Anybody tried Moab Colorado Satine yet?

[jimsimmons]

I've seen prints made on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl, and that looks like what

I'm after for a B&W paper for my Epson R2400. (My "gold standard" is Oriental

silver halide paper air-dried, and I'd love to find something with that type of

surface and depth of image.) But I'm intrigued by the new Moab Colorado Satine.

A tad less expensive than the Hahnemuhle, but just by a little. Does anyone

know how these two papers compare? Has anybody used or seen the Moab paper and

have any comments on it?

[michael_bradtke]

I have not tried the Moab paper but I have been very happy with Crain's Museo Silver Rag.

 

Michael

[lawrence_h._welch]

Hi! I am not sure if this remark applies to the Colorado Satine. I recently ordered the Colorado Fiber Gloss from Moab (Legion). I received a call from Customer Service informing me that some customers complained that the paper was curling. Moab then issued a recall on the paper, and my order was held up. This may not apply to Satine, but I thought it might be helpful to know. I also tried the Crane and it has the feel of traditional photo fiber paper.

 

Larry

[ken_schuster]

I've been using an Epson Stylus Photo 2200 for almost five years. I was considering upgrading recently, but the new papers have changed my mind, at least for a while longer. After testing a stack of different papers during the first week that I had the printer, I settled on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 and have been happy with it... until I saw the incredible D-max of Innova's F-type Gloss, a year ago. More than 40 years in photography, and I just never learned to appreciate glossy. Innova's texture significantly cuts the gloss. Some people have called it "Naugahyde." Generally, I look at prints fairly straight-on, or from a slight angle, in window light or gallery-type lighting, and Innova's texture isn't problematic for me. Photo Rag became my paper of choice for images needing a relatively pastel watercolor look and feel. The two papers have been a nice combination, especially since the Innova looks the same to me with either photo black or matte black.

 

Last week I got some Harman gloss and matte samples, and a package of samples from Moab. Some were only for photo black ink (PK), some only for matte black pigment (MK), and a few were for both.

 

The "keepers" in my glossy PK test were Harman Gloss, Colorado Fiber Gloss and Innova Type-F gloss. The Colorado Satine isn't a glossy paper, but PK is recommended, so I added it to the gloss group.

 

To my eye, D-max was higher (blacker) with the Colorado and Innova papers. The Harman appeared to have smoother tonal transitions than the others, and color saturation was superb on all of them.

 

A Harman paper reviewer said that the texture came closest to that of fiber base glossy paper dried matte (wet process). That was my printing preference for most of my career, too. I agree that it looks like heavyweight glossy air or blotter dried, but after drying face-down on a belt drier, it picks up some texture. The Harman is almost textureless. The interesting thing about it is what little texture there is looks like it's coming from under the surface, which is the way it looks with gelatin-surfaced wet process paper. Comparatively, the Colorado glossy is slightly more textured, and appears to be slightly more on the surface than under it. The Innova, of course, is the most textured of the three glossies. The Satine has a texture between Kodak "N" and Ilford "Pearl" in wet process vernacular. Neither glossy nor matte. What's interesting about it is that the ink becomes obviously reflective compared to the surrounding un-inked paper. It's similar to what you see with top-quality ink press photographs printed on ceramic-impregnated paper that has not been gloss coated. With all the papers, you have to hold them at an angle to the light source in order to see the texture. It's easiest with the Innova.

 

While holding the paper at that angle, you can see the same amount of "gloss differential" on all three glossies, and less so on the Satine. In my sample image, it's apparent to me only in the specular highlights, where there is little if any ink density. I haven't sprayed the tests, but I would bet doing so would eliminate that problem.

 

None of the papers feel like wet process double weight fiber base to me. The Harman is the stiffest, but all three glossies feel more like RC print stock to me, lacking the comparatively soft non-emulsion side of double weight fiber. The Satine comes closest to a fiber base "hand" in my experience, although not double weight. After they're mounted, matted and framed (I don't use glass), you'd never know one from the other by their "hand" anyway.

 

The only difference among them that really jumped out at me is the base color of the stock. Comparing all four overlapping, without a gray card "standard," the Harman looks magenta. Colorado gloss is much less so, and not as bright. The Satine is a fraction less so, and maybe even the slightest hint of green by comparison. Innova is the least bright of all, but no apparent color cast... to my eyes, in my north window light environment.<div></div>