The OctOPUS PRO blog – from OPUSalbums.com 

New inkjet papers are making the traditional darkroom redundant.  

From report by Eric Kunsman 

Eric writes “The next generation of inkjet papers are here! We are getting closer to saying goodbye to the darkroom.

The introduction of new papers from Hahnemuhle, Innova, and Museo have everyone scrambling for these papers, as they are suppose to be the reason to finally come out of the darkroom. After all, B&W silver gelatin paper manufacturers are starting to disappear, causing more artists/photographers to convert to digital printing methods.”

We are indebted to my friend Eric Kunsman*, of (Booksmart Studio), Rochester NY,  - as opposed to “the original Rochester” where we are located)  for this comparison of current papers from the leading manufacturers Innova in England, Hahnemuehle of Germany and Museo of USA.

Please feel free to comment on this.

To access the full document in PDF click here.

Specific conclusions:

Paper Surface – So subjective

The paper surface along with the paper whiteness are the factors that will determine whether you like or dislike each of the papers. Hopefully, it will not be a matter of like or dislike but rather, which paper works for each of your projects. I personally, have ideas for which of my photographic series will work on all of the three papers.

Hahnemuhle Pearl is the paper with the least amount of texture to it, however, some people say it does not have enough texture. Pearl has a very fine texture with a duller luster than that of the other two papers. This fine texture can cause problems with the bronzing/gloss differential but is the smoothest of the three papers.

Innova F-Type Gloss (ie Fibaprint™) is the paper with a texture that reminds me of certain fiber-based papers for the darkroom. It is not exactly the same as the fiber-based papers but comes very close. It has a texture to it that has a low sheen and therefore, has less bronzing than the Pearl. The texture is somewhere in between the Hahnemuhle Pearl and the Museo Silver Rag papers with a fine surface quality to it.

The Museo Silver Rag is the paper that has the most amount of texture to it out of the three papers, which still produces an image with a richer quality than the resin-coated inkjet papers. The texture on the surface is deeper than the other two papers and also larger in diameter across the paper surface. The Silver Rag has a low sheen quality to the coating as well.

Durability

The three new fiber-base luster/gloss papers blow away the Epson papers when it comes to their durabil­ity.

Colour Gamut

The color gamut of these three papers are fairly similar within the middle tones.  The difference in the highlight region between all three papers is minimal.  In the shadow region(see fig) Innova F-Type Gloss clearly out performs both Hahnemuhle Pearl & Museo Silver Rag.

My comment – It is in the shadow area where the high gamut is critical.  To see detail brought out whether working in colour or monochrome has to be seen to be believed.

D-Max

Hahnemuhle Pearl 2.15

Innova F-Type Gloss 2.43

Museo Silver Rag 2.30

©Eric T. Kunsman – reproduced with kind permission.

From Eric's site: *Booksmart Studio's founder Eric Kunsman has a background in Book Arts & Printmaking having received his MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. This training serves as Eric's basis for the tradition of the book as an artform while having a passion for digital technology. Eric's passion in digital technology stems from his time spent at RIT where he received an MS in Electronic Publishing from the School of Print Media Sciences, in which he concentrated on ink jet printing technology. He also received degrees in Biomedical Photography and Fine Art Photography from RIT's School of Photographic Sciences. Eric is a practicing photographer and book artist having shown his work Internationally and continually working to push his work further. Booksmart Studio's makes sure that we treat each project as a piece of our personal artwork by making sure we involve the artist with every step of the process.  Eric's work can be viewed along with complete curriculum vitae at www.infraredman.com