Color prints on Crane Museo Silver Rag

[Kerey]

This is to follow up on John Brownlow's more B&W-oriented user report for Silver Rag... hopefully those looking into color prints will find the following useful.

I just received two copies each of two color landscape images (print size = 8"x10") from West Coast Imaging. One copy was printed on Crystal Archive gloss from the Chromira, the other on their Epson 9800 using Silver Rag. Both images were drum scanned (Danny Burk) at 3200 dpi from RVP100 (4x5). The Chromira files were set to 300 dpi, the Epson ones to 360 dpi; the two copies of each image were otherwise identical. I plan to print both images at significantly larger sizes and wanted to get a sense of both WCI printing options ahead of time.

Both versions of both files look VERY good. As expected from previous comments on Silver Rag and inkjet printing generally, the SR prints are somewhat (but only very slightly) flat. I doubt I would even notice when viewing one w/o the other. The blacks of the SR are not quite as deep as those from the Chromira, but neither image is particularly dark; the shadows are well rendered in both cases, as are the highlights.

The Silver Rag prints are slightly more saturated and noticeably sharper. Saturation aside (I could easily have prepped the Chromira files to match the others), the sharpness difference between the two copies reminds me of that between two identical images shot with a moderate vs. high quality lens. The greater sharpness of the Silver Rag prints is apparent even when viewing from ~2 feet.

At first glance, I preferred the Chromira print almost entirely due to the gloss surface. After some examination, though, the heavier stock and greater sharpness of the Silver Rag has me leaning in that direction.

What's a digital printing novice to do? I'll have to stare at them some more I guess. Is the apparent sharpness edge for the SR prints due simply to the higher printing resolution (300 vs 360 dpi)? Any comments from others using Silver Rag for color printing?

Kerey

[Kirk Gittings]

The attration of the glossy surface will disappear the minute you frame them under glass, but the sharpness of the SR will remain. Glass is the great equalizer of print surfaces.

[Michael Gordon]

You're seeing the differences between a paper with an emulsion and one without. Inkjet papers (excluding swellable papers) are generally sharper across the board because the image sits on top of the paper. You'd need to sharpen the Chromira-destined file more to achieve the same apparent sharpness as with Silver Rag.

[Brett Deacon]

Having so many choices for great digital prints is a nice problem to have!

If you own or plan to own your own printer, the decision may be made for you. I own an Epson 9800 and absolutely love the results I'm getting on Silver Rag. Compared to the previous (mostly matte) papers I've used the blacks are much blacker, the colors have more "pop," and the overall look is more three-dimensional. I also do my own matting and framing and really appreciate Silver Rag's heaviness and ability not to warp and crimp, especially when compared to Premium Luster paper. I struggled with deciding whether to dry mount 12x36 inch Premium Luster prints but never even considered doing so with Silver Rag.

Crystal Archive prints from the Chromira/Lightjet are spectacular, but so are prints on Silver Rag. With the deep blacks and saturated colors I'm getting I feel absolutely no need to outsource any printing jobs. And I enjoy the benefits of the relatively greater sharpness of the Epson printer, which does better justice to the fine detail in my landscapes, the pursuit of which is why I took up LF photography in the first place. For me, controlling the printing process myself with the new K3 inks and papers like Silver Rag allows me to make prints that best match my vision. Of course, as always, YMMV.

[neil poulsen]

Where are people getting the Museo Silver Rag? I'm interested and would like to try it out, but I don't know where to order.

[Jeremy_D]

Commercial plug - If you're in Australia (or not afraid of international shipping), you can try Image Science. Rolls in stock now! Sheets due soon. Their is also a printing service using Silver Rag, so you can 'try before you buy' or carry on running your own printer with matte black while Image Science look after the semi/glossy side of things (or vice versa).

User Report - Silver Rag is just great - incredibly strong as a substrate, and wonderful print quality - luminous black and whites, and lovely rich colours. Every single print done on it so far has attracted a 'wow' reaction - and several won awards at the recent Australian Professional Photography Awards (APPAs).

As Brett said above, Silver Rag is MUCH easier to mount/frame than super high gloss papers, and offers a lot of the depth and three dimensionality of these types of prints, without major (any) reflectivity issues.

The complete lack of optical brighteners in SR really does not seem to be an issue, but an asset. It's not as bright white as Fine Art Pearl sure, but in real prints this does not seem to matter - perhaps with very high key images. I've measured the SR blacks as being slightly lower than those on FAP! This is with unsprayed prints - reputedly Hahnemuehle have a spray that magically darkens their blacks to unheard of levels but we're yet to see this in action.

Exciting times - these new printing options open up new possibilities.

[Doug Dolde]

I had a 16x20 print made on Silver Rag by WCI (since I can't find any sheet paper yet). It came out great. Matted and framed it today it's on my wall now.

This one: www.painted-with-light.com/H24_IMAGE_PAGE.html

[Brett Deacon]

Neil, I got my roll of Silver Rag from Digital Art Supplies, found here:

http://www.digitalartsupplies.com/

I also recommend Inkjetart, found here:

http://www.inkjetart.com/index.php

Brett

[Tim Hyde]

Brett-

If you don't dry mount, how do you mount your prints, especially the large ones? Scotch or spray glue backing? Hinge mount? How do others mount their Museo SR prints? Thanks.

[Brett Deacon]

Tim, I've been hinge mounting my prints. I have not had to dry mount because up until now none of my prints have been bigger than 12x18 or 12x32 for panoramic images. Now that my drum scanner has arrived and I'm salivating at the images on my monitor I suspect very large images and dry mounting will follow soon. That said, I suspect that Silver Rag would not require dry mounting unless printed very large. Does anyone else have experience with mounting large Silver Rag prints who can speak to the necessity of dry mounting at specific sizes?