag while Entrada surface shows some light reflections, as if the ink was not completely absorbed. I have used Entrada a lot with early Piezography and MIS UT7 without noticing that problem, so maybe I could try to create my own Entrada curve with less ink and see. It would not give the higher DMax, though and probably not the nicer tone of Photo Rag.
A problem with Photo Rag is the price, though. Nearly twice compared to its competitors.
I don’t have time before the exhibition to order and test Innova and Bradford papers, but I surely will after the exhibition. Innova is supposed to be very very close to Photo Rag with NK7 and it is sold around the same price as Entrada.
In the meantime, Photo Rag is back!
I’ll be interested to hear what you think about the Innova papers. I was very disappointed (given the ’supposed to be close to Photo Rag’ reputation). They seemed like somebody had coated them with wallpaper paste and left it to dry. Not nice.
I agree with the Photo Rag light turning on. I’ve just been using some again after a six months break. There are things that I don’t like, but the vividness is definitely there (using ImagePrint and full colour monochrome printing).
Colin, isn’t that FibaPrint Gloss that disappointed you? I personally don’t think it is such a good idea to try to imitate a medium with another one.
The one I plan to try is Innova Smooth Cotton Natural White.
Stephane,
FibaPrint Gloss is probably the only one that I haven’t seen. I got a megapack of sample sheets of all the matte, canvas and assorted other papers. FP Gloss was in short supply at the time so it wasn’t included.
I haven’t printed much on them (I think the max was three sheets of any one paper), and I wouldn’t want anybody to think that I had. I was just put off by the surfaces.
Hmmm, not really encouraging :-/
Stephane,
I noticed on another site you had some experience with calibrating the NK7 inks. Were you doing this on a Mac or on a PC? I have long used Piezography inks and have recently fallen in love with the results I get on Arches Infinity paper, though the deepest shadows are a bit blocked up. So I am trying to calibrate but am getting lost in the confusion of multiple explanations from QTR. If you have any advice or guidance for a Mac user, I’d be deeply grateful! Thanks.