Being a lover of black and white fine art type prints, I went on a quest to find the best combination of specialty paper and Epson K3 inks for my black and white renderings. To me that requires the ability to resolve fine details and not block up the blacks, and to separate all the tonal values on a 21 step grayscale wedge. Also the tonal values must match those on my carefully calibrated display.
I put two 5X7 images on a letter size page in Photoshop to do the print tests. One is a portrait of a beautiful young woman wrapped in a black cloth and shot against a black background. We used some backlighting and background lighting to separate her from the background, but it was very, very subtle. There were also three wrinkles in the background that were barely visible on the monitor. The second image was a print test image that I stole from Keith Cooper. It has the graduated 21 tone grayscale strip and an lot of small images with subtle fine details. He was kind enough to post a link to his high resolution image for pirates like me to use. Arrr...
Next came the paper and ink. Ouch! This obsession cost me over $1000, which is why I'm sharing my work with you; save the expense and learn from what I've done. Here's the list. I'm sorry if you don't find your favorite paper here, but I tended towards the high end and those that claim to be wonderful for black and white prints. Some were even made specifically for black and white printing, including a couple of industry award winners. Here is the list in no particular order:
Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pearl
Ilford Gallerie Smooth Heavyweight Matte
Hahnemuhle FA Pearl 285 gsm
Hahnemuhle FA Baryta 325 gsm
Hahnemuhle PR Pearl 320 gsm
Hahnemuhle PR Satin 310 gsm
Hahnemuhle PR White 308 gsm
Hahnemuhle Germ. Etch. Natural 310 gsm
Moab Entrada Rag Br White 300 gsm
Moab Entrada Rag Nat White 300 gsm
Moab Col. Fiber Satine 245 gsm
Moab Col. Fiber Gloss 245 gsm
Pictorico Gekko Red 18.9 mil
Pictorico Gekko Black 11.8 mil
Pictorico Gekko Green 14.2 mil
Pictorico Gekko Blue 11.4 mil
Crane Museo Silver Rag 300 gsm
Legion Somerset Photo BW 300 gsm
In every case I downloaded the manufacturer's profile for my Epson R2400 and tested those profiles by printing from Photoshop CS3, letting Photoshop manage the color, and turning off color management in the Epson driver. Gloss, pearl and luster finishes got printed with Photo Black ink. The matte surfaces were printed with Matte Black ink.
I repeated the test by printing from Photoshop, but letting the printer manage the colors, and using the Epson Advanced Black and White driver.
Lastly, since we have Colorbyte Software's ImagePrint RIP in our studio, I used that to print tests for the papers that Colorbyte had profiles for. They didn't have a profile for the Moab Colorado Fiber Gloss or any of the Pictorico Gekko papers. Everything else was represented though.
The results were pretty astonishing. After printing and letting the prints dry for a day, I began to examine them carefully. I looked at them in daylight, fluorescent, and tungsten lighting, with the naked eye, 5X and 10X loops. I looked for fine detail resolution, tonal resolution, and differential reflectance issues. I also did the white glove smudge tests, and was surprised a bunch of times. 24 hours is not anywhere near enough drying time even for some that claim to dry instantly. Phooey.
The first thing I can say is that if you are using manufacturer profiles (or some that you made up yourself with something like PrintFIX Pro Suite 2), STOP. Without exception this will give you the worst results possible. Use your Epson Advanced Black and White driver. The default "darker" setting is a mess, but flip it up to "normal" and you will get good to excellent results. The top papers for ABW were not much of a surprise. The top dogs were Legion Somerset Photo Bright White, Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta, Crane Museo Silver Rag (great for old fashioned looking silver process prints), Pictorico Gekko Green (award winning specialty black and white paper), Pictorico Gekko Red (cool, heavy textured paper), and Moab Colorado Fiber Satine, in that order.
I mentioned that I tested the ImagePrint RIP profiles. The order of results were pretty much the same for those papers that Colorbyte had profiled, but they were all better in fine detail resolution and tonal definition than the ABW prints. Is the difference worth the cost of the RIP software? Your call. IP light is about $500 for desktop printers like the R2400.
