Things have been a little slow here lately. Although I've been chasing around the snowy owls, as mentioned in previous postings, conditions haven't been good for photography over the past two weeks or so. During that time I've been out shooting only a couple of times (in addition to the owls). I wrapped up a large art repro job in January, and also completed some client print jobs. With nothing in the pipeline I had time to do some printing of my own work.
Over the weekend I received a number of files from a client in Atlanta. He's a very interesting person who has had an amazing medical career, one from which he can't seem to retire. Photography is his attitude adjustment therapy. His photographs are among the most unusual I've seen; very creative, very colorful, often quite surreal. He's got a great eye, and most of his work is heavily manipulated in Photoshop to get the effect he likes. I really enjoy printing his stuff. This time around he sent a series of fairly traditional landscape/scenic photos. Not his usual fare, but still pretty nice.
I started as usual, by printing a nozzle check. No clogs. My LK ink is still showing 1%, as it has for weeks. I made the four prints on 13 x 19 inch ("Super A3/B") sheets of GGFS, after which the LK was still at 1%. Every time I print I expect to have to replace this cartridge in the middle of the job.
I bought the 7900 from LexJet. The sales person asked about my favorite papers. I then let him talk me into buying LexJet's Sunset Portfolio Pack, containing two sheets each of five different fiber-based papers. The salesman claimed these papers were very much like the more expensive GGFS and EEF I most often used. I'd not opened that package until a few days ago.
The first thing I saw was that the sheets were in poor condition, with scratches and other rub marks. Not a great first impression. I also discovered that the sheets are not marked, making it challenging to determine which sheets are which paper. I was about to call for clarification when I realized the sheets where in the pack in the order listed on the included advertising sheet. There's no mention of that, but after examining the sheets it becomes fairly clear.
Since I'd just completed four prints on GGFS, I compared the gloss and satin papers in the LexJet pack to the GGFS sheets drying on my drawing table. GGFS is a warm paper with a soft gloss. It is absolutely my favorite, and most-used, paper. The Sunset Fibre series in my LexJet pack are an odd tone. One is quite warm, much more so than GGFS. The others aren't warm, but they aren't bright white, like EEF, either. The best word I can use to describe the LexJet papers is "gray". The nicest of the lot is the Sunset Fibre Elite, which has a bit more surface texture than GGFS and is cooler in tone. But it's not a bright white—it looks gray to me, rather dull.
I've downloaded LexJet's profiles for these; one day I'll get around to printing my profile test images. However, given the condition of the sheets, and the overall tone of the papers, I'm not expecting much. In the sample pack this stuff cost $4.00 (US) per sheet. My recommendation today: save your money. If I feel differently after printing some test images, I'll report back here.
--Jay
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