Photography News Issue 64

Photography News | Issue 64 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

Fotospeed Legacy Gloss 325 From£37

Specs

Prices A4 £37 25 sheets £1.48 a sheet, A3 £70 25 sheets £2.80 a sheet, A3+ £86.99 25 sheets £3.48 a sheet, A2 25 sheets £139.99, £5.60 a sheet Availability

A4, A3, A3+, A2. 17in, 24in, 36in, 44in and 60in rolls Thickness 390microns Coating type Microporous Gloss OBAs No Whiteness (CIE) 75 Weight 325gsm Contact www.fotospeed.com

OBAs impact print longevity and Legacy promises archival stability

The colours have a rich liveliness and vibrancy that was right up my strasse. It wasn’t over the top yet there was deepness to them, so I knew the material would suit vibrant scenics nicely. But it was equally at home with more delicate hues, too, which looked lovely and again had depth without losing their subtlety. It performed really well on the dull-day or early- morning shots I printed. It did very well with my ‘polar bears in snow’ shots, too, with fabulous fur detail with really smooth tonal gradation. I had the same excellent results on monochrome shots as well. My gritty, contrasty shots had plenty of punch and the claimed high D-Max was evident with gorgeous rich blacks looking bottomless where it should be, but still with detail in the deep shadows. Shadow detail can look slightly grey and ghostly on some papers, but not here. Mono shots that were more shades of grey and bright highlights rather than kicking blacks were equally successful and, as with the colour shots, displayed impressive tonal smoothness.

Fotospeed has introduced this fibre paper as a sister product to the brand’s popular Platinum Cotton, a paper much loved by scenic workers in particular. Legacy Gloss 325 has an unglazed gloss finish, so while it has a sheen it is not mirror-like. In the darkroom I always preferred air-dried fibre papers and the look of Legacy is reminiscent of those papers. The base is creamy off-white. It has a warmish, yellow tinge because no optical brightening agents have been used. OBAs impact print longevity and Legacy promises archival stability. Used with pigment inks, print longevity is quoted of at least 85 years – obviously this is subject to any number of variables, but the odds are the prints will outlast you by some distance. I started my test by making my own ICC profiles using an X-Rite i1 Studio, which I did for colour and monochrome output. Then I printed my usual selection of test prints and then a selection of my latest shots. From the first test print, I knew this was a paper I was going to love.

Above In my prints using Legacy the colours were rich, lively and deep, so it was ideal for printing my vibrant scenic shots, while also coping well with subtler and more delicate shades. It’s one of the few papers I’ve tried that suits a full range of image style

I was delighted and impressed in equal measure by this paper’s ability to handle such a range of images so well as I’ve often found some papers deal with certain subjects better than others. But to say that this is a jack of all trades andmaster of none wouldn’t be fair; it dealt brilliantly with everything I threw at it. WC

Verdict

Fotospeed Legacy Gloss 325 is simply a gorgeous paper. Its off-white base has a tint of friendly warmth, it is image friendly, suiting bold and subtle images alike, and is equally adept at handling black & white images of all sorts, too. While it is a premium product, its price is acceptable for what you get and I can envisage many photographers adopting Legacy Gloss as their paper of choice when the very best is needed. Most definitely worth trying.

Pros Off-white base, weight, no OBAs for excellent print longevity Cons Price

Above right The Legacy paper coped excellently with my polar bear shots, showing excellent fur detail