Velvet Fine Art ...clone?

Know a less expensive twin of Epson Fine Art? Beautiful stuff, especially for B&W.

Somerset enhanced Velvet is the same base, though I recall there are emulsion differences between them. It's a less textural cold press surface (essentially given a tighter squeeze at the pressing stage) than most of the cold press style mould-made papers available for inkjet - all of which may make finding an equivalent product for less money a bit of a tricky endeavour.

Thanks Laughlan... which one are you describing as "less textural, Somerset or Epson ? Do you suspect that Somerset makes that particular Epson?

Somerset Velvet is a paper that has been made for a very, very long time for artists who do etchings and lithography. When inkjet printing became popular with photographers, Somerset began making a version of their old etching paper with an inkjet receptive surface. I tried it years ago, and did not like it. It had poor Dmax, and the prints looked flat.

Later, Epson introduced their Velvet Fine Art paper. I think it is Somerset's etching paper with a different ink receptor coating that works better with Epson's Ultrachrome inks. The Epson Velvet is magnificent, with deep blacks, and beautiful tones for both BW and color printing on Epson printers. I use a lot of it, and have for years.

I have not tried the Somerset Velvet inkjet paper in 15 years, so I do not know if the stuff they sell now is any good. I know that years ago it was inferior to the Epson version.

jtk said:

Thanks Laughlan... which one are you describing as "less textural, Somerset or Epson ? Do you suspect that Somerset makes that particular Epson?

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They should be the same base - story was to the effect that the Epson had some emulsion differences which weren't practical in roll form - which I am skeptical about, not least as they are both coated in roll form...

Anyway, here's a link to the Somerset product page which shows the three finishes .

The current Somerset product is nice, I do like that it's available in natural deckle edge imperial sheets. I have to admit to a general preference currently for Hahnemühle Photo Rag, given that current generation of Canon wide formats have been well optimised for it.

chriscrawfordphoto said:

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Wow! Thanks gentlemen....I came to the right place. Guess VFA is too good to pass up for this project. Just finished something wildly different on Canon Platinum...apples/oranges ...