Suggested paper for digital b&w

[marco_landini]

<p>Hi. I need your suggestions about which paper to choose. I send my files to be printed to a professional lab. They have a lightjet printer, and they print only on color paper. They have Kodak Endura paper, in 3 finishing : glossy ( f surface), lustre ( e surface), matt ( n surface). For color prints, I prefere lustre ( e surface), because of vivid colors and brilliance, without the glare of glossy. I don' t like matt, I find it dull. Now, I have to decide which paper use among these 3 for b&w. I know , for best b&w I shall print on real b&w paper and not on color paper. But my lab only have these 3 color paper models and no true b&w paper. So, I'm asking you suggestions. I don' like matt for b&w too. The subjects of my pictures are : urban reportage, landscapes, industrial. I guess lustre surface will look great for both reportage and landscapes. But I got some doubts about industrial pictures ( machinery, factory buildings, architectures). Glossy paper would be a better choice for industrial subjects, enhanching details and giving more contrast ? To the other end, lustre paper could introduce a "grainy" look that is not good for industrial and architectural photography ? Thank you, ciao. Marco. </p>

[Spearhead]

<p>Try mpix, they have a true black and white paper. They call it matte, but it seems closer to lustre than to some matte finishes. You can also look for a lab that does inkjet printing, there are inkjet printers with neutral b/w on most papers.</p>

[patrick_allen3]

<p>Hi Marc,<br>

I have used "White House Custom Color" and "Mpix" and have used their glossy, metallic, luster, and matte papers. I think luster is going to be the best choice from the ones mentioned.<br>

I now work at a fine art inkjet printing lab. If you decide to go this route there are hundreds of papers to choose from. The one I like most for a variety of black and white subject matter is the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta. It has a "luster" like finish, and its a cotton rag paper so it has a great weight and is truly archival. The inkjet printers use carbon black so a black and white print has a minimum 200 years before fading. They very much have a look and feel of traditional silver gelatin prints.<br>

Chromogenic prints (which the big labs mentioned above use) are color, even though they are sometimes printed as monochrome, which is bad because dyes fade at different rates. So in the not to distant future your monochrome c-print that may be posing as a archival silver gelatin print will began to fade into undesirable tones. A Kodak Endura c-print will show noticeable fading in 19 years when displayed under standard lighting. That said the price is ridiculously cheap, and great for this reason, but you do get what you pay for in the long run. <br>

Best,<br>

Patrick Allen<br>

Office Manager<br>

Ken Allen Digital</p>

[robert goldstein]

<p>I agree with Jeff that you should find a lab that uses ink jet printers. Generally speaking, latest generation ink jets are superior to other digital printers, and the quality for B&W is especially excellent.</p>

<p>Rob</p>

[marco_landini]

<p>I just found a lab that has an epson inkjet plotter. They have b&w papers, glossy, lustre, matte and baritra fine art. Which ones of these papers do you suggest me for : portraiture, landscapes, street reportage, tecnical stuff as machinery and architectures ?</p>

[patrick_allen3]

<p>I like the Baryta Fine Art the best. There are several manufacturers of this type of paper and the ones I have seen have been excellent.<br>

<br />Best,<br>

Patrick Allen<br>

<b>Signature URL deleted. Not allowed per photo.net Terms of Use.</b></p>

[marco_landini]

<p>ok. But in your opinion, which kind of paper would you choose for architecture and industrial pics ? which one for portraiture ? which one for landscapes ? which one for street reportage ?</p>

[marco_landini]

<p>Can you give me an answer, please ? I need your suggestions. In particular, I love lustre for street reportage and landscapes. But for architectures and technical stuff I' m confused. Could the texture of lustre surface give a "grainy" look, not good for technical subjects ? Do you prefere glossy for these subjects ? I wait for your kind suggestions and comments. Thank you.</p>

[patrick_allen3]

<p>Baryta for all of them. Its a personal preference. If your that concerned have one done on each and judge for yourself. I would personally put all black and white prints on the Baryta, and color for that matter too.<br>

Patrick Allen<br>

www.KenAllenDigital.com<br>

www.PatrickAllenPhotography.com</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>Another vote for inkjet, and after using LightJets and similar for my colour work for nearly a decade I've had the opportunity to try those too.</p>

<p>The best paper I've found is the Harman Inkjet's FB Al paper gloss in white, though there is an equally good warmtone version. I've standardised on the latter for b&w and indeed on the former for colour prints. Gloss papers often display a slightly better dynamic range which might be important for the industrial stuff. I don't much like either of these papers in the matt versions.</p>

<p>I've tested the output from The LightRoom in Berkely CA, and found them pretty good and decent value, albeit IIRC that they use a Canon printer rather than the more usual Epson. They'll give you the profile for the paper you choose, though frankly its hard to see much difference between the same image converted to use on the canon from the Epson version using the same paper.</p>

[marco_landini]

<p>Thank you for your answer Patrick. I love the look of baryta mee too. But generally speaking, do you think lustre paper , that is a textured paper, ether in color and b&w is good for technical subjects or is it better glossy because of the absence of superficial structure ?</p>