Photo Paper News

The obvious big news at this year's show was the "proliferation" of pigmented ink-based printers--and with that comes a new level of inks and print longevity. We used to think that pigmented inks could not deliver the color saturation and punch of dye-based inks, but that no longer appears to be the case with this new generation of inksets with expanded...

It’s kind of difficult to believe that there could be much innovation in a material that’s been used for thousands of years, but I’m always surprised at the number of new printing papers that come out each year. Of course, the traditional surface photo papers in gloss and luster finishes continue to be the most popular choices, but there is an ever-widening variety of fine art...

Photographers who like to print their images on canvas for an arty look, should check out LexJet’s latest offering. Called Sunset Photo Canvas Paper, this 230g, premium matte paper is embossed with a 2-over-1 weave canvas texture.

Moab’s Juniper Baryta Rag 305 is a double-weight, 100% cotton inkjet paper with a “true baryta base,” which refers build-wise to the inclusion of barium sulfate in the mix but aesthetics-wise to having the look and feel of traditional silver-based darkroom printing papers. While that descriptive reference might be more poetic than experiential for many folks these days, it is a good thing. Its weight, richness and tonal depth separate it from many RC-type inkjet papers, plus it has one more laudable characteristic: lack of OBAs (optical brightening agents), those brighteners used in many papers that help give them a stark, cold white base coat.

Our show report this year is an amalgam of product news and trend spotting, which pretty much reflects what photokina has stood for in our minds. The sense of a United Nations of photography still prevails at this increasingly European-directed show, but the image and its uses is still the universal tie that binds.

In our recent photokina reports (January, 2011, issue) we covered products and trends at the show. Here’s a brief follow-up on some film and paper processing items and information on friends old and new, present and gone.

In our photokina reports we mentioned Kodak’s new film, of course, and Harman’s Direct Positive paper, and...

As would be anticipated in this ever more dominant digital world, there were very few new offerings from silver-based film and paper firms, and even less for the conventional darkroom. Here are the few items I did locate:

Fuji has the new Fujicolor Crystal Archive Preferred color reversal RA-4 process paper that's said to offer vivid color reproduction, brilliant...