I have one final statement about the Legion Somerset Photo Bright White paper. It was the last one delivered, and the most expensive at $3 a sheet for letter size paper. I couldn't believe my eyes when the R2400 spit out the first print. It had the deepest blacks, but still separated every chip in the tone strip. I saw new wrinkles in the backdrop that I hadn't even seen on the display, but closer examination revealed that they were in fact there. Nothing else came close to the resolving power of this paper with Matte Black ink. I tried it with the Phatte Black ink system on the 7800 and the results were nearly as good. Spend $60 and get a box of this paper (20 letter size sheets). You won't believe your eyes!
If anyone else would like to play, send me an email and I'll send you the test file I printed (and printed and printed).
Now THAT'S what I'm talking about, baby! Great effort, great report. It's copied and pasted into a Word document on my computer now, Kelly. This kind of info makes sites like this shine bright!
Posted by Jim Sabiston on June 20, 2008 at 7:18 AM
Kelly,
Awesome study and report. THIS is the type of info I look for on NPN and you delivered in spades! I am just starting to dabble in b+w and this kind of information is invaluable. Like Steve, this will become part of my standard reference docs.
Thank you!!!!
Posted by Fred Silver on June 20, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Thanks for the great advise and patient work to come up with this report.
I've been experimenting with my 3800 and Eric Chan's custom B&W profiles.
Have you had any experience with Epson papers in particular the new Exhibition Paper?
Regards from a B&W wannabe
Fred
Posted by Fred Silver on June 20, 2008 at 10:45 AM
BTW I would use your test file in Aperture with Chan's profiles and additional papers to find more results.
Thanks
fsilver@silverandcompany.com
Posted by Fred Silver on June 20, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Kelly;
Didi you mean 'Legion Somerset Photo Satin 300'? I can't find Legion Somerset Photo BW 300
Kelly: it goes without saying that the canned profiles offered by paper manufacturers for their papers are marginal at best, especially for desktop printers, as the manufacturing tolerances aren't as tight as with wide format printers. The only way to accurately evaluate these papers (tonally speaking) is by having custom profiles made for each.
I offer custom RGB profiles for $25 each and a number of NPN mermbers can be counted as satisfied customers. I don't have my order page up and running yet, but interested persons can contact me by email.
What a test, but why didn't you test any of the fiber-baryta papers? These are the best inkjet papers on the market and are the closet you can get to a traditional silver black and white print. I also use them for color.
Carl - Kelly did test Hahnemuhle FA Baryta 325 gsm. I would like to see Ilford Gallerie Gold Fibre baryta paper too, since I've tried that one already and thought it was pretty nice. I've got some of the Hahnemuhle right now that I'd like to try Kelly's images on for comparison's sake. It'll be on a Canon PIXMA Pro 9000 - with and without a black and white driver, but with the canned Hahnenuhle profile. (So I may be contacting Michael for an upgrade there )
"Reply posted by Carl Battreall on 06/20/08 at 3:54 pm EST
What a test, but why didn't you test any of the fiber-baryta papers? These are the best inkjet papers on the market and are the closet you can get to a traditional silver black and white print. I also use them for color."
Now Carl... When you go fishing do you catch all the fish?
Actually, the Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta I selected for my test is a 100% alpha-cellulose base with a barium sulphate coating. It's a beautiful bright white paper and performed very well (a close second to the Somerset Satin) in my tests. It looks very much like the traditional silver print from days past. It's also about half the cost of the Somerset, a significant factor if you are printing large. I noticed something on their website too; a "Certificate of Authenticity" that may add some charm to your prints.
Treat yourself to a small box of the Crane Museo Silver Rag if you really want to time-travel...
Posted by Cory Freeman on June 21, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Thanks for sharing Kelly! I haven't tried the abw driver yet on my 3800, but will soon. I have the cmsr which I like very much. But I recently got a free sampler of Epson's new exhibition fiber paper which I really liked for color, more so than the cmsr. I'm eager to try the epson fiber w/ a few of my b&w images. Have you tried the epson fiber? MG has provided profiles for me and they have worked very well! Thanks for the report!
I got a chance to try 4 prints of the same image today on my Canon PIXMA Pro 9000. The profile was the one for the i9950, which is older but uses the same ink set. Unfortunately, Hahnemuhle doesn't have a profile posted for the Pro 9000. This may make the results here of limited value, although I think there's some value...especially if I get a custom profile and try it again.
