articles/Paper/fourbaryt-page1
by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2010
No this is not a headline for a new line-up of tenors we just thought it had a bit of a ring to it! The feature arose from a conversation on the Fotospeed stand at Focus. We were looking at the new Canson Baryta Photographique (which is a 'true baryta' and decided to also compare the award-winning 'Platinum' series from Fotospeed (which are 'baryta-like'). It should be stressed at the outset that this is not a competitive shoot-out, the papers have been chosen because they cover a range of properties and are available from this one source, the user must decide for themselves which they have preference for. The aim, therefore, is to explain and show where the differences lie and also discuss how to get the best out of these premium papers. The Platinum series has been tested before by Paper Chase, but we decided to start afresh and maintain an identical test regime for all four media.
Base Properties
The underlying base medias provide a good variety of tones and properties. The Platinum Gloss WT is a warm-tone, creamy product, the Platinum Gloss is a brightened, cool blue. The Platinum Lustre is slightly warm and the Canson is almost pure neutral (D65/2° measurements). The Platinum Lustre has a very high reflectivity at 99.4%, the Canson is also bright at 98.5%. The spectral traces indicate that Platinum Gloss contains optical brighteners but none of the others does. This was confirmed when we examined the surfaces in the UV booth.
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