Paper talk (again!)

[jeffkohn]

Murph I can second the suggestion to get some sampler packs from InkjetArt.com. They have an "art sampler" pack that contains a couple sheets of several papers including Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. Some of the papers not included in that sampler can be purchased in their own small samplers for a few dollars.

[Murph]

I'll give it a try, thanks.

[Murph]

What do y'all use for every day prints? I mean prints that you just do for fun, I use the Kayenta for my everyday paper, and save the Entrada for those prints that are special.

[Murph]

Just ordered some Hahnenmuhl photo rag for my use. I am in a bind so to hold me over I local purchased some Ilford Premium Photo Pearl paper (anyone???), and some Epson Enhanced Matte paper till the order gets here from B&H.

Also on the Ilford, can I use the photo matte black or do I need to swap to the regular black cartridge? And Jeff I would love to try your profiles for the 2400. I love my 2400, best printer I ever purchased.

[jeffkohn]

I'm not sure which Ilford paper is called Premium Photo Pearl. I know they have Galerie Classic Pearl (swellable paper for dye printers) and Galerie Smooth Pearl (the one you want - nanoporous for pigment printers). Is it one of those two?

Either way you'll need to use the Photo Black cartridge, using Matte Black for glossy/luster papers is technically possible but the result will be poor. Fortunately the cost of switching black on the 2400 isn't too bad (on the larger printers it costs like $75 in wasted inks). It's not something you want to do several times a day obviously, but I wouldn't worry about it so much that you feel you can't print on both paper types.

RE: profiles, let me put something together in the next day or so, I'll need to write up some instructions because the driver settings I use are a bit different than standard. I'll get you the Photo Rag profile and if it turns out you do have Ilford Smooth Pearl I can give you a profile for that too.

[agillette]

Shoot, so let me ask you guys something. I have an R300, what paper would be best for this epson printer?

I currently use the epson brand high quality glossy photo paper.

Regards,

AG

[anorcross]

Originally Posted by agillette

Shoot, so let me ask you guys something. I have an R300, what paper would be best for this epson printer?

I currently use the epson brand high quality glossy photo paper.

Regards,

AG

For glossy color prints Epson Premium Glossy is excellent. It's for matte and black and white prints that papers like Hahnemuhle and Ilford come into their own.

[billbunton]

Originally Posted by agillette

Shoot, so let me ask you guys something. I have an R300, what paper would be best for this epson printer?

I currently use the epson brand high quality glossy photo paper.

It depends a lot on what kind of paper surface you like. Personally I'm not very fond of glossy, and the Epson glossy always showed a lot of gloss differential with the pigment inks, so I tried real hard to sway people buying prints from me away from glossy. I've got a couple profiling targets I just printed on some Kodak glossy, and it looks much better in terms of gloss differential.

I prefer for most of my everyday prints a semi-matte or luster surface. I've been using the Lexjet Professional Semimatte, and I'm currently trying out some InkJetArt MC Luster.

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by agillette

Shoot, so let me ask you guys something. I have an R300, what paper would be best for this epson printer?

I currently use the epson brand high quality glossy photo paper.

Regards,

AG

Epson R300 is a dye printer, I would stick to "swellable" papers if you care about print life. Ilford Galerie Classic (comes in Gloss or Pearl), HP's Premium Pro Glossy or Satin, and Epson's "Colorlife" papers would be my recommendation. Kodak also had a good swellable paper but I think it's been discontinued.

I really wouldn't recommend matte/rag papers because ozone fading will be a serious issue. If you want the option of printing on a wide range of media without worrying about fading, I'd recommend stepping up to the Epson R800 (assuming you want to stick to 8.5x11).

[Murph]

Thanks, I'll just send it up to the sister in law, she likes Glossy/Pearl type prints. I'll stick with the Matte surface.

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

I'm not sure which Ilford paper is called Premium Photo Pearl. I know they have Galerie Classic Pearl (swellable paper for dye printers) and Galerie Smooth Pearl (the one you want - nanoporous for pigment printers). Is it one of those two?

Either way you'll need to use the Photo Black cartridge, using Matte Black for glossy/luster papers is technically possible but the result will be poor. Fortunately the cost of switching black on the 2400 isn't too bad (on the larger printers it costs like $75 in wasted inks). It's not something you want to do several times a day obviously, but I wouldn't worry about it so much that you feel you can't print on both paper types.

[jeffkohn]

Murph sorry for the delay getting you the HPR profile. I realized it's one of the first profiles I did after getting the 2400 and since there have been some updates to the profiling software since then (and I've learned to tweak my settings better) I decided to re-do the profile.

Anyway I've got a zip for you including both the original profile and the newer one. The newer one seems to be better overall, and has improved dark greens (something that are a bit problematic on the 2400 especially with RAG paper). The old profile seems to handle certain shades of dark orangish colors though so it's worth having both. I always soft-proof in PS before printing since problem areas like this in an image will usually become apparent and sometimes using a different profile will help.

The zip file is too big too attach here, so PM me your email and I'll send it to you.

Regards,

[Murph]

JEff, the profile works GREAT! And the Hahnemuhl Photo Rag Duo is really great paper. I did a photo paper test, printed four sheets (Photo rag, Entrada, Kayenta, and Kokopelli) using your profile, and 7 out of 10 picked the Photo rag as #1. I am certainly sold on the Photo Rag, its some good stuff. I think it will be my new paper for prints meant to impress. Again, thank you.

[jeffkohn]

Glad it worked for you Murph. HPR is indeed a nice paper, definitely my favorite rag paper. I find myself favoring rag paper more and more for my prints, it's my first choice unless I need the greater DMAX and/or color gamut of a semi-gloss (in which case I use Innova F-Type Gloss). As you say it makes for impressive prints; I've found there's a definite "wow" factor for people who haven't seen a rag paper print before and are used to regular RC photo paper.

[Murph]

I am thinking about getting some Crane Silver rag paper, anyone used any of this paper? Also the Hanhmuehl Photo Rag paper is wonderful for anyone looking for good printing paper. I still like Moab though for some reason.

[johnastovall]

Originally Posted by Murph

I am thinking about getting some Crane Silver rag paper, anyone used any of this paper? Also the Hanhmuehl Photo Rag paper is wonderful for anyone looking for good printing paper. I still like Moab though for some reason.

I like Hanhmuehl Photo Rag for my Carbon ink B&W printing but be warned. You need to get draftsman's brush and brush the sheets before using. Otherwise it can flake.