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HARMAN PHOTO LAUNCHES NEW INKJET PAPER
HARMAN CRYSTALJET ELITE an improved 'day-to-day' resin coated product.
HARMAN PHOTO, the digital media brand of HARMAN technology Limited, has announced a new addition to its range of high quality inkjet papers. The new product has been designed to offer superior levels of imaging performance.
"We produced a rich set of prints boasting exceptional detail..." DIGITAL PHOTO Magazine (Dec 2010)
Click Here to read the DIGITAL PHOTO review extract. Or to read the full review visit PHOTO ANSWERS
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The Surface of Things Part 2 - by Richard Lohmann
"Prints made on Harman Gloss, when viewed in most types of light, display the best characteristics of gelatin
silver prints."
"Everyone who observed the Harman’s gloss prints agreed that this paper has a truly outstanding surface. It’s gloss and sheen are very similar to traditional prints."
"Photographers have been asking for a surface similar to traditional gelatin silver prints, and Harman has delivered. One digital photographer remarked, 'This looks like the best silver print I have ever seen.'"
"...the Harman print has sparkle and pluck. It’s truly beautiful."
These are just a few of the comments extracted from the article "The Surface of Things - Part 2" written by Richard Lohmann. Click on the pdf link here Richard Lohman Essay - The Surface of Things Part 2 to view the full article and photographs.
Richard Lohmann teaches photography at College of San Mateo. He has successfully transitioned from 26
years of platinum printing to now making his black and white prints digitally. He is currently producing a
body of work titled 'The Mists of Huangshan' that will be included in a group exhibit by the Ansel Adams
Gallery, from September 22 to March 17 at the Aperture Gallery in Napa, California.
https://www.anseladams.com/content/customer_service/mumm.html
His prints can be viewed:
• Ansel Adams Gallery: http://www.anseladams.com/index.html,
• Saret Gallery in Sonoma: http://www.saretgallery.com/collections_home.html
• Modern Book Gallery in Palo Alto: http://www.modernbook.com/static.html
Richard Lohmann’s website: http://www.richardlohmann.com/
His blog while photographing in China: http://richardstriptochina.blogspot.com/2007/01/5.html
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Not strictly Editorial Review but well worth reading comments from Leica Users
http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/34562-printing-harman-gloss-fb-ai-2.html
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Comments by Outback Print Editors
subjective evaluation by Uwe Steinmueller
Jack Flesher...........
"The first thing you notice is the paper's surface -- identical to air-dried fiber-base silver, with a slight egg-shell finish and soft gloss. Sweet. Next thing you notice is this paper even smells like traditional ....................... This is amazing stuff folks. I have found my paper."
Read the complete report at:
http://www.outbackprint.com/papers/paper_directory/Harman_FB_Gloss.html
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Mikkel, Denmark emailed September 2007
"I downloaded the canned icc profiles from your web site and made my first test prints from some favorite photos (colour as well as B&W). As for the Gloss variety, I'm absolutely thrilled with the quality! My test prints are easily the best inkjet prints I've made on a paper that looks and feels like traditional air dried FB gloss paper for traditional B&W darkroom. It's very beautyful for colour prints as well. I see absolutely no gloss differentials across the prints and bronzing is slight - and it's only visible when surface reflection makes it impossible to se the printed image anyway. The general finish of the paper is exquisite: very clean and unobtrusive surface, and the paper lies nicely flat. In comparison, my former favorite in this type of paper, Innovas FB Ultra Smooth Gloss, show minor gloss differentials (small matte areas in certain colour/darkness regions), and, what's worse, it's delivered in packages that are too cramped so that the paper won't lie flat when you take it out of the box.
The two matte varieties both seem extremely smooth and highly suitable for rendering atmosphere and subdued subjects. I especially dig their midtones and highlights. Very nice light grey transitions in B&W. The blacks are actually very beautyful too, they just don't seem to be quite as deep and punchy as they get in e.g. Hahnemuehles Photo Rag. But I think the midtones and highlights are a tad smoother. For the right subject they will be very good. The matte surface is very sensitive, though, It gets marked very easily."
Regards,
Mikkel, Denmark
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"It's here at last!
Yes, I have been anxiously waiting for this Harman FB gloss paper right through August, and in fact I ordered two packs of it from three different suppliers this week, so there is advanced faith in the product, if you like. I actually got delivery of some A4 yesterday, and spent all of the evening running some tests. Propped up on my desk as I type is one of the prints from last night, and just to cut a long story short I will say straight off that it is superb.
My tests were on my Epson R2400 with the standard K3 inkset, all in B/W from scanned medium format film, and printed via the Advanced B/W mode on the Epson (I do not use ICC profiles for B/W work). Out of the box, the paper looks and feels very good - it is crisp, has the right sort of "snap", and the surface is very smooth with a nice soft gloss. My first trials were via the rear feed slot as used with the heavier rag papers, but the Harman gloss feeds perfectly well through the front sheet feed too, as I found out later.
I am fortunate in that I still have a large archive of my own silver gelatine darkroom prints, many of them on the old Ilford Galerie graded paper, for comparison with inkjet prints. My first test prints used the paper setting as recommended by Harman for the R2400 and set to "neutral", which produced quite a cool-looking print. Toned to "warm" and printed with the dark curve in the ABW mode, the prints on the Harman FB Gloss are uncannily close in almost every respect to the old Galerie silver prints.
The nearest paper to my ideal in the recent past was the Innova Ultra Smooth Gloss 285gsm, which I have used extensively. In my opinion, the Harman is superior in all respects - it has a nicer gloss, better surface texture, and most importantly better shadow detail. In fact, the Harman has much better shadow detail and as good or better highlight separation than any of the recent fibre-base glossy papers, according to my tests with two very tricky negatives last night. Bronzing with the K3 inkset is minimal, but there is inevitably still some gloss differential - however Harman have got the surface gloss of the paper itself very close to natural gloss of the K3 inks. The only downside I have found so far is that the surface is quite delicate and easily marked, as others have noted. Not as delicate as the Harman FB Matt paper, to be fair, but you will still have to be careful when handling and mounting the print.
I really hope this paper will be a winner for Harman, because I can see that a lot of thought, time and craft have gone into it. This could be the media that makes glossy B/W printing on an inkjet printer no longer the poor relation of the darkroom.
John R Smith, Cornwall, UK"
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A baryta base
is what sets HARMAN technology's inkjet papers apart from the competition.
"The use of baryta makes an exciting link between this new material and some of our old darkroom favourites"
Tim Daly reviews HARMAN PHOTO MATT FB Mp Warmtone paper.
Click the link below to download a pdf of the complete article, which is reproduced courtesy of B&W Magazine.
B&W Photo Review July 2007 - HARMAN MATT FB Mp Warmtone
The B&W website is at www.bandwmag.com
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Mike Crawford tests out HARMAN technology's much anticipated new inkjet paper, HARMAN PHOTO Professional MATT FB - and he's impressed!
Click the link below to download a PDF of his article, courtesy of the British Journal of Photography.
The BJP website is at www.bjp-online.com
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David Kilpatrick of Master Photo > Digital magazine reviews and recommends HARMAN PHOTO MATT FB papers - including the latest Warmtone version.
Click the link below to download a PDF of his article, courtesy of the Master Photo > Digital magazine
Master Photo>Digital magazine review
Master Photo > Digital magazine is at www.iconpublications.com
