articles/Paper/fourbaryt-page4
by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2010
We have tested many barytas for Paper Chase and found a general trend of superbly accurate skin tones, high Dmax (along with sumptuous 'print depth') and outstanding monochrome prints - in case you missed the point, we are big fans of these surfaces! On the other side of the scales we have found them a little difficult to handle (they tend to be both stiff and curly!) and the surface is quite delicate (but not as delicate as a true matt fine art surface). Many contain optical brightening agents which are not appreciated by some purists because of their reputation for yellowing with age. They are a premium product in most ranges. In our previous review (Paper Chase 22, January 2008) they averaged £1.95 per A3 sheet and ranged from £1.16 to £3.35 (based on boxes of around 50 sheets). At £2 per sheet for the Fotospeed and £2.56 for the Canson, the four papers represent good value more than two years later, these are after all premium papers for exhibition and wall-portraiture - they are not intended for slugging out contact sheets!
Analysis of Colour Audit Data
All four media behaved in the manner we expect from baryta-based coatings. All are truly excellent and the differences between the media are marginal shifts in otherwise very low error values. As expected, the use of OBAs in the Platinum Gloss depressed the accuracy of the skin tones in absolute terms although it was difficult to detect the difference by visual observation of the prints.
In all cases the high error in the saturation component was in the spectral red. Even this was small though, and might reflect a slight deficiency in the gamut of the ink set. Overall the hue angle errors were the smallest in the Canson Photographique but this was not detectable by eye.
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