This site, and all its
contents are copyright
©2003-2008 Keith Cooper
Innova Fibaprint Super-Glazed and Semi-Glazed
Two new papers from Innova
After completeing a recent review of the Epson SP4880 printer, Keith has tried two new 'glazed' papers from Innova (IFA58 and IFA59).
This short review describes these papers for normal colour printing and refinements needed to get optimum use of the Epson ABW black and white printing mode.
|
|
Topics This page is part of the Reviews section of our Info and Resources feature The What's New Page gives a quick overview of the hundreds of pages of articles and picture on this site. |
Testing uses lots of paper...
About the paper
Both papers are 285gm/m2 with the semi-glazed at 306 microns thick and the glazed at 315 microns.
They were flat, out of the box, and showed no signs of surface flaking or scratches. the picture above gives a good idea of the stiffness of the sheets.
With lots of different papers coming to the market now, I'll quote the specs from Innova.
FibaPrint Semi - Glazed – 285g/m2 (IFA58)
"FibaPrint Semi-glazed has been modelled on the traditional fibre-based material used in conventional photography, to give it the look and feel of a traditional air-dried fibre based paper. Developed with leading photographers, it’s semi - glazed, high white and ultra smooth surface give it a truly unique quality. The special Micro porous gloss coating has been designed specifically for photographic reproduction and high quality fine art print applications. The acid inhibiting crystal layer technology makes it the perfect digital baryta FibaPrint® alternative. FibaPrint Semi-Glazed has an extremely large colour gamut and D-max. "
The FibaPrint Super Glazed version (285g/m2 - IFA59) is very similar.
As you can see from the specs below, the main difference is in the final finish.
IFA58 High white digital baryta paper
|
IFA59 High white digital baryta paper
|
The papers are available in a wide range of sizes, in sheet and roll format.
I used them with the suggested Photo black (Pk) ink in the 4880.
Using icc profiles
Whilst Innova do have a range of profiles for their papers, they were not available for these papers and the 4880, so after some quick tests to confirm that the Premium Luster(260) setting was a good one for printing, I created some profiles for testing.
- If you're curious I have an article on choosing media settings and some media test images.
The two shots below (of parts of my 1728 patch test prints for profiling) show the different finishes of the papers. Do note that I've adjusted these images quite a bit to show surface finish, so they are not terribly good indicators of paper and print colours.
Due to the slightly thicker paper, the platten width on the printer was set to 'W' and the suction level to high to avoid head strikes at the start of prints.
Semi-glazed
Super-Glazed
For black and white I tried printing using the Epson ABW printing mode, which I know works very well for Epson papers. I did use my custom profiles as well, but the ABW mode can often give better results and exhibit less colour shifts with different lighting. This is one reason I like to know the kind of lighting that my big prints will be viewed under.
I use my own B/W test image for this (article and download). It shows up a whole range of potential issues, and is my own personal standard for testing papers for B/W.
A paper has to look good with the test image before I'll consider using it for my work. Remember though that paper selection is a very personal matter, so you should always see how your images look on a sample of the paper once you know that you are getting accurate prints on it.
The usual issues with 3rd party papers and the Epson ABW print mode is that you tend to get slight non-linearity in the greyscale response. this can be corrected with a QTR icc profile. I'll not go over the mechanisms for creating one here, since I've several articles describing the process with different measuring instruments.
Choosing the Luster(260) setting and 'neutral' for the print, the shadows were opened up a bit too much.
It's difficult to show here, but the two photos of prints, before and after applying a QTR icc profile show, the difference. (The slight colour differences are from the lighting and not visible in the prints)
Epson ABW default setting
After printing (same Epson driver settings) using a QTR icc profile
In the first print, the bull's eye patch is too concentrated toward the middle and there is detail -clearly- visible behind the log in the top RH picture. There should be detail visible here, but it should take a bit of effort to see it clearly.
When testing the papers, I printed out some test strips at different Epson driver settings and measured them. If you look at the measurements you can see which set requires the least correction in the form of a QTR icc profile. For best results, you generally want to minimise the work done by the correcting profile.
Assorted test prints
- Yes, I am this picky when testing paper :-) - it allows me to concentrate on getting the image looking right when editing and then knowing that printing won't have any nasty surprises lurking in the shadows... My own approach to photography and printing is that if I know the technical side really well, then most of the time when taking photos or printing, I can effectively forget about all the techy details and concentrate on getting the image/print I want.
Print Quality
As you can see from the pictures in this article, I always do loads of prints of known test images as well as images of my own.
I do particularly recommend the Datacolor one for colour prints - I have a copy (with explanations about its use) available for download.
You can get a feel for the surface finishes in the extreme reflection photos above, but both papers printed very impressive looking colour and monochrome, with deep rich colours and blacks.
The papers do contain optical brightening agents, so may be a concern for some more archival uses, although the papers are quoted as "Acid & lignin free".
