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Thread: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

  1. #1
    Jack Flesher's Avatar
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    Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    My friend Jim Collum called me a few days ago and said, "Jack, you need to try this new paper now!"

    The paper is the new Harman Inkjet "Gloss FB AL." So I went to my local shop, picked up a box yesterday and set to profiling it for my Epson 3800.

    The first thing you notice is the paper's surface -- identical to air-dried fiber-base silver, with a slight egg-shell finish and soft gloss. Sweet. Next thing you notice is this paper even smells like traditional silver paper. (Seriously!) Finally, it has a slightly warm white base.

    This paper is thick and also swells when the ink hits it, so I needed to set my paper thickness up a notch (4 on the 3800 driver) and platten gap to "wide" to avoid head-strikes on the wet surface. Once all that was settled I printed the profiling targets, let it dry down over-night and built the profile this morning.

    I am now sitting here admiring my standard large paper evaluation print -- a color test image (available for download at digital outback photo), and a long tonal range B&W image, doubled up and printed together on a single 13x19 sheet.

    As for B&W, in the black patches I can distinguish patch 4 (4/4/4 rgb) from 0 and 6, and in the white patches I can distinguish 253 from 255 and 252. (I can sense 254 is different from the surrounds, but can't really "see" it as its own tone.) Anyway, this is incredible tonal range, and of course is all present in the B&W image -- pure, deep blacks with outstanding shadow detail all the way through to delicately detailed highlights. Amazing.

    As for color, I was frankly surprised -- it is excellent too. There is a specific image of strawberries in the color test print that reproduce to the most delicious I've seen from any paper yet All other colors are exceptionally well represented too, including a blue sky gradient, foliage yellows and greens and a difficult metallic bronze.

    Now for the better news: There is NO gloss differential and NO visible metamerism anywhere on the print!

    Lastly, the "AL" in the paper name stands for "alumina," a reference to the fact there is aluminum in the substrate -- ostensibly it's there to emulate the slight metallic "glow" present in a silver-gelatin print. And yes, I saved the best news for last, they accomplished that feat. There is indeed a subtle metallic glow that adds traditional silver depth to the final print.

    This is amazing stuff folks; I have found my paper.

    More info here: http://www.harman-inkjet.com/pressroom/article.asp?n=63


    Cheers,
    Jack Flesher

    www.getdpi.com

  2. #2

    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    I saw some sample prints at APIS in Santa Fe on the glossy, but they were only selling the matte paper then. Glad to hear the glossy is finally shipping!

  3. #3

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    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    Is there a profile for it ?

  4. #4
    Yes, but why? David R Munson's Avatar
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    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    Sounds like good stuff.

  5. #5

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    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    Now for the better news: There is NO gloss differential and NO visible metamerism anywhere on the print!
    I thought that was due to the ink and printer rather than the paper itself. That said it sounds very exciting!

  6. #6
    Jon Shiu's Avatar
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    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Lee View Post
    Is there a profile for it ?
    Hi, if you follow the link in Jack's message, the link for profiles is on the right of the screen.

    Jon
    my black and white photos of the Mendocino Coast: jonshiu.zenfolio.com

  7. #7
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    Quote Originally Posted by Ben R View Post
    I thought that was due to the ink and printer rather than the paper itself. That said it sounds very exciting!
    all three are factors
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  8. #8

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    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    Doesn't seem to be any rolls yet though no doubt it will come, seems a bit pricey too but I have no concept of inkjet paper prices.

  9. #9

    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    Hi Jack,

    Thanks for posting this feedback. For the B&W work, did you try the ABW mode on the 3800 with this paper? I'm curious what sort of tonal range you would see in comparison to what you have profiled. Have you compared this paper to Hahnemuhle's FineArt Pearl? I'd be interested in seeing a gamut plot comparison (if you're on a Mac this is easy to do in ColorSync)

    Cheers,
    Jeff

  10. #10

    Re: Digital Silver Gelatin has arrived...

    Jack, if you don't have the icc profile for the HFAP I can send you one I that I've profiled on my Epson 7800 (at 2880 dpi) using the Gretag iOne Pro spectrophotometer and larger test patch. Or alternatively you could send me your profile and I can overlay the gamut plots. To make it fair, you will have had to profile at 2880 dpi. I do an equal amount of B&W and color printing, so you have my interest piqued.

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