Digital BW, The Print

Hello Walt,

>A lab here in S.F. is doing a lot of printing with a 9800 and the 
>manager told me that people want HPR all the time--until they see 
>the print.  

Interesting.  Glad to know it's not my imagination.


>On the VFA texture, there is something very odd about it:  if you 
>compare the unprinted area (of the printable side) with areas that 
>have ink on them, the area under the ink appears much smoother.  
>So, I think that a lot of the texture is in the coating (not the 
>paper) and that the ink levels the coating--or perhaps just fills 
>it in.  Thus the apparent lack of detail loss.  Look under a loupe 
>and let me know if you notice the same thing.  I first noticed this 
>when an astute photographer friend asked how I got paper texture 
>"only in the margin of the print."

It certainly looks that way to the eye.  Under a loupe I can still see
the texture but it _is_ filled in somewhat, more so in the darker
areas.  The texture is most visible with light from an angle, which
increases the shadows caused by the little ridges.  The dark inked
areas seem to reduce the shadowing.  When compared with Max under a
loupe, the crevices or valleys in the texture are much deeper in Max
than VFA, so it makes sense they could fill in, or perhaps swell...

I have an image on both papers here, with a real smooth Zone III area,
and the Max texture affects it but the VFA doesn't.  Also the VFA dmax
is noticeably better than the Max.


>The OBAs in the VFA still bother me and I guess I'm going to have 
>to do some tests.  If over time they simply return the paper to 
>its natural color, that would be fine.  If the OBAs actually 
>yellow, that would not.

I'm not so bothered by this, mainly because I've seen no real evidence
of a problem - only opinions and hearsay.  Also, I've got OBA silver
prints from 20 years ago (Oriental Seagull, etc) that are still bright
and white.  The only evidence in my own experience is I've seen Condor
BW prints, hanging around for months unprotected under fluorescent and
daylight, lose a tiny bit of brightness, barely noticeable, compared
to a new sheet from the box.  But it isn't less white, or yellowed, or
in any way changed unevenly.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm