Z3100 settings with Ilford Gold

[kaelaria]

I just did a batch of test prints, and for the life of me can't see a bit of difference between them.  Is it something I'm doing, or is this normal for this paper?

I did:

Normal mode 300 dpi
Best 600 dpi
Best 600 dpi More Passes
Best 1200 dpi More Passes

The speed difference between them is huge, but I'm just not seeing the quality differences yet.

Is it something you will only see on good gloss paper maybe?

What are all of you using this paper using for settings, and have you done any comparison tests also?

[rdonson]

I can't speak about Ilford Gold not having tried it yet but after testing on the papers I do use I settled 600 dpi.  I saw no benefit to 1200 other than throwing ink on the paper.

[kaelaria]

Laying everything out for a blind test, my wife says she can see a sharper image between the 300 and 600 samples.  I still can't see it, but given the pennies between settings, I'll use the 600, Best.

Neither one of us can see any benefit to 1200 on this paper.  I have another photographer stopping by tomorrow, I'll see what they think with the same test as well.

[thierryd]

I have seen differences working Black & White:
Ilford Gold and Z3100
Now I'm always working with 1200 and more passes. I suppose I should make a try with colour and best 600dpi, but until now quality is a bigger problem than speed in my workflow.
But are you looking at the print not for a sharper image but about reflexion and ink regularity ?

[kaelaria]

I have seen that thread, good info.  Yes I tried B&W also, and yes I'm looking at everything, from all angles, in different light.  i still don't see anything - they are all perfect.

I had two more people over last night, ran them through the test, AND my wife again.  I rearraigned the picttures without her knowlegde, and this time she validated my opinion.  She picked the 'normal 300dpi' as the best, thinking it was Best 600 from the other night.

No one could pick which was the correct order or even which looked best, especially after the found out the real order.

[thierryd]

I must do an other test as soon as possible