Crane Museo Silver Rag -- user report

[Michael Mutmansky]

It's easy to make a silver or inkjet print look snappier than a PT/PD print, but that isn't the point, is it? I hope not, as that is the last thing I would ever be trying to achieve with an inkjet print.

Jorge is a fantastic printer, and I'd hold one of his prints up to any inkjet without apologies any day, simply because there is more to a print than the specifications of dmax or other things like that. I think that's one of the things that most people don't understand about alternative process printers; the intangible becomes so important with the process. Otherwise it's just too much work for most of us to bother, unless you love the printing process, which I do especially.

It's easier to make snappier prints with higher percieved sharpness, brighter whites, blacker blacks, smoother tonality, bigger, and in every way more 'perfect'. But that doesn't mean it is better then Pt/PD, just that it is different.

---Michael

[John Brownlow]

It is easy to dial in snap, crackle and pop to inkjet prints but there's no such thing as a free lunch. Pop is usually at the expense of depth... you sacrifice the smoothness of your midtones for a decent black, or in order to retain detail in the highlights, you have to put up with mud someplace else.

depth' is one of those things that inkjet prints have never been great at. It is next to impossible to get those luscious mid grays and inky blacks that we are familiar with from the darkroom days, especially in archival materials. I guess that's what impressed me most about the new Crane paper... that it brought that sensuousness to inkjet printing.

I am a very, *very* straight printer these days... it is rare for me to do any burning or dodging or local manipulations beyond cloning out the dust... I really appreciate a paper that doesn't require me to fiddle around with highlight masks or black control layers to get a beautiful image.

[Kirk Gittings]

Thanks for the report John. This sounds very promising. I will not bother doing more tests on my 4000 as I was unimpressed with the beta tests that I did before release. I will wait for my 7800 to get here. It sounds from all reports that it is really designed for the K3 inks

[Don Bryant]

I'll put my two cents worth in hear.

When I first heard about Cranes new paper, I was a skeptical about the reports. More hype. Well for my money the paper delivers on its promise - almost.

From the prints that I inspected made with K3 inks the results were stunning. Bronzing could be observed, but, only by turning the print on it's edge. There was just a tinge of bronzing in deep shadows. I could observe no gloss differential (the print doesn't have a high gloss.)

The paper base to my eye was just slightly warmer than neutral with none of the bright white look that papers with OBA have such as many of the luster papers have. The prints were made with QTR but not with a custom icc profile, rather curves were applied.

The paper is stiff, someone on the digital B&W forum described it as being like a piece of white cardboard found in a new dres shirt, which in my mind is an accurate description. The surface does have an ever so slight texture.

I would like to compare a print made on Silver Rag with an identical image made on real silver gelatin. Aside from print sniffing though I was hard pressed to see the difference in look of Silver Rag and silver gelatin fiber glossy paper.

Silver Gelatin has an acidic surface determined by a paper pH pen, It's not clear if the base is acidic or not.

The Innova paper is supposed to be less expensive but any high quality paper won't be cheap.

The Epson UC inks used in the 4000/2200 series printers do produce a gloss differential which can be eliminated with spraying.

Finally, as far as I know archival testing hasn't been completed but I'm hoping that in the end this paper and others like are determined to have a high longevity.

My 2 cents,

[neil poulsen]

"The Epson UC inks used in the 4000/2200 series printers do produce a gloss differential which can be eliminated with spraying."

Don, what do you use as a spray?

[Roger Hein]

"It's easier to make snappier prints with higher percieved sharpness, brighter whites, blacker blacks, smoother tonality, bigger, and in every way more 'perfect'. But that doesn't mean it is better then Pt/PD, just that it is different."

I never said or meant to imply that one 'process' is any better than another. Simply that I agreed with Tim that not every subject, lighting condition, or situation suits platinum but when it does there's nothing like it.

[Don Bryant]

Neil,

>

Don, what do you use as a spray?

>

Premeir Art Print Spray. I use two light coats. BTW I've not printed on any of the Silver Rag but saw the beta paper at a local ink jet ateleir and this spray is what they use also.

Use LeCaux for protecting matt surface prints. Speaking of matt prints I also got to see samples o the Hahnemuhle <sp?> Museum Edge 350 the same day printed with Piezo K7 inks. Beautiful!

[John Brownlow]

Luminous Landscape has some notes on the new Hahnemuhle paper here:

www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/h-fap.shtml

it sounds as if it uses optical brighteners as the surface is a lot whiter than the Crane.

[Ken Allen]

I have printed several jobs, color and monochrome, on the Crane Museo Silver Rag using the Epson 7800 (K3 inks) since the rolls arrived last week.

The results really are striking. I still like the look of a gelatin surface, wether it's a monochrome paper or the old dye transfer paper, but I think the prints I make now are better looking because I have more control. I was pretty good in the darkroom, but still, there is no competition with the speed and repeatability of the ink prints.

The prints do look better when using adding the final step of Premier ARt coating.

Best,
Ken Allen
kenallenstudios.com

[Jim Galli]

Now if any of you guys who will never darken the door of a wet darkroom again have a couple boxes of AZO you want to donate to an old dinosaur that didn't get blessed with the computer nerd gene, contact me off-line. I can do marvelous things with it.