Cost is not a big criteria when I'm doing exhibition prints. The amount of darkroom work involved and the low volume (for me) swamp out the paper cost considerations. I'm probably going to use whatever paper I think looks the best.
But... The bulk of my printing is just meant for scanning to put on my website or flickr page. I do almost all the dodging, burning, and pre-flashing that I do for an exhibition print, but I don't tone them and I am not as concerned about squeezing that last tiny bit of Dmax out of them. For this stuff, I use budget paper. Usually RC, but sometimes FB.
I see these new products as something I would use for exhibition prints and I particularly like the straight curve with low contrast filters. I hope that finds its way into Ilford's RC papers at some point. I like the idea of being able to experiment on RC paper and then shift to FB for the final print. The more similar they are, the easier that is to do.
