Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk

[John_K]

I recently sold my soul and went for an annual subscription to one of the Monthly photographic magazines, partially tempted by the offer of a free box of 50 Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk paper stated to be no less than 310Gms weight.

It arrived yesterday and I went up to try out a sheet and was bitterly disappointed. I was expecting a 'True' fibre based paper similar to the doubleweight fibre based B&W paper I have used for generations in my darkroom. Instead it is a thick heavy sheet of plastic coated printing medium which after several tests I find it to be total C&£P!

The 1st colour print was produced and it had a heavy cyan cast.

Print no 2 was a black and white using the black inks only, this gave of a greenish cast even when viewed in daylight. As well as the colour cast, the shadows has a very odd 'veiled patina' as well - most unpleasant

Print no 3 I was intending to print as Sepia instead I got a yellow cast totally unlike sepia.

Print no 4 produced after juggling the colour controls on the printer was far better but just lacked the 'sparkle' I get even using the 'cheapie' Epson Heavyweight Matt paper.

I can understand the prints, numbers 1 and 3 having some cast as I have not profiled the printer yet but the colour cast with the black channels only should - well- produce a neutral monochrome print. It does with other papers with no modification, I just am glad I didn't have to pay for it.

Apart from the above, the surface of the paper marks VERY easily so no I don't think I will be using it again for anything that matters. Not at the price they claim it costs for a box. (£50???)

A comparison of print 4 was made using the Epson HW Matt as I mentioned and it is superior in every way and at a fraction of the price..

PS I have just torn a sheet in half and yes it is made with some sort of fibre based material but the quality is less than good.

[spinno]

I may be wrong but I don't think you are the first to be disappointed using this paper.

I have some rather old Kodak professional printing paper and it's excellent..got it at Calumet a couple of years ago and the colours are as good today as the day that they were printed.

One wonders if the paper may be contaminated or just a bad batch. At £50 a box it's a rather expensive non gift if you get my meaning...

[digitravel]

For a start I would look have a look here and download the profiles and then maybe look here and here for opinions on it and apparently AP rated it very highly.
I have used this paper several times and only had good results so maybe just look at your profiling, If you are getting casts it sounds as if your colour set up is maybe out or you are using the wrong profile. Good luck

[Roger_Provins]

Just set up my Epson R800 with the correct ICC profiles from Ilford and the results are excellent.

[John_K]

The continuing saga of poor print quality.

I did go onto the web site as advised with the instruction sheet inside the box to download the ICC profiles for my printer, This was no problem until you have to give the type of printer that you will be using. I have a 1290s and whilst this is not the cutting edge of printers is is not that old. However there are NO ICC PROFILES AVAILABLE FOR THAT PRINTER USING THIS TYPE OF MEDIA!

I have just been onto Ilford about this (it actually turns out that it was Johnson-Photopia are the importers but no matter)

In the words of someone called Chris: GALERIE GOLD FIBRE SILK IS NOT DESIGNED FOR DYE BASED INKS, IT IS SUITABLE MAINLY FOR PIGMENT INKS

I pointed out that on the box it came in nor the instruction sheet inside the box was there was any indication of this and that it 'was bad marketing'.
(My thoughts were comparing it with using a paint intended for wood but you bought it to paint metal and there not being any guidance. i.e. a waste of money)

However the problem has been passed back via an E mail from me to the manufacturers in Switzerland to see if the problem can be sorted out and some sort of printer settings can be made to improve the image quality.

In the meantime unless you have a pigment printer I advise to STAY AWAY from this media unless you have a pigment ink printer.

I will keep this updated when I get a reply.

[digitravel]

A lot of the advertising for this has centred around the fact it has been optimised for pigment printers using photo black ink. Indeed every report you read wows over its suitability for pigment and its dmax.

[John_K]

The only mention of 'pigment ink' in the guide sheet is 'Not to use matt black inks with Galerie Gold Fibre Silk as these may smudge and do not adhere well to the surface

[digitravel]

Just get yourself a 3800

[Monobod]

And then use the real Epson quality papers for it..........

[digitravel]

Ive been using a lot of pgpp recently and think its great especially for B&W.

[John_K]

Ive been using a lot of pgpp recently and think its great especially for B&W.

I still have not had a reply from the suppliers and I have 93 sheets just sitting there. I too have tried B&W and when compared to say heavyweight matt the results (from the same image) are just not in the same field.

The pgpp ones are subdued and lack contrast even allowing for the different medium surface, whereas the Heavyweight matt just jumps out at you, there is far more 'punch'.

What printer media setting do you use, again there is no information in the box it came with.