Digital BW, The Print

on 8/14/01 6:06 PM, Paul Roark wrote:

> The scanner says the glossy black is much darker.  When the Photo Glossy
> test strip is scanned along with an Archival Matte test strip, the Archival
> Matte black reads a weak 91% compared to the glossy's 100%.  The scanner
> also says that the MIS black ink prints cooler on glossy paper than on
> Archival Matte and that the glossy paper is warmer than the Archival Matte.
> 
> My visual opinions differ a bit from the above.


I happened to have gotten a bunch of papers to test recently, so I dropped
in some Epson Photo glossy to have a look. I'm using your Piezo/generations
blend, so I don't know how close a match it is to the all MIS brew, but I'll
assume pretty close.

I get the same dusting, and to my eye the gloss print has a lower Dmax than
the Museo, Torchon, and Orwell, that I'm testing. (I'm using their more
conventional names, but I purchased them more cheaply from media street).

Between the dusting, and perhaps a tiny bit of bronzing trying to come
through, I have to manipulate the paper so much to find the right
reflectance of light, or lack there of, that it's nerve racking.

My own suggestion is that a good matte paper is far better than fudging a
gloss with pigments. If you really want to print on gloss and semi-gloss
papers, which do have their merits with dye inks, try the Spectratones, by
Lincoln Inks. They have a visible Dmax advantage.

You still might prefer a good matte print though.

Todd