New Colour paper from Fujifilm - Type H VELVET

[Matt5791]

Don't know if this has already been posted here, but, in case it hasn't, Fuji have released a new colour paper with a new emulsion called Type H. This emulsion is specific to a new surface which they call Velvet - it's a flat matt surface. From my point of view this is a really interesting paper as it means we can now offer a "matter-matt", in the lab, which some customers have asked for and, to date, has not been available for C-Type prints.

We took delivery of a couple of 12" rolls this week and, personally, I absolutely love the results, just what we needed.

This Velvet is made by Fujifilm at their Tilberg factory in Holland - I have no idea which markets are set to receive it.

We have a swatch book we offer on our website that features this paper with both colour and B&W images which helps customers with choosing papers, so this Velvet has gone straight into it, with both B&W and Colour images. The B&W works very well for a colour paper. The swatch book also enlightens customers because a lot of people are unaware of the choice available in silver halide c-type, beyond regular gloss or lustre!


Interestingly Fuji have also released other new silver halide papers this year - like "canvas" - a canvas effect surface, so that labs can work canvas style prints into their wet printing workflow, without the hassle or cost of producing these with inkjet.

Kodak have also released a new "canvas" silver halide paper this year.

 

[mnemosyne]

Hello Matt,

thank you for sharing this interesting news.
As there presently is already substantial confusion regarding the naming/branding and identity of certain Fuji silver halide papers when looking at different markets (mainly EU vs US), could you please specify what designation this new paper is sold under exactly?

Reading your post I am not entirely sure if "H" is part of the product name (like "DP" in "Fuji Crystal Archive DP") and represents the new emulsion you are writing about ("Fuji Crystal Archive H"? or such), or "H" is simply the code for the surface type (like type "G" for glossy, type "L" for lustre etc).

If this is indeed a new emulsion type it would be interesting to know how its properties (saturation, contrast etc.) compare to the existing emulsion types like (plain) CA/CA supreme and CA DPII. And the million dollar question for us here at APUG is of course: is it specified as a pure digital paper by Fuji or can it be exposed in the traditional way?

John

 

[AgX]

Fuji Europe themselves did not announce any new paper. As they did in the past.
Their paper listing has been unchanged for the last years.

But you got the new papers and swatch books.
What is going on at Fuji?

 

[EdSawyer]

Definitely interesting news! any new options for RA4 paper is always a good thing.

 

[Sirius Glass]

+1

 

[davedm]

Matt, did you see any cut sizes or just rolls

Edit: Just Rolls. Thanks Element16

Sent from my MI 3W using Tapatalk

 

[georg16nik]

Fuji = Bushidō!
Thanks, Matt!

 

[Element 6]

A quick google search found a Fujifilm datasheet. From the bottom of page 2:
Currently only professional thickness version available: Type H (heavy).

Im not an expert on paper but seems to meet the description of the OP.

https://www.fujifilm.eu/fileadmin/c...download/Fujicolor_Crystal_Archive_Velvet.pdf

 

[DREW WILEY]

The "H" just stands for heavyweight paper and not the matte surface itself. The emulsion appears to be predictable CAII, so should print fine
using an optical colorhead, though I'm not personally interested in testing matte paper. I would expect the starting filter pack to be fairly
close to Super C.

 

[AgX]

Fuji Europe themselves did not announce any new paper. As they did in the past.
Their paper listing has been unchanged for the last years.

But you got the new papers and swatch books.
What is going on at Fuji?

A quick google search found a Fujifilm datasheet. From the bottom of page 2:

https://www.fujifilm.eu/fileadmin/c...download/Fujicolor_Crystal_Archive_Velvet.pdf

The paper you linked at I cannot access from that website following their links!

 

[mnemosyne]

The "H" just stands for heavyweight paper and not the matte surface itself. The emulsion appears to be predictable CAII, so should print fine
using an optical colorhead, though I'm not personally interested in testing matte paper. I would expect the starting filter pack to be fairly
close to Super C.

A paper branded "CAII" (or "Super C") is not available here in Europe.

However, from the data sheet (thanks to Element 6 for the link!):

"The emulsion technology is similar to the Fujicolor Crystal Archive DPII papers."

"Type DP II is a silver halide color paper for professional use. It has a thicker paper base, a wide color gamut and a very high maximum density. It is designed exclusively for digital printing."

So it is a "digital only" paper, at least in theory.

 

[Matt5791]

As far as we know, the emulsion is different to DPII - Type H refers to the emulsion type, and it does seem to perform differently to the DPII.

They describe the surface as "Deep Matte" The weight of the paper pretty much, if not exactly the same, as DPII. The 12" rolls have 83.8m which is the same as DPII - if the weight is different the length increases or decreases on the rolls destined for magazine use so that the diameter remains the maximum that can be accommodated.

I've attached a photo of the label, and also a typical DPII label too.

 

[mnemosyne]

As far as we know, the emulsion is different to DPII - Type H refers to the emulsion type, and it does seem to perform differently to the DPII.

They describe the surface as "Deep Matte" The weight of the paper pretty much, if not exactly the same, as DPII. The 12" rolls have 83.8m which is the same as DPII - if the weight is different the length increases or decreases on the rolls destined for magazine use so that the diameter remains the maximum that can be accommodated.

I've attached a photo of the label, and also a typical DPII label too.

Matt, thank you for the added info.

I think the way I quoted from the data sheets in my last post was a bit confusing, as the "thicker base" of DPII is of course in comparison to the standard Fuji CA papers and not in comparison to the new Type H paper.

I will definitely give this paper a try when I can get my hands on it.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I've never printed on "DP" papers, but see no logical reason it can't be done. It just might not be ideal for optical printing like ordinary CAII
papers labeled "digitally optimized" but not "digital only". Often I find myself wanting more contrast in a paper and having to provide a
supplementary contrast-increase mask to achieve it. And lasers are actually fairly weak, so my own RGB additive colorheads should work fine. I just have no incentive to try it, since I'm calibrated to Super-C and newer CAII equivalents (including the newer Supergloss), and am
getting excellent results.

 

[skorpiius]

Interestingly Fuji have also released other new silver halide papers this year - like "canvas" - a canvas effect surface, so that labs can work canvas style prints into their wet printing workflow, without the hassle or cost of producing these with inkjet.

Kodak have also released a new "canvas" silver halide paper this year.

Matt, do you happen to have any model #s or other such identifying information for either the Fuji or Kodak canvas paper?

Thanks