07.25
As I’ve written before, I’m still looking for a good paper with a satin finish, preferably using a swellable coating.
A couple of days back I thought I had found the perfect paper, Ilford Gallerie Classic Pearl. The Classic bit indicates it’s swellable (and thus resistent to fading due to airborne pollutants).
When I received the rather expansive pack of Ilford paper, I immediately put it to the test. And when compared to the other papers I’ve tried, I can say this:
- The Ilford paper seems to let the ink bleed less, creating a crisper image.
- The Ilford paper creates vibrant colors, which is probably due to the Pearl finish.
- And I absolutely hate the Pearl finish, it’s extremely similar to HP’s Premium Plus Satin-matt finish, which causes a great deal of reflection. Thus forcing the viewer to angle the photo around for ten minutes before being able to see the photo without reflections.
The weird part is the Ilford doesn’t seem to manufacter a Satin finish in the Classic series, neither does HP in it’s Premium Plus series. I wonder whether it’s even technically possible to create a Satin finish using swellable coatings. So I’m sortof giving up on that.
For now I’m sticking with Office Centre’s (Staples’) Photo Supreme Satin paper. My quest continues for a Satin paper with less ink bleed and more vivid colors.
[...] Premium Satin is the second paper I’ve tried from Ilford, and in contrast with Gallerie Classic Pearl (which is a professional paper), Premium Satin is a consumer grade paper, and it shows. While the [...]