Digital BW, The Print

Thanks, that was a very good review. I imagne K3 with QTR will give
you much better color tone control. But as you say a warmish base
isn't perfect for everything. However, I just did a series of neutral
prints on Hahnemuhle William Turner which also has a warmish-neutral
base color and I love the way they look. But like you I look for Crane
to offer variations on this base in the future. One step at a time for
a usable fiber glossy paper and I'm satisfied. The other companies
have failed in my humble opinion.

I'm going to try SR with the Cone K6 neutral inkset (as well as K2
this weekend) next week but I look for the bronzing to be major, we'll
see.

John


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "dirkhobman"
<dhobman@h...> wrote:
>
> For those of you who might be interested in Silver Rag with MIS'
> Ultratone inkset, I have had the opportunity to test this paper over
> the past several weeks. I waited to post my impressions until I had
> had enough time to thoroughly use the samples I was given.
> 
> The following is a summary of my experiences with Crane Silver Rag
> using the MIS Ultratone inkset, PKN (not PK or Eboni), and an Epson
4000:
> 
> 1) You will want to use photo black, not matte black with this paper.
> Whether it's PK or PKN won't matter. With PKN you can expect a dmax of
> 2.4. I assume PK will be similar.
> 
> 2) Other than the now discontinued (and completely non-archival) Epson
> Professional Glossy Paper (aka Glossy Paper Photo Weight in rolls),
> this paper's surface is the closest approximation to a glossy
> fiber-based black and white darkroom paper that I have seen. (I really
> like it for this reason). 
> 
> 3) The surface is very durable and highly scratch resistant.
> 
> 4) The base white is slightly on the yellow side, though not
> excessively so. To give a comparison that may or may not be helpful,
> the base white is essentially identical to the "bright white" version
> of Westminster matboard that is sold by Light Impressions and that
> many people seem to use. Also for comparison, it is not as white as
> the Forte darkroom paper I formerly used. (The Forte paper, on the
> other hand, is nowhere near as cool white as Epson Premium Semimatte
> or Premium Luster, for example).
> 
> 5) With the MIS Ultratones, there is effectively no bronzing or gloss
> differential. Spraying with Print Shield (or equivalent) has no visual
> effect. (Not requiring a spray alone makes me love this paper).
> 
> 6) Some will be interested in how this paper compares to Hahnemuhle's
> Photo Rag Satin and PremierArt's Luster Rag, as these all represent a
> new class of printing paper. I found Silver Rag to be superior to
> these other two papers. Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Satin suffers
> tremendously from an inability to achieve a high enough dmax (it
> topped out at 1.56 in my tests). There is no comparison in an image
> printed on the Hahnemuhle paper and Silver Rag, especially if the
> image has any significant area of deeper tones (such as shadow areas).
> PremierArt's Luster Rag performed quite well, but the paper surface
> was too rough for my tastes (it reminded me of canvas, though that's
> certainly an exaggeration). In addition, the Luster Rag has an
> exceedingly warm yellow base that I find disagreeable, but that is
> personal preference. Some may like that.
> 
> 7) Dry mounting is not a problem with Silver Rag.
> 
> 8) Silver Rag handles ink in a way that I personally really like. One
> aspect of digital printing that I've never seen mentioned anywhere is
> that sharpening of an image is not only image size dependent but also
> paper dependent. I've found in general that the typical semigloss
> paper such as Epson Premium Semimatte or Premium Luster tends to
> produce sharper images for a given level of sharpening in Photoshop
> than when printed on a matte paper. This has to do with the dispersion
> of the ink droplets upon hitting the paper. With a paper like Epson
> Premium Semimatte, you can achieve very sharp images, but it can
> sometimes come at the expense of overall smoothness. Silver Rag, on
> the other hand, responds more like a matte paper than a typical
> semigloss paper in how it holds the ink. While a given image may not
> be quite as sharp on Silver Rag when compared to the same image on
> Epson Premium Semimatte, it will be noticeably smoother (and plenty
> sharp enough!). Personally, I much prefer the response of Silver Rag
> to ink in this respect than Epson Premium Semimatte. To give an
> example to help you imagine this effect (and where I saw it in real
> life), look at the image on my home page at www.dirkhobman.com (also
> image 2-4 in the image set section). When I print that image on Epson
> Premium Semimatte (8.5x11 paper), there is a small but noticeable
> amount of grain visible throughout the whole sky area. Without
> changing anything, the same image printed on Silver Rag results in a
> completely smooth sky with absolutely no visible grain.
> 
> 9) Now, alas, the potentially bad news. Silver Rag will work
> wonderfully with any image using the MIS Ultratones that is either
> warm-toned or dead neutral. However, going anywhere in the cool
> direction could be problematic, depending on your tastes. I print just
> slightly cooler than neutral. Unfortunately, the slightly yellow base
> of the paper responds with the cooler (blue) inks to create a slightly
> green cast. It is not extreme, but it is noticeable nonetheless. I
> expect it would become more noticeable with more cool toner. For
> example, in printing the exact same image with curves designed to
> create a slightly cool grayscale on both Epson Premium Semimatte and
> Crane Silver Rag, you will find two very different resulting tones,
> all due to differences in the paper base color. For me, this proves to
> be too big of a problem to overcome. For you, it may not. As I said,
> this will not be a problem with a warm-toned to neutral print. I also
> expect that this won't be a problem with the new Epson full color
> printers. I have never seen their black and white output, but if
> reality matches theory, you could adjust for the tone using the full
> color inks available (i.e. add more magenta, for example - something
> you cannot do with the MIS Ultratones). To put this all in context, I
> prefer Epson Premium Semimatte paper, but I would never print a
> warm-toned or even neutral image on that paper. The base white is so
> cool that you will always have a split toning effect in the highlights
> with a warm-toned or neutral image, no matter how hard you try to
> avoid it.
> 
> Take home message: A fantastic paper that will likely have very broad
> appeal. The only ones who need be concerned are those shooting for a
> cooler tone using the MIS Ultratone inkset, and even then you may not
> find the results disagreeable.
> 
> 
> Dirk Hobman
> www.dirkhobman.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Eleanor Brown"
> <elliebrown@a...> wrote:
> >
> > Over this past weekend I have been working with beta samples of
Crane's
> > new paper Museo Silver Rag. I formerly printed black and white and
> color in
> > my darkroom but five years ago went completely digital. I have been
> looking
> > for a paper to mimic my old silver darkroom papers but no no avail.
> Now my
> > searching is over. I am thrilled at the prints I'm making on this new
> > Silver Rag paper, both in black and white and color. The paper could
> pass
> > for a silver gelatin paper, is a nice weight, and a soft white base
> color
> > and lays flat. The surface--smooth-- has a slight subtle elegant
texture
> > that shows through the coating--this texture looks  like air dried
> glossy silver gelatin paper
> > textures (not like epson luster paper).  When you hold the paper in
> your hand, it also feels 
> > like a silver gelatin paper.
> > 
> > I've printed on my 7800 printer using Imageprint in both standard
three
> > black mode and Phatte black mode. Have also printed on my 2400
using the
> > epson driver, advanced black and white mode. All prints are superb
> with deep deep blacks 
> > with good separation in dark shadow areas. The
> > paper surface is tough--resistant to scratching and highly water
> resistant
> > after the inks have had a chance to completely dry. (I soaked a
print in
> > water until saturated, with no ink run off, even when rubbed with a
> paper
> > towel). I look forward to using this new paper for most of my
> printing in
> > the future. Eleanor
> >
>