Digital BW, The Print

> On Nov 16, 2006, at 10:18 PM, Paul Roark wrote:
>> The point is really to avoid papers like EEM that are 
>> acidic due to them not being pure cellulose.

>Makes you wonder how Wilhelm/Epson come up with 75 years for EEM.

I think EEM actually does much better in terms of just fade resistance, but
Wilhelm limits the reported years of display due to the yellowing he's seen
in the accelerated aging tests.  In my tests I get similar results.
However, I don't go to the end points.  I'm interested in what happens in,
say, 20 years.  At that point the EEM images have not faded more, but the
pigments appear to have experienced a higher tonal shift than an acid free
paper.  So, I think there may be an effect on the pigments aside from the
ultimate paper yellowing (and OBA burnout that all brightened papers
experience).

>>I would rather have pure cotton there but at $0.30 per sq. ft. 
>> v. $1.66 per sq. ft. for cotton that prints as well, 
>> I'm just not willing to pay that difference.

> Have you found that you can proof on the Matte BW and then 
> get exactly the same results on cotton for your final prints?

There are always small differences, for example the brightness of the paper.

I might note that while we debate the really minute quality differences
among some of the better printer and ink combinations, the papers are major
variables that have a lot of room for improvement.  

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com