A gentle paper upgrade from Epson Ehncd Matte?

[Frank Petronio]

I don't make that many prints. For years I've been happy enough with my Epson 2200 running a Harrington Quad-Tone RIP to make slightly warm B&W prints on Epson Enhanced Matter (or Super Premium Presentation Matte or w/e they change the name to every 18 months).

But lately I've been feeling the pull... to make something a little splashier. But not too much. I want to find a slightly smoother, slight more "pop" matte paper just one step smoother than matte. Something that will make the blacks and white just a little richer...

That isn't too expensive or hard to get or fussy. Just a good everyday paper... with a decent canned profile too.

Any suggestions?

On a side note, is there any reason whatsoever to consider the newer Epson 2400? or just jump to the 1300 series? I don't print enough to justify the ink savings, at least the way I figured it. My annual output is maybe equal to 500 8x10s. It's nice to print to 13x19 but I don't really need larger output sizes in my office.

[Peter von Gaza]

I would suggest you take the plunge and get a box of Hahnemuhle Pearl. You will never look back. I also use QuadTone Rip and use Epson Heavy Weight Matte (EEM isn't worth the extra money IMHO) for all my proofing. My standard papers for b&w printing the past couple of years (before I discovered Pearl) were Hahnemuhle Rag and Moab Bright White. These are nice papers, BUT... Pearl blows them away for B&W. I get at least 1 stop more detail in the shadows and the highlights are wonderful. Looks just like a darkroom print on traditional fiber. Very easy to print using QuadTone Rip. I found that to print from my previous print files all I had to do was reduce the highlights and shadows a little (done using the shadow/highlight tool in photoshop) and just switch Curves in Quadtone Rip to lSmoothPearl.

My sales now are entirely Pearl. I can't imagine anything better.

Peter

[Greg Lockrey]

Without jumping to Fine Art Papers (Epson or any other brand) and the extra cost associated with them I would think that the Epson Enhanced Matte at $.37 per sqft is the way to go. I run a couple hundred square feet of this a day. I like it and my clients like it. I don't know of a more white paper in this price range. To get extra pop, that Harman Gloss FB AL paper that Jack mentioned will do that but it is about $4 per 13x19 sheet. I get almost the same result by gloss laminating the Enhanced Matte for an extra $1 per sqft. but with a little less detail in the shadows.

[Mike Chini]

I like the look of Epson Enhanced Matte as well. However, I find that it starts to yellow at the edges within 6 months. I would get some sample packs of matte papers from different manufacturers and give 'em a try.

[Brian Ellis]

I've been using Moab Entrada Bright White for a couple months, after using Moab Entrada Fine Art Natural for a couple years. I tried Bright White for the same reason as you, I wanted something that looked kind of like EEM but without EEM's yellowing problems. I've been pleased with the Bright White. It isn't too expensive and the profile on the Moab (now Legion) site worked fine for my 2200 and works fine for my 3800. But then I'm not much of an experimenter when it comes to paper, I find something I like and stick with it. I've used Epson Fine Art Velvet and one of the Hahnemuhle (sp?)rag papers, liked both of them but they're very expensive and probably not what you're looking for anyhow. I've bought a box of the new Harman glossy paper but haven't tried it yet and it too is expensive. I think for what you're after - something like EEM with a little more pop and not too expensive - the Moab Bright White would be worth trying.

[Greg Lockrey]

I like the look of Epson Enhanced Matte as well. However, I find that it starts to yellow at the edges within 6 months. I would get some sample packs of matte papers from different manufacturers and give 'em a try.

6 months? I have a piece that's 6x8 feet in my hallway that's been up for about 5 years....if it's yellowing, I'm not seeing it.

[neil poulsen]

I find that Ilford's Smooth Heavyweight Matt yields better saturation than Epson Enhanced Matt, and it's less expensive. Neither does a great job with dark colors. One can achieve darker colors with Hahnamuhle's Photo Rag, but at greater expense.

It was kind of interesting. I was only able to use this paper with the Epson driver. I was not able to use it with the ColorBurst RIP.

If I'm not mistaken, the Heavyweight Matt is double sided.