Digital BW, The Print

If you don't mind me shouting from the novice gallery, Sam, I think
you're cheating yourself if you're not taking Epson's Epson-only paper
recommendations with a large grain of salt. All of those papers
predate Claria by a long shot, so their "optimized for Claria" claim
is pure hooey. Not only are there other papers out there with the same
characteristics, and better, many papers are available coated for dye
printing on both sides, from Hahnehmuhle, Bergger, Inkpress, etc. (and
also btw Epson's own double-sided matte @9.7mil).

To get an idea of what's available, try www.bhphotovideo.com, click
"Printers and Scanners" on the home page, choose "standard" or "fine
art" papers, and then filter for double-sided. B&H also stocks sample
packs from several brands.

For cardstock, I've only compared the Inkpress Matte 80 (12mil) with
Epson Matte Heavyweight (9mil and "optimized for use with Claria
ink"). The Inkpress was cheaper, seemed to me better on brightness
(actually brighter than I wanted), smoothness and yellowing, but it
flaked more than the Epson matte. Inkpress claims acid- and
lignin-free. I saw no difference in output on the 220 w/ OEM color
inks--very fine resolution, same colors.

I also tried Inkpress' Semigloss d-s and didn't care for it, but
that's probably a matter of taste.

Cheers,
Bob L

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Sam McCandless
<samcc@...> wrote:
> 
> I hope Steve and others will keep the paper news coming. I'm  
> interested mostly in matte papers, and of the papers Epson is  
> recommending most highly for their new Claria inks, to me only the  
> Premium Semigloss and the Ultra Premium Glossy look promising for my  
> card-stock uses in terms of their specified weight and thickness. And  
> even in their case, I'm concerned about what it's like to print or  
> write on the uncoated, reverse side of the sheet - with any ink set  
> since I could change printers between sides, not that I was looking  
> for another complication!
> 
> Thanks again.
> --
> Sam
>