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Paper Chase - Olmec Paper - part 3 of 1 2 3

by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2006

260gsm Heavyweight Gloss paper

This is a resin-coated paper with a Microporous coating and a moderate amount of OBA to both cool and brighten the surface. It is not one of the "mirror" glosses with a slightly duller surface, which is not in any way unpleasant.

On test, using the Epson 4800 (PK) and the Olmec profile, we obtained a really excellent print with good colour statistics. The average error across the Macbeth chart was 6.8Lab ÄE/ 3.92ÄE2000, very good for a generic profile. The grey tone scale was excellent with very good highlight separation right up to full white and shadow detail that only blocked up below 10 RGB points. As with the other papers in the range the skin tones were desaturated (by about 8%) and were rotated towards red by 2-3° as the profile mapped the colours into the cool base-tone. The Dmax was 2.26, the highest of the papers tested and the metameric index from the K3 ink was 1.3 Lab points.

230gsm Heavyweight Matt Single-Sided

This is a bright white, single-sided matte paper with a high loading of OBAs. We tested using the Olmec profile and got a rather disappointing result, especially after the good ones achieved with other Olmec profiles. We profiled using X-Rite Pulse and re-ran the colour audit. This bespoke profiling clawed back some of the lost saturation but only by a couple of per cent. It also trued up the hue values of the skin tones slightly. The overall Macbeth swatch error was reduced from 11.4 to 9.0 Lab ÄE but the ÄE2000 average was identical. All of this infers that it was a limitation of the paper that we were looking at, an effect we have seen before, the non-premium matte papers under-perform in comparison to the premium papers - that is what you pay for!

The metamerism of this paper and the K3 ink combination was low in both cases at 0.2 Lab points. The Dmax was 1.29 for the Olmec profile olmec(at 1440dpi) and 1.37 for the bespoke profile (at 2880dpi).

Overall this is about on par for the type of paper it is. It would be usable as a proofing paper to show clients but is not sufficiently accurate to give good colour proofs for reproduction/press proofing.

CONCLUSIONS

This is a sound range of materials with a better than average set of canned profiles, for a wide range of printer options. As usual we obtained better results with a bespoke profile and the colour statistics were in line with previous findings on these types of surfaces. You can therefore make your choices on the basis of cost, availablilty and whether you like the look and feel of the surfaces. Phone any of the suppliers (right) for prices or visit the GMB Digital website www.gmbdigital.co.uk.

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1st Published 01/06/2006
last update 09/12/2022 14:57:05

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