When Morten Løberg, a professional photographer and a recognized benchmark in the evaluation of printable media, decides to include a brand in his annual mega test, it is never a random choice.
For over twelve years, his comparative results have served as a reliable compass for photographic laboratories, art galleries, and professional distributors worldwide.
For 2025, in the inkjet photo paper test published by FOTOMAG 2025, within the Fine Art paper section, the performance achieved by the Diatecx Creative line stands out, effectively positioning these media in the highest tier of technical performance.
A Methodology That Leaves No Room for Approximation
The test examines a wide selection of professional papers, with particular attention to fine art and creative substrates, assessing print behavior, tonal rendition, and overall consistency.
One of the most relevant aspects of Løberg’s work is his methodological rigor. Each paper is analyzed using an Epson SureColor P-9500, a professional printer equipped with pigmented Ultrachrome PRO inks—a technology widely adopted in the professional market.
This is not a secondary detail: it means the observed results directly reflect real-world printing conditions, similar to those employed by many photographic labs and professional print service providers.
The key parameter analyzed is Dmax, the maximum black density. In practical terms, this value