Depth of Field Adapter on Steroids

E Dinkla wrote:

ProfHankD wrote:

JonesLongShot wrote:

The most important material is the focusing substrate as it defines the look and detail of the final image more than anything. I tried lots of different papers and things like white polystyrene and bead blasted aluminum. In the end I liked really fine paper the best. This part still needs lots of experimentation. The finer the surface structure, and the more reflective the material, the more it approaches an actual mirror and that completely destroys the whole thing.

Ordinary white paper was what I ended-up using in the FourSee TDCI Multi-Camera . The best image quality was actually using an Illford inkjet paper, except it was glossy enough to give some reflections.

You might consider Epson Proofing White SemiMatte next time. An RC paper without OBA content but with very high white reflectance, and a more continuous reflection along the visible spectrum. There are smooth matte inkjet papers that come close to that reflectance value without the glossy issues. With and without OBA content.

I think the Ilford paper was what you call N Gal. Prestige Smooth Gloss RC 310, which is flatter in response than most cheap papers (Sam's Club used to sell it dirt cheap), but I definitely see what you mean about the Epson Proofing White Semimatte RC 256. I only tried the dozen or so different types of papers that I happened to have on hand. Resolution, dynamic range, and lack of texture were higher priorities than spectral evenness in my choice, but in the end, avoiding specular reflections became the deciding factor. If I was ever to use this type of system for multispectral imaging, I think your database would be the thing to look at, and I think it definitely is the right way to think about material choice for a large obscura's front-projection screen.

Or select another inkjet paper from the data shown in SpectrumViz. For that tool I measured more than 700 inkjet papers + some other paper types. https://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm Free download

Now that is an impressive bit of work!

Lexington, KY, where I live, is home to the old IBM printer division which was spun off as Lexmark. They're only a shadow now of what they once were, but they had an outstanding group of folks working on print image quality, and I don't think I've seen anything like your database since working with them years ago. Extra impressive that "a guy running a small print shop" would go to a similar level of detail in such characterizations as a research lab in a company the size Lexmark was...

Ilford Imaging that made their own inkjet paper qualities in Swiss no longer exists and the brand name is now run by an Australian/Chinese? company that buys paper from different sources.

That Ilford paper became unavailable here years ago, which made be sad. I've always been a fan of Ilford papers, strongly preferring them for serious B&W prints back when I did commercial photography in the late 1970s.