I printed the image twice out of Qimage, with and without using the printer's "greyscale" B&W mode. I also printed it twice out of Adobe Photoshop Elements 4, again with and without using the B&W mode in the print driver. I didn't softproof and try to adjust, although I did take a look at the proofing in Qimage.
A couple more notes : The fact that I only have Elements is one reason I bought Qimage, which gives me better image queuing and soft proofing, as well as more advanced preparation routines and rendering intents. Also, in the past I've found the B&W driver mode to work very very well at maintaining neutrality, at the cost of much slower speeds. I haven't tested that mode for anything other than neutrality though.
Anyway, here's what I see in halogen, natural, and fluorescent light sources....
Overall : I've never used a Baryta paper before (I've only had a camera for 2.5 years, and only been making my own prints for about the last year and half), but I really like the texture, medium amount of gloss, and overall look of the prints. I've tried both the Hahnemuhle and the Ilford (Galerie Gold Fibre Silk Baryta) and I think I like the Hahnemuhle better. Although the Ilford is not recommended for dye ink printers according to correspondence with them; And the person emailing me seemed somewhat rude, which might be coloring my impressions. In summary, I really like the clarity and depth of prints, sharpness is good and detail retention seems to be very good.
When looking at the actual prints, I mostly looked at a couple of the things Kelly mentioned - the wrinkles on the BG behind the model, separation of the models dress from the BG (which is VERY subtle on the left), and the 21 step wedge.
Qimage, Regular Mode : Showed good tonal range, but did lose the darkest step of the wedge, and almost the next one. Fine detail looked very good, including the BG wrinkles, although it lost separation of the dress from BG on the left. Overall, there was definitely a yellowish color cast, and a slight brightening of the image in the highlights.
Qimage, B&W Mode : This image was much more neutral - perfectly as far as I could tell - especially when you put it side by side with the first print. However, the B&W mode seems to have darkened the image - all of the shadow areas especially. This one lost the darkest three transitions in the wedge and the brightest ones look slightly darker. It also lost some of the BG wrinkles, and of course, the dress separation on the left then. Overall, the tones were better though - it seemed to lose the darks to improve the highlights and midtones.
PS Elements, Regular Mode : This came out, as expected, very similar to the Qimage print, but slightly less brightened with better highlights. It also lost the very darkest part of the wedge, but the detail retention actually seemed a little worse than Qimage.
PS Elements, B&W Mode : This had similar changes from the Regular Mode image as the Qimage versions....losing more of the wedge but getting much more neutral.
It seems like overall, the paper is capable of more than I'm getting from it. I do really like the texture, gloss, and detail though, so I'll probably give it a shot with a custom profile. I'll probably check out the Legion Somerset Photo Bright White too.
Speaking of which, Kelly, I don't see that paper anywhere online, including the Moab paper site. Any pointers to finding it? Or maybe the name is a little different?
Kelly, Sorry I didn't realize that you had tested the Hahnemuhle FA Baryta 325 gsm, I am using the Harman, which I love. Sooner or later we all need to just pick one paper and stick with it, learn all there is to know about it, let become a partner in your image making process. Thanks for your hard work
I believe anyone really serious about digital b/w printing owes it to themselves to take a good look at Jon Cone's Piezography system. It produces the best digital black and white I've seen. I'm using the Selenium K7 inks on an Epson 2200 and WOW! is the best way to describe the prints.
This system uses all black and gray inks made from pure carbon pigment. No metamerism, no fading and no nozzle clogging. The recommended QuadTone RIP is also excellent and inexpensive.
Of course, if you have just one printer and need to also print color, switching inks all the time just to use Piezography isn't practical. But if you can set up your printer just for BW, this is the way to go.
Discussion
17 repliesI put two 5X7 images on a letter size page in Photoshop to do the print tests. One is a portrait of a beautiful young woman wrapped in a black cloth and shot against a black background. We used some backlighting and background lighting to separate her from the background, but it was very, very subtle. There were also three wrinkles in the background that were barely visible on the monitor. The second image was a print test image that I stole from Keith Cooper. It has the graduated 21 tone grayscale strip and an lot of small images with subtle fine details. He was kind enough to post a link to his high resolution image for pirates like me to use. Arrr...
