Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> > Why is it that photo paper without silver is so much more > expensive than > > paper with silver? Even the Bergger, Seagul, Forte and other > 'fine art' > > papers are all less than $1 (us) a sheet in 8x10. Some of > these ink jet > > papers are more than double that. Most glossy inkjet papers - similar to glossy RC papers, in a similar weight , are less than that - around 50c or so a sheet. The "fine art" watercolour type inkjet papers of a similar weight to single or double weight photo paper (say (180/205gsm) are around $1.00 some a bit less, some touch more. The ones which are generally more expensive are the very high quality papers, usually in a heavier weight than the normal photo FB papers (closer to museum weight or heavier) (325 - 370gsm or even 420gsm or so). Most of them are based on existing watercolour papers (eg Arches Infinity, is very close to their Hot Pressed watercolour paper). Most are high quality cotton rag. Add to that most have an added receptor surface for inkjet printing (extra cost). If you've ever bought quality watercolour paper, it's quite expensive stuff. Arches has always been very expensive, due the quality of the paper, their unique surfaces and their methods of making it. The inkjet papers seem to obviously follow this pricing. These inkjet papers are often much higher quality paper than that used in many photogrpahic fibre based papers. (the weak spot in a lot of old photographs is not the photogrpahic silver/geltain image, but the substrate that layer is on - if you ever worked in an archives, you'll see lots of photographs where that paper itself is what is deteriorating, not the photographic image. It's the same today - lots of photogrpahic papers don't have the "purest" paper bases. Whereas with inkjet papers, because it has often been the art paper manufacturers [as opposed to photogrpahic paper manufacturers] who have jumped into the business, they have often used and found their high quality cotton rag papers have been just the thing). These tend to be rather expensive though... tim - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html