articles/Paper/prestige-page2
by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2013
Colour Testing
Not all of the papers were available in sheet form at the time of testing although they will be by the time this is published. Accordingly we measured all the base white parameters from the swatch book but only conducted full audit testing on a smaller number. The usual audit procedure was followed, consisting of bespoke profiling using X-Rite i1 Publish on either 400- or 727-patch targets, using the Epson 4900 with its HDR UltraChrome high gamut ink set. This was followed by our usual analysis. The Mono silk was treated separately as described in the text
Gold Fibre Silk 310
This is a baryta material with just a hint of a gloss on an otherwise perfectly smooth surface (it shines up a little after ink has been deposited). The surface is quite delicate and care is needed in handling.
Being a true baryta we expected good data and were not disappointed; it produced an average error of just 1.61 with errors that were essentially zero in both chroma and hue - the lightness was just 1/2% too light.
Mike reviews the Ilford Galerie Prestige Galerie Premium.
The skin tones were spectacular even by baryta standards with average errors of 1.02. One of the more interesting charts produced was that for the HiGAM patch set which explores the boundaries of the HDR ink gamut. Unusually the chroma error was just a quarter point down, in other words a near perfect performance. This shows in the gamut plot, the print values are just a hairbreadth inboard of the aim values. The gamut volume itself was over the 1 million mark. The metamerism was very low at 1.65. The Dmax was a little low, measuring 2.06 but this is where the profile placed it in order to achieve the all-round accuracy.
It is not detectably thin in the shadow areas with blocking occurring at 25 RGB points, although it did appear to transition to the full black very rapidly. At the other end of the scale the highlights held up to 252 points which is a couple of points higher than usual.
Overall then this paper is a real beauty, on a par with Canson Photographique, the current record holder in statistical terms. We resisted the temptation to make a one-to-one comparison although there are many who hold the view that they are the same paper (they are spookily similar!). Having said that, the forums are populated by opinions that have no factual basis and should generally be treated with strong dose of scepticism - but, as the saying goes, "If it's grey, with big ears and a trunk it probably is an elephant." The Ilford certainly has a cost advantage.
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