Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

[william linne]

Sure, Jack. Indeed I was looking at the Glossy version. It has a more plasticky feel to it than FB paper. When I laid it next to 10 prints made on various traditional papers, the difference was immediately apparent. The Ilford paper gave an appearance of ink laying on paper, instead of the sense of depth that some of the traditional papers had. I was excited to get a sample pack and had high expectations. But, these are all just my opinions and don't mean squat. If you love it and it works for you, that's all that really matters, isn't it? I was merely stating that for my needs, it wasn't a substitute for traditional papers.

William

[Jack Flesher]

Wow -- interesting that you think it feels like plastic; even more interesting you don't see any depth... From your description, I'd swear we were looking at two completely different papers.

Best,

[Helen Bach]

...The Ilford paper gave an appearance of ink laying on paper, instead of the sense of depth that some of the traditional papers had...

Overcoating with something like Krystal Topkote helps to reduce that 'appearance of ink laying on paper' because the ink then appears to lie under and slightly within the surface gloss. I don't see any point, however, in mimicking all the qualities of traditional silver gelatin paper and I would prefer that inkjet paper be marketed for its own qualities rather than as wannabe silver gelatin. If you want real silver gelatin printed digitally you can have it.

Best,
Helen

[Donald Miller]

I have used the matte version of this paper for the past six months while in Europe. In fact it was the only paper available other than Epson and conventional Ilford paper. While the look is different from an air dried glossy traditional paper, I actually prefer it to any of the traditional glossy silver papers that I have used over the past twenty five years.

As far as resistance to damage, I shipped about 50 prints back to the US as checked airline baggage and found no damage on any of them.

[JPlomley]

Anyone know the paper thickness (mil or mm is fine)? This is a critical parameter in the Epson 7800 print driver utility, and oddly not supplied in the enclosed technical information nor on Harmans website? I'm guessing between 0.5-0.6mm, but if someone has the exact thickness that would be great.

Just to update the media type setting, WCRW gives a noticeable benefit in shadow detail over PG on an Epson 7800. This was based on the Drycreek Printer Evaluation target.

[Ben R]

So do you feel that there is an impression of the ink below the surface Jack?

I only tried inkjet seriously once with Kodak pro paper and a Canon 8000ipf that a friend has. Behind glass the only thing that clashed with me as a print was the 2D effect of the ink laying on the paper. The paper is the same base as the kodak chemical paper so it looks very similar and the canon does extremely impressive B&W's, but for me the 3D impression comes from looking 'through' the paper to see the print, a bit like looking through a window into the scene. With the ink lying on the surface I feel it looks too flat, too unreal.

Unfortunately that was enough to drive me back to LED printing on chemical paper. The B&W wasn't as pure, but it looked more 3D, more real.

[paulr]

Has anyone used this paper with monochrome pigment inks (piezo, etc.)?

[Stephen Best]

As for ABW mode, I don't use it. My own profiles (Gretag Eye1 and big target) render dead-neutral grayscale throughout the entire tonal range on the 3800, so I print my B&W's with my profile just like I do any color image. Big advantage over ABW is WYSIWYG B&W output, even more helpful if you like to tone.

I thought the same until I really looked into ABW. ABW will give you greater Dmax, better shadow separation, a black that matches the paper (instead of just neutral) and will likely use less colour inks in the mix (and hence have a longer display life). It can also be profiled with the QTR-Create-ICC script from the QuadTone RIP package for soft proofing and linearization. For toned B&W, Duotones etc I use a colour profile, but for straight B&W ABW gives visibly superior results.

I must admit to being pretty jaded with all these silver gelatin killers but I'll give the new offering a try.

[Jim collum]

a review of the paper by Richard Lohmann. my experience with the paper has been very close to what he's written

http://luminous-landscape.com/review...Surface2.shtml

[Sylvester Graham]

Hmm, I wonder if in color that "plastic-y" feel might be translated to something like ciba/ilfochrome?