The image to the right was taken in a local bar with my 1Ds Mk3 and converted to the ProPhoto colour space.
It has some very strong colours and is quite a harsh test for any printer/paper/ink combination (remember you are seeing a restricted gamut sRGB web version).
No problem at all for the 4880 and its inks on these papers.
My personal favourite of the two papers is probably the semi-glazed, but they are both ones I'm happy to include in my collection.
The papers are not as rugged as many lighter papers, and you should take care in handling the prints. This is from Innova:
- As with all Fine Art papers our Digital Fine Art papers are fragile and need to be handled with extreme care. Try not to touch the surface of the paper, hold by the edges and wear cotton gloves if necessary.
- The FibaPrint glossy papers will mark more easily with grease from your fingertips, so be extra careful with these papers.
- Return unused paper to the original box and store flat. If storing the paper outside the original box, only use archival packaging.
- Leave papers open to the air to fully dry for a few hours after printing, (24 hours are recommended) and avoid stacking on top of each other straight away.
- Using a giclée varnish or spray will help protect your print further from damage, effects of UV light and environmental attack.
Whilst I'd agree with their comments, I think it's less fragile than other similarly finished papers.
The prints (semi-glazed) draped on the printer give a bit more of an impression of how the paper handles and how the prints 'feel' - you'll just have to try some to get a better impression ;-)
The image below (Bradgate Park - top entrance, Leicester, December), taken when first testing my 1Ds3 and 14mm lens, has a great deal of detail and dark colours in the shadows.
An A3+ print on the Semi-glazed paper really presents this well - enough that a visitor to the office remarked just how well it captured the look of the park at that time of year.
Summary
A solid and relatively robust pair of papers (for the paper type) that print a rich range of colours and superbly deep blacks.
Available from Innova and many distributors in a wide variety of sizes (up to 60" roll).
Needs custom profiles (at the moment) for colour on the 4880 (check the Innova site for latest profile availability).
Fine tuning of the Epson ABW print settings give very good black and white performance.
A personal health warning about paper reviews ;-)
One of my pet hates is when I see comparative reviews of papers in some magazines that include a stack of spurious tables and diagrams covering various measurements about printer/paper/ink performance. Most are utterly meaningless (without -detailed- explanations of the theory and practice behind them). The most egregious nonsense is posting gamut volume numbers to six figure accuracy... Assume that the graphs are there to bulk out the article or make the reviewer look clever ;-)
Similarly I just couldn't be bothered to measure the D-max of many papers (how black is black) - there is so much more to what makes a fine print than some spurious measurement accuracy. Note that I don't apply this when I'm making profiles, that's one time I am bothered about lots of measurements and their accuracy and their consistency.
I have a few colour images that I'll print on a heavy matt rag paper. It really has quite a restricted gamut due to the ink limits I use. The images just work on that paper. Gamut and D-max are just two aspects of deciding how you want your prints to look.
Print choices are a personal thing - if you just choose papers by numbers then your prints will (IMHO) lack something.
Other related info
- Innova FibaPrint papers - heavy fibre based papers, a similar feel to traditional B/W photo prints
- Innova Photo Canvas
- All our paper reviews
- Black and white test image - a very harsh (but fair) test
- Colour management links on this site
- Media settings and profiling for third party inks
Keith recently converted an Epson Stylus COLOR 1160 to third party inks. In describing the profiling of a this set-up with a third party glossy paper, he shows how that often neglected aspect of profiling -driver media settings- can make all the difference between a so-so print and one that he would be happy to send out as a sample to his commercial clients. - The PrintFIX PRO review - good profiling package with black and white options
- Printer profiling with the Eye One Photo - review
- Why don't my prints match my screen?
A short article showing why there is more to getting your prints to match your screen, than just calibrating your monitor. It's the vital first step, but you do need to consider some other factors for best results. - Reviews on this site
- Other Articles on this site
We have a version of Google's Search engine, optimised for photography related items that may be of use in finding more information...
Keith is always happy to discuss matters raised in his articles. You can contact Keith at the address below.
The views above represent those of Keith Cooper. Articles copyright ©2003-8 Keith Cooper.
Other areas of our site that may be of interest...
NEW -- Create your own customised A3 size wall calendar from a choice of 90 of Keith's images. Choose your own images for your own custom printed calendar - 12 months starting any month of the year - many all new images not yet in our main gallery.
Digital Black and White. Keith was recently interviewed about digital black and white photography for a magazine article. We have an expanded version here covering some of his thoughts, techniques and tips for those thinking of trying black and white.
As well as our Commercial Photography services and Training there is a growing collection of photography Articles and Reviews on the site aimed at helping you get the best out of your own photography. We also have a growing collection of Photography related information and links that we hope you find useful.
New site features and some of Keith Cooper's latest work are always covered in the What's New page.
Visiting Leicester or wondering where it is? We have views from the Leicester traffic cameras.