Ilford Galerie Smooth Fine Art

Ilford’s Smooth Fine Art paper is part of its Galerie range.

Available in packs of 10, our A3+ sized pack of Ilford Galerie Smooth Fine Art cost £18.53, which works out at a very reasonable £1.85 per sheet. With fewer sheets in a pack, the size of the box is noticeably thinner and opening it up to take a look inside, we were surprised to find no protective cellophane to help keep it clean or dustproof. The printable side of the paper faces upwards in the pack, but if you take the paper out and forget which side is which, it’s easy to get it right – moisten a finger and the printable side will feel tacky.
The 100% cotton rag stands out as the coarsest on test and it’s also the lightest and thinnest, weighing just 190gsm. This gives it a fragile feel when compared to the heavier papers, so you’ll have to take extra care when handling and loading it into the printer.
After going through a very simple registration process on Ilford’s website we gained access to the ICC profile and downloaded it onto our PC, which took no longer than a couple of minutes. Our test prints revealed that the definition in the darkest areas was well managed, but under the loupe we could see that the coarseness of the paper affected the overall perception of sharpness, and detail wasn’t as crisp as that seen on its rivals.

£1.85/SHEET
190gsm
100% cotton

www.ilford.com