Tint (lab) - 97.0, -0.5, 0.2
Customer Reviews:
Good paper, vague instructions 
I used this paper with the Epson R800 pigment ink printer with an eMac running OS 10.4.11. It’s the thickest ink jet paper I’ve used; I had to stick a couple sheets of office paper behind it to get it to load correctly. Even then, a few prints had small smudges on them, presumably because of the thickness of the paper. But Silk does live up to its billing as having the look and feel of fiber-based photo paper, at least of any ink jet paper I’ve used. Of the three Ilford ink jet papers I’ve used, I’d rate Silk the warmest, Pearl neutral and Heavy-Weight Matte the coolest. What annoyed me about Silk was the vague instructions that came in the box and with the downloaded printer profile. I couldn’t figure out if Ilford considered Silk a semi-gloss or matte paper! The printed instructions advise against using matte black ink as it “may smudge and does not adhere well to the surface.” But the PDF with the printer profile says to use the “Matte Paper-Heavyweight” setting in the printer menu. So I tried printing both ways. Using the downloaded Ilford Silk profile with the Epson Matte Paper-Heavyweight or Enhanced Matte paper settings produced good prints, but there was bronzing when the print wasn’t viewed head-on. The surface of the print was also more vulnerable to finger prints and other damage (especially black & white prints), though I didn’t notice any smudging. Using the Epson Semi-Gloss profile and Semi-Gloss paper setting with the gloss optimiser produced better prints and is how I’ll use the paper from now on. I suspect each user will have to experiment with his own printer to determine the best way to print this paper. Aside from that, Silk is an excellent value in high-end ink jet paper. I plan to use it just for black & white prints, where Silk’s similarity to photo paper is most advantageous, and continue using Matte and Pearl for color prints.
Incredible Inkjet Photopaper!! 
I recently read a great comparison review of Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta 325 , Harman Gloss FB AI, and Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk on the Luminous Landscape website. They gave glowing reviews of the Hahnemuhle and Ilford papers, so I decided to buy both and try it myself. Both of these papers are INCREDIBLE. Deep rich blacks, great tonal range, and almost no glossing or bronzing whatsoever. However, much to my surprise, I have to give the edge to the Ilford paper. I have always been a fan of Hahnemuhle products, and not a big fan of Ilford (except back in the film days when it was my favorite darkroom photopaper), but the Ilford clearly wins out. Both are incredible papers, but the Hahnemuhle has a little too much surface stipple for my liking whereas the Ilford is more subtle. The fact that the Ilford paper is considerably cheaper certainly doesn’t hurt, but even setting price aside I like the Ilford better. Very heavy 310 gm paper that is wonderful to work with (it must be run through the specialty media tray of an HP Pro B9180 printer). I highly recommend this paper. Best I have ever tried.
Best Baryta Paper I’ve Used ..
I’ve been testing this paper on both an Epson 3800 and a Canon iPF5000, both high quality pigment printers. I’ve also been testing the new Harman Gloss FB AI paper. The Ilford is very good and I much prefer it to the Harman (which is stupidly expensive compared to the Ilford Gold Fibre Silk). The Ilford lays flat, is heavy, has a wonderful traditional look and feel, provides a very good dynamic range with deep blacks and luminous highlights, has no optical brightners (has a slightly warm tone), and works very well for both B&W and Color. It does exhibit slightly more gloss differential than the Harman paper, but overall is the nicest photo black ink “high end” paper that I’ve come across. Definitely recommend for use with pigment photo printers.
admin | 
12 31st, 2006| 