Next came the paper and ink. Ouch! This obsession cost me over $1000, which is why I'm sharing my work with you; save the expense and learn from what I've done. Here's the list. I'm sorry if you don't find your favorite paper here, but I tended towards the high end and those that claim to be wonderful for black and white prints. Some were even made specifically for black and white printing, including a couple of industry award winners. Here is the list in no particular order:
Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pearl
Ilford Gallerie Smooth Heavyweight Matte
Hahnemuhle FA Pearl 285 gsm
Hahnemuhle FA Baryta 325 gsm
Hahnemuhle PR Pearl 320 gsm
Hahnemuhle PR Satin 310 gsm
Hahnemuhle PR White 308 gsm
Hahnemuhle Germ. Etch. Natural 310 gsm
Moab Entrada Rag Br White 300 gsm
Moab Entrada Rag Nat White 300 gsm
Moab Col. Fiber Satine 245 gsm
Moab Col. Fiber Gloss 245 gsm
Pictorico Gekko Red 18.9 mil
Pictorico Gekko Black 11.8 mil
Pictorico Gekko Green 14.2 mil
Pictorico Gekko Blue 11.4 mil
Crane Museo Silver Rag 300 gsm
Legion Somerset Photo BW 300 gsm
In every case I downloaded the manufacturer's profile for my Epson R2400 and tested those profiles by printing from Photoshop CS3, letting Photoshop manage the color, and turning off color management in the Epson driver. Gloss, pearl and luster finishes got printed with Photo Black ink. The matte surfaces were printed with Matte Black ink.
I repeated the test by printing from Photoshop, but letting the printer manage the colors, and using the Epson Advanced Black and White driver.
Lastly, since we have Colorbyte Software's ImagePrint RIP in our studio, I used that to print tests for the papers that Colorbyte had profiles for. They didn't have a profile for the Moab Colorado Fiber Gloss or any of the Pictorico Gekko papers. Everything else was represented though.
The results were pretty astonishing. After printing and letting the prints dry for a day, I began to examine them carefully. I looked at them in daylight, fluorescent, and tungsten lighting, with the naked eye, 5X and 10X loops. I looked for fine detail resolution, tonal resolution, and differential reflectance issues. I also did the white glove smudge tests, and was surprised a bunch of times. 24 hours is not anywhere near enough drying time even for some that claim to dry instantly. Phooey.
The first thing I can say is that if you are using manufacturer profiles (or some that you made up yourself with something like PrintFIX Pro Suite 2), STOP. Without exception this will give you the worst results possible. Use your Epson Advanced Black and White driver. The default "darker" setting is a mess, but flip it up to "normal" and you will get good to excellent results. The top papers for ABW were not much of a surprise. The top dogs were Legion Somerset Photo Bright White, Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta, Crane Museo Silver Rag (great for old fashioned looking silver process prints), Pictorico Gekko Green (award winning specialty black and white paper), Pictorico Gekko Red (cool, heavy textured paper), and Moab Colorado Fiber Satine, in that order.
I mentioned that I tested the ImagePrint RIP profiles. The order of results were pretty much the same for those papers that Colorbyte had profiled, but they were all better in fine detail resolution and tonal definition than the ABW prints. Is the difference worth the cost of the RIP software? Your call. IP light is about $500 for desktop printers like the R2400.
I have one final statement about the Legion Somerset Photo Bright White paper. It was the last one delivered, and the most expensive at $3 a sheet for letter size paper. I couldn't believe my eyes when the R2400 spit out the first print. It had the deepest blacks, but still separated every chip in the tone strip. I saw new wrinkles in the backdrop that I hadn't even seen on the display, but closer examination revealed that they were in fact there. Nothing else came close to the resolving power of this paper with Matte Black ink. I tried it with the Phatte Black ink system on the 7800 and the results were nearly as good. Spend $60 and get a box of this paper (20 letter size sheets). You won't believe your eyes!
If anyone else would like to play, send me an email and I'll send you the test file I printed (and printed and printed).
Awesome study and report. THIS is the type of info I look for on NPN and you delivered in spades! I am just starting to dabble in b+w and this kind of information is invaluable. Like Steve, this will become part of my standard reference docs.
Thank you!!!!
I've been experimenting with my 3800 and Eric Chan's custom B&W profiles.
Have you had any experience with Epson papers in particular the new Exhibition Paper?
