Paper Chase - Innova Digital Fine Art Paper

Innova Digital Fine Art Paper Mike McNamee looks at the Innova range and gets some pleasant suprises, just in time for Focus!

In a world in which their rivals have been operating for centuries, Innova Fine Art are very much the new kids on the block.

However, since they commenced operations they have rapidly gained a reputation for highquality inkjet art media and have gathered a faithful following of users. One of the highlights of Focus 2007 was the Innova display of panoramic landscape images by David Osborn, which really showcased the media to great effect.

Presently the range consists of five papers in their FibaPrint range, six papers in their Photo Art Collection, six papers in their Fine Art Collection, and a number of canvas materials. Their newest paper, the baryta-like Ultra Smooth Gloss, we reviewed in detail in the last issue, when we also touched upon the other FibaPrint materials.

However, we kept some of the testing back for a more comprehensive all-Innova review this issue. You may recall that the Ultra Smooth Gloss material broke the colour fidelity record and the baryta-like FibaPrint range remains much favoured.

The Base Properties

We list all the Digital Fine Art papers together for this review. The product list is tabled along with the baseline properties which are also plotted graphically. The graph shows the cream of the Warm Tone Gloss, Soft Textured Natural White, Cold Pressed Rough Textured, Canvas Textile Paper and Smooth Cotton Natural White. The Smooth Cotton High White and Soft White Cotton are a slightly warmer cream than those listed previously. The baryta-like group of the FibaPrint range are progressively more blue, that is they are both cooler and brighter, owing to the OBA concentration employed. The two (older) canvas materials are just on the cool side of neutral (at D65). The composite UV-illuminated swatches show the overall, visual OBA activity, as do the OBA lift values tabled.

The Dmax capabilities fall into three categories. The FibaPrint gloss and semi-gloss variants are all over 2; the matte papers are all around 1.5 and the matte canvas options are less than 1.5. All these values are both representative and expected for material of their class.

Innova Range Base Whites

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Photo Quote: In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little, human detail can become a Leitmotiv. - Henri Cartier-Bresson