I'm working on a project for a friend and would like to hear about what members consider the best digital print paper for black and white printing? While I'm using QTR with K3 inks, I don't think that this discussion necessarily needs to be limited to that environment.
Note that I asked this same question back in 2006. But for this topic, that's ancient history.
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ighlight=paper
Well, this is highly subjective, but here is what I like (with my Epson 3880 printer):
for glossy - Ilford Gold Mono Silk and Epson Exhibition Fiber
for matte - Moab Entrada Rag Bright and Natural, Epson Hot Press Bright and Natural
Matte, glossy, image tone, print size, longevity requirement....?
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
My favorites are Hahnemuhle PhotoRag 308 and Japanese Kozo. The other top papers are also good - Canson Infinity.
Lenny
EigerStudios
Museum Quality Drum Scanning and Printing
This is a bit like asking about favorite film - or favorite developer - rather than film/developer combination.
It's not just the paper, but the paper and ink combination which determine the results. The same inks can look different on different paper and vice versa.
As Peter's reply suggests, a wonderful print which fades shortly after printing - or which changes color under different lighting conditions - may not be so wonderful after all.
The great thing about this choice is that you can base it almost entirely on the surface and color and other easily observable characteristics. You have almost complete control of the tonal curve separately from the paper. You can match an image from one paper to another very closely using ICC profiles. All the baryta papers I compared had such similar dmax that the differences there were unimportant. I could pick based on color and surface.
FWIW, my fave is Harman by Hahnemuhle baryta. The only drawback is that surface is more fragile than other similar papers ... it gets superficial scratches very easily. In matte papers I love PhotoRag. Which also, as it happens, has an annoyingly fragile surface.
I would have liked Harman by Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta, but it has too much edge curl and I get printhead strikes everytime I print with it. It's the only paper I've tried that has that much curl to it, but aside from that the image tone is very nice. I complained to the Harman contact information and got nothing back from them.Originally Posted by paulr
For slightly warm prints on matte paper, I prefer Eboni Six, a carbon pigment inkset, Epson Hot Press Natural, a cotton paper without brighteners. The maximum warmth of the paper with a good QTR profile is a LAB B channel of about 4, which is the most neutral of the carbon pigment inksets that I know of. Dmax is about 1.7, and longevity is outstanding, according to Aardenburg.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
I had that problem too and fixed it by increasing the platen gap. Canson seems to be a more customer friendly company. They even sent me a tweaked profile when I was having troubles. But sadly I don't like the surface texture or color as much on their version.
I'll add another mention for Epson Hot Press Natural, which has a remarkable Dmax and a very rich look overall as matte papers go.
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