Regards from a B&W wannabe
Fred
Thanks
fsilver@silverandcompany.com
Didi you mean 'Legion Somerset Photo Satin 300'? I can't find Legion Somerset Photo BW 300
I offer custom RGB profiles for $25 each and a number of NPN mermbers can be counted as satisfied customers. I don't have my order page up and running yet, but interested persons can contact me by email.
What a test, but why didn't you test any of the fiber-baryta papers? These are the best inkjet papers on the market and are the closet you can get to a traditional silver black and white print. I also use them for color."
Now Carl... When you go fishing do you catch all the fish?
Actually, the Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta I selected for my test is a 100% alpha-cellulose base with a barium sulphate coating. It's a beautiful bright white paper and performed very well (a close second to the Somerset Satin) in my tests. It looks very much like the traditional silver print from days past. It's also about half the cost of the Somerset, a significant factor if you are printing large. I noticed something on their website too; a "Certificate of Authenticity" that may add some charm to your prints.
Treat yourself to a small box of the Crane Museo Silver Rag if you really want to time-travel...
I printed the image twice out of Qimage, with and without using the printer's "greyscale" B&W mode. I also printed it twice out of Adobe Photoshop Elements 4, again with and without using the B&W mode in the print driver. I didn't softproof and try to adjust, although I did take a look at the proofing in Qimage.
A couple more notes : The fact that I only have Elements is one reason I bought Qimage, which gives me better image queuing and soft proofing, as well as more advanced preparation routines and rendering intents. Also, in the past I've found the B&W driver mode to work very very well at maintaining neutrality, at the cost of much slower speeds. I haven't tested that mode for anything other than neutrality though.
Anyway, here's what I see in halogen, natural, and fluorescent light sources....
Overall : I've never used a Baryta paper before (I've only had a camera for 2.5 years, and only been making my own prints for about the last year and half), but I really like the texture, medium amount of gloss, and overall look of the prints. I've tried both the Hahnemuhle and the Ilford (Galerie Gold Fibre Silk Baryta) and I think I like the Hahnemuhle better. Although the Ilford is not recommended for dye ink printers according to correspondence with them; And the person emailing me seemed somewhat rude, which might be coloring my impressions. In summary, I really like the clarity and depth of prints, sharpness is good and detail retention seems to be very good.
When looking at the actual prints, I mostly looked at a couple of the things Kelly mentioned - the wrinkles on the BG behind the model, separation of the models dress from the BG (which is VERY subtle on the left), and the 21 step wedge.
Qimage, Regular Mode : Showed good tonal range, but did lose the darkest step of the wedge, and almost the next one. Fine detail looked very good, including the BG wrinkles, although it lost separation of the dress from BG on the left. Overall, there was definitely a yellowish color cast, and a slight brightening of the image in the highlights.
Qimage, B&W Mode : This image was much more neutral - perfectly as far as I could tell - especially when you put it side by side with the first print. However, the B&W mode seems to have darkened the image - all of the shadow areas especially. This one lost the darkest three transitions in the wedge and the brightest ones look slightly darker. It also lost some of the BG wrinkles, and of course, the dress separation on the left then. Overall, the tones were better though - it seemed to lose the darks to improve the highlights and midtones.
PS Elements, Regular Mode : This came out, as expected, very similar to the Qimage print, but slightly less brightened with better highlights. It also lost the very darkest part of the wedge, but the detail retention actually seemed a little worse than Qimage.
PS Elements, B&W Mode : This had similar changes from the Regular Mode image as the Qimage versions....losing more of the wedge but getting much more neutral.
It seems like overall, the paper is capable of more than I'm getting from it. I do really like the texture, gloss, and detail though, so I'll probably give it a shot with a custom profile. I'll probably check out the Legion Somerset Photo Bright White too.
Speaking of which, Kelly, I don't see that paper anywhere online, including the Moab paper site. Any pointers to finding it? Or maybe the name is a little different?
This system uses all black and gray inks made from pure carbon pigment. No metamerism, no fading and no nozzle clogging. The recommended QuadTone RIP is also excellent and inexpensive.
Of course, if you have just one printer and need to also print color, switching inks all the time just to use Piezography isn't practical. But if you can set up your printer just for BW, this is the way to go.
http://www.piezography.com/site/index.html