Printing on the newer glossy papers

[Bob McCarthy]

This all started because I just cant get my arms around printing on matte paper. There are wonderful solutions if you are matte biased, from Roark/MIS and Cone.

But I display w/o glass and the inky blacks and biting (apparent) resolution of the latest glossy papers really rings my bell.

For the moment, I'm printing the smaller stuff on a 3880 But have a 7600 sitting in the wings waiting for someone to provide a turnkey solution.

I purchased a box each of all the current candidates, many baryta, but not all.

So far the Canson Platine paper is really impressive.

I would appreciate anyone working in the arena sharing there process and discovery.

maybe we can save each other time and $$$'s.

bob

[Chris Strobel]

I'm curious to hear what others are liking in the glossy paper style as well.Only really used Harman FB AI and like it somewhat, but hear they changed it.Occasional head strikes at the end of the print have ruined several sheets for me with the FB AI on my 4800.I only have several sheets left in A3 and need to think about the next paper purchase in 13x19 and 17x22 sheets.

Chris

[Peter De Smidt]

Cone does have a glossy compatible inkset which you might want to look into. Otherwise, Mr. Roark is investigating using Epson/Noritsu dyes, the one's currently used by the "dry" minilabs. I haven't seen a sample of either, and they might be worth hunting down. Otherwise, Tyler Boley was experimenting with glossy work awhile ago, and he might be able to help out. (I'll see if I can find the sample prints Tyler sent to me. If I can find them, I'll send them along.)

Another option would be to use HP PK and various dilutions, which make a very good neutral set. You'd probably need a glop pass to eliminate bronzing.

In my own case, whether an image works best on glossy or matte is highly image dependent, and each requires different processing to look best.

[Kirk Gittings]

I have become a fan of the Canson Plantine also since Ken Lee turned me on to it some months ago.

[George Pappas]

I have had my best results use Cone's MPS/K7 ink system with Gloss Optimizer in my Epson 4880. Like Bob, I have had limited joy with the prints I made on matte paper; I prefer a deep, full tonal scale. I have made many prints with my Canon IPF5100 using TrueBW RIP - they are a close second to the Cone ink system to my eye.

The Cone MPS prints have the depth and tonal quality that suits me and the image is "in" the paper due to the gloss overcoat step. The system can be finicky sometimes and Epson is cutting out all 3rd party ink providers with their new generation of printers (they don't want to give up any profit on their ink sales). Jon Cone has indicated that he is working on an MPS ink solution for the Canon IPF series of printers; this would be an ideal situation in my opinion. I have had my Canon IPF5100 for color for over 3 years and consider it a superior piece of hardware to the Epson.

[Bob McCarthy]

I think I'm resigned to try a post print overspray. It's not worth the $$$ to dump the 7600 for an 8 ink printer to keep the gloss enhancer on board.

I have a 3880 for color, and it does an adequate job on glossy w/o the glop (Epson ink). But it's limited to 17 wide.

Bob

[John Jarosz]

While I am certainly a rookie at inkjet printing images I really like this glossy paper from InkPressPaper It is very glossy, does not change gloss from white to printed area. They also have a Pro line which I have not tried. Does this compare to papers already mentioned because as I say, I haven't tried a lot of paper types?

John

[Peter De Smidt]

Bob, do you prefer a fairly neutral bw or more of a warmtone? If you got to Aardenburg-imaging.com, you can now sign up for free. I just looked at Aardenburg's test of HP Vivera black and gray pigments on Hahnemühle Photo Rag® Baryta, with the prints sprayed with PrintShield. The results are very impressive for a neutralized pigment ink. I'm told that spraying (or glop) is definitely needed with the HP inks to get rid of bronzing.

How many ink spots does your 7600 have? Once you get above 4 gray dilutions you're really talking about subtle differences. Thus you could probably make a pretty good neutral inkset with the HP inks in your printer and still have glop installed. There'd probably be room for a warm toner, such as MIS's LK, if you wanted some added warmth.

[Jim Becia]

The 7600 only has two blacks (used at any one time), a photo/matte black and a light black. While it will make an ok black and white, it's not the best. You can get a pretty good black and white by using all the colors, but it has a slight off tone to it. I have played around with toning during the printing by using the info that comes with Ilford's Gold Fibre Silk. Here is the info from their website. I don't see why this can't be applied to other papers. That way you get to use all inks for a greater tonal range (I think.) Jim
http://www.ilford.com/en/pdf/prods/g...%20Tips_en.pdf

[Bob McCarthy]

Peter, I've printed neutral/cold tone forever. Though some papers I have tried have a warm tone that looks attractive.

The 7600 is a 3.5 picoliter drop printer just like the current generation. Epson have revised the screening but since I intend to use a rip, that shouldn't matter.

This is one from my old company, so lightly used it can be considered near new.

I tested a HP 9180, bronzing was awful with some papers. With glop it works from what I've seen with there larger Zed printers.

Bob