Inkjet Paper Optical Brighteners

[Emulator]

I came across an informative article on OBA's in inkjet photographic papers, all the pros and cons, at

http://www.photoreview.com.au/tips/outputting/Optical-Brighteners-in-Inkjet-Paper

 

[Lucas28]

This is very useful information, Emulator. I think we should avoid photo paper that is too white. Quality papers are usually a bit creamy.

Not on the list is Ilford paper, and I'm pretty sure no brightener is used on that. I also mention Canon Pro PR101, which is not too white and gives good results with dye ink.

Some papers turn yellowish after being exposed to direct sunlight. Maybe the optical brighteners were damaged by the UV light. In any way, NEVER place a photo on a wall where direct sunlight can damage it.

 

[Emulator]

Hi Lucas 28

Ilford make a wide range of papers and I am fairly sure some of them contain OBAs. If you look at the Ilford website and look at the technical details on individual papers, if you see a minus 'b' value, say -5, in the L*a*b* measured values for the paper, this usually means OBA is present.

Regards

Emu

 

[Emulator]

Another article on OBAs is at :-

http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Optical_Brighteners_in_Paper

Worth reading through to the end, with regard to whether profiling spectrophotometers should have uv filters or software switches.

 

[The Hat]

In the print trade which is entirely different (Light years) from the inkjet printer/photography scene,
there are three different type of whats loosely called white paper,
there is natural white, high white and brilliant white.

Normally no one could tell the difference between any one of them unless they actually seen the three papers side by side,
and none of them had any Optical brightness add to them either, that came later.

I mentioned at the start that the print trade was different but with the introduction of the digital colour lasers printers
thats when the Optical brightness started to make its entrance felt, compliments of Xerox and HP.

There is a huge difference in bond paper, copy paper and digital paper, only the digital paper is good enough for quality inkjet prints
but then came the standard humble copy paper which had colorlock added.

So quite a lot of guys today are actually using this Optical Brightness paper all the time and are not aware of it at all,
and the sting in the tail when using this type of paper is, you guessed it,
you prints fade like crazy when exposed to any UV light source..

Happy printing.

 

[Emulator]

Thanks to The Hat for the additional information. Is colorlock a brightener or something more?

A quick colorlock Google search reveals things to do with, nails, hair and paint, but no mention of printing.

 

[PeterBJ]

Emulator wrote:

.....if you see a minus 'b' value, say -5, in the L*a*b* measured values for the paper, this usually means OBA is present.

I checked the popular Sihl glossy 280 gsm paper, http://www.sihl.ch/content/Products.aspx?Nid=26&Aid=142&ID=66&ArID=7&GrpID=18&CatID=45&FamID=191 , click the "Online Datasheet" link for "glossy 0769 280 g/m" or maybe this link will also work: http://www.sihl.ch/downloads/catalog/DataSheet-130165468421339007.pdf

The LAB values are measured using ISO 13655 standard and a D50 2 light source and are L* 93,5 / a* 1,5 / b* -7,0

A test with a keyring UV LED flash light confirms OBA is present. The UV light causes a clear light blue fluorescent spot.

 

[Emulator]

Peter

Interesting test, I just bought a cheap black light (3.19), 9 LED torch from Amazon. Quite bright, it produces a fluorescent light blue glow on most paper.

I eventually found some white paper that didn't glow, it seems practically all white paper has some OBA, even cheap white paper. On a white wall it showed up violet rather than light blue.