POAH
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Fibre Based paper is my favorite type of inkjet media. They come in various surfaces from matt to satin and the ever so popular gloss. Various manufacturers make/rebrand their own papers and the choice of paper has never been so great. In the UK you can purchase FB papers from Innova, Harman, Hahnemuhle, Canson, Epson, Ilford, permajet, fotospeed, fuji to name a few. some of these companys also make various surfaces and weight to suit everyone.
Although these papers have the best of both gloss type and matt type papers they are generally quite expensive with most costing approx £1.00 per sheet of A4 (£2 for A3 etc) so its not paper you are going to print on every time.
I currently have a few makes of FB papers but my A4 stock is almost exhausted so I wanted to get some more. I prefer the less glossy type for B&W images with some surfaces not totally smooth. Hahnemuhle art fibre is my prefered stock but it aint cheap and I'm poor so I looked about for a substitute. Harman by Hahnemuhle gloss art fibre has a similar (looks the same paper to my eye) and Sihl P3 barite. Since I've tried the HBH I thought I would try the Sihl as its cheaper lol £17 from RKphotographic ebay store.
comparison of surfaces - left to right Shil P3, HBH gloss art fibre, Ilford gold fibre silk, and epson traditional photopaper.
Innova's range of FB papers are a lot smoother and glossy compared to those 4.
First port of call was to profile the paper as I use a fotospeed CIS. My R2400 seemed a bit reluctant to print at first with problems griping the paper on the first target sheet. The second sheet printed without any problem so probably just me not loading it correctly
. There were no head strikes that I've seen on other FB papers (fotospeed and HBH) as the paper had no curl.
first profile was a bit cool compared to my screen so I'll need to make some adjustments.
for the prints - The paper appears to soak up a lot of ink and there is a significant wet paper curl. This is like what you used to get in the darkroom with FB prints but not as bad. Hopefully this curl with disappear once the print is fully dried and is somthing I have seen before with other papers. The B&W print is not completely cast free which probably points to a problem with my profiling which would explain the lack of warmth in the prints. The prints have lack the glossyness of other FB papers which was expected given the look of the surface and this suits B&W portraits. The prints are not as sharp as I would like and on close inspection the surface is a bit too mottled.
Overall I'm not convinced by the sihl P3 Barite - the final product is just not up to the standards of other FB papers and I will spend a little bit more for my paper next time.
Although these papers have the best of both gloss type and matt type papers they are generally quite expensive with most costing approx £1.00 per sheet of A4 (£2 for A3 etc) so its not paper you are going to print on every time.
I currently have a few makes of FB papers but my A4 stock is almost exhausted so I wanted to get some more. I prefer the less glossy type for B&W images with some surfaces not totally smooth. Hahnemuhle art fibre is my prefered stock but it aint cheap and I'm poor so I looked about for a substitute. Harman by Hahnemuhle gloss art fibre has a similar (looks the same paper to my eye) and Sihl P3 barite. Since I've tried the HBH I thought I would try the Sihl as its cheaper lol £17 from RKphotographic ebay store.
comparison of surfaces - left to right Shil P3, HBH gloss art fibre, Ilford gold fibre silk, and epson traditional photopaper.
Innova's range of FB papers are a lot smoother and glossy compared to those 4.
First port of call was to profile the paper as I use a fotospeed CIS. My R2400 seemed a bit reluctant to print at first with problems griping the paper on the first target sheet. The second sheet printed without any problem so probably just me not loading it correctly
. There were no head strikes that I've seen on other FB papers (fotospeed and HBH) as the paper had no curl.
first profile was a bit cool compared to my screen so I'll need to make some adjustments.
for the prints - The paper appears to soak up a lot of ink and there is a significant wet paper curl. This is like what you used to get in the darkroom with FB prints but not as bad. Hopefully this curl with disappear once the print is fully dried and is somthing I have seen before with other papers. The B&W print is not completely cast free which probably points to a problem with my profiling which would explain the lack of warmth in the prints. The prints have lack the glossyness of other FB papers which was expected given the look of the surface and this suits B&W portraits. The prints are not as sharp as I would like and on close inspection the surface is a bit too mottled.
Overall I'm not convinced by the sihl P3 Barite - the final product is just not up to the standards of other FB papers and I will spend a little bit more for my paper next time.
