I remember a blog post by Scott Martin from maybe 15 years ago discussing printer settings. He said at the time that most papers could take much more ink than what the paper manufacturers specify and had a test image that you could use to select the proper setting. The printer settings are a black box in terms of controlling ink lay down. I've not looked at this in all that much detail for the Canon Pro-1000 as I have settled in on a small number of papers. However, since Canson now says 'Fine Art Smooth' rather than 'Highest Density Fine Art' implies that the ink uptake is different. It is probably worth checking if this is the case and do some testing using the latter setting.
I was chatting with friend yesterday who does only B/W printing from his B/W Leica. He has been using Arches BFK Rives Pure White. Do you have any experience with this or the other Arches papers? I wonder how they compare with the Somerset papers or the Canson Rag Photographique (which I have printed on). I can't get some paper from him as he has a Canson 24" printer that uses rolls.
We'll be doing some testing and reviews of most of the Canson line of papers here so stay tuned. In the past we've been involved in testing new papers and seen the bad effects of too much black density so that is why I am assuming that there is a good reason that the Fine Art Smooth paper type used for the Moab Enhanced Velvet profile instead of a paper time with more black ink lay down. I'll be following up on that when I have time. It's probably moot since the Canson version of the new Enhanced velvet is using a custom paper type and had much darker blacks and therefore a more contrasty rendition.
Great review of these fine papers. How would you compare these papers to Moab Entrada Bright White? I have mainly been printing on glossy and metallic papers, but fell in love with the Moab Entrada papers and using my Canon 1100 to print Giclee quality prints. And most importantly how do you choose which paper to use for what applications?
There is no short answer to how to BEST pair image to paper. We'll try to address more concrete examples and options we've chosen going forward.
As to your question regarding Entrada Bright... The Somerset papers (and most if not all Canson fine art mat papers) have no optical brightening agents (which make paper much bluer). The Somerset is closer to the base color of Entrada Natural but the Entrada papers have a very very smooth surface compared to all of the Somerset papers (and many other of the Canson fine art mat papers). I'd say Entrada bright and natural are closer to the Canson Rag Photographique Duo given the Entrada bright and natural are printable on both sides and very smooth, even smoother than an "Etching Paper" which are usually pretty smooth traditional fine art papers.
Maybe we'll do a guide to surface textures across many papers an grade them from smooth to most textured. (also not all textures are the same in terms of pattern or visual appearance even if they have the same amount)
I remember a blog post by Scott Martin from maybe 15 years ago discussing printer settings. He said at the time that most papers could take much more ink than what the paper manufacturers specify and had a test image that you could use to select the proper setting. The printer settings are a black box in terms of controlling ink lay down. I've not looked at this in all that much detail for the Canon Pro-1000 as I have settled in on a small number of papers. However, since Canson now says 'Fine Art Smooth' rather than 'Highest Density Fine Art' implies that the ink uptake is different. It is probably worth checking if this is the case and do some testing using the latter setting.
I was chatting with friend yesterday who does only B/W printing from his B/W Leica. He has been using Arches BFK Rives Pure White. Do you have any experience with this or the other Arches papers? I wonder how they compare with the Somerset papers or the Canson Rag Photographique (which I have printed on). I can't get some paper from him as he has a Canson 24" printer that uses rolls.
We'll be doing some testing and reviews of most of the Canson line of papers here so stay tuned. In the past we've been involved in testing new papers and seen the bad effects of too much black density so that is why I am assuming that there is a good reason that the Fine Art Smooth paper type used for the Moab Enhanced Velvet profile instead of a paper time with more black ink lay down. I'll be following up on that when I have time. It's probably moot since the Canson version of the new Enhanced velvet is using a custom paper type and had much darker blacks and therefore a more contrasty rendition.
Great review of these fine papers. How would you compare these papers to Moab Entrada Bright White? I have mainly been printing on glossy and metallic papers, but fell in love with the Moab Entrada papers and using my Canon 1100 to print Giclee quality prints. And most importantly how do you choose which paper to use for what applications?
There is no short answer to how to BEST pair image to paper. We'll try to address more concrete examples and options we've chosen going forward.
As to your question regarding Entrada Bright... The Somerset papers (and most if not all Canson fine art mat papers) have no optical brightening agents (which make paper much bluer). The Somerset is closer to the base color of Entrada Natural but the Entrada papers have a very very smooth surface compared to all of the Somerset papers (and many other of the Canson fine art mat papers). I'd say Entrada bright and natural are closer to the Canson Rag Photographique Duo given the Entrada bright and natural are printable on both sides and very smooth, even smoother than an "Etching Paper" which are usually pretty smooth traditional fine art papers.
Maybe we'll do a guide to surface textures across many papers an grade them from smooth to most textured. (also not all textures are the same in terms of pattern or visual appearance even if they have the same amount)
That would be awesome.