FujiFlex replacement

[W.bat]

Hello,

I run a fine art gallery and am currently use a substantial amount of Fujiflex mounted to aluminium. Great look.

For all the good reasons and a few bad ones (inconsistent service) I would rather bring my printing in house. I use the epson range of printers and am somewhat confident that with the right paper stock and laminating I should be able to find a result SOMEWHERE near the quality of the fujiflex.

What I was hoping to get was any input from this forum in potential paper stocks that would form a base for this change in product.

Thank you in advance.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Fujiflex is a white polyester (PET) film. (Mitsubishi) Pictorico PPF150 Pro High Gloss Film 260gsm is an inkjet medium that is known for its high gloss and whiteness. Canon has a similar film with a slight pearlescent effect. Ilford has one too.


--
Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
450+ inkjet paper white spectral plots, November 2012:
rearranged categories, still adding Photokina paper samples.

[W.bat]

Thanks for that Ernst. I have been ploughing the forum and seen those names mentioned several time.

[Wayne Fox]

I've never found anything that matches the pure mirror gloss of fujiflex except for Ilfoflex, which is pretty much identical (and is a chemical based photo paper as well).  The Ilford is substantially less expensive, and side by side I can't tell the difference.

The problem with the inkjet papers mentioned is while they provide some similarity, you still have inks sitting on top of paper and thus a loss of the pure mirror gloss surface.  Many using fujiflex also facemount it to acrylic or lexan, and it lends itself to that very well.  If you could facemount one of the mentioned products you may come very close to the same look, if you are laminating then it might be close as well (although I've never seen a laminate that matches the absolutely smooth surface as the flex itself or the facemount, and most laminates seem to have a look to them that isn't quite as nice),

Many inkjet products do not facemount or laminate well, I have no experience with the ones mentioned.  some tend to delaminate over time as the ink separates from the paper base. I've also heard there are some issues with longevity with those products, but that may be when un-finished and used in other areas like POP advertising, and may have nothing to do with fading etc.  (ernst would know more about that than I would.)

Good luck with your tests, let us know what you think when you are done.

[Randy Carone]

I've gotten excellent print results by printing a few PET films that mimic Cibachrome. Wayne is correct. Even after laminating with a very high gloss polyester lam, the edges of ink are still visible. The prints look stunning but you may achieve a better final product by face mounting to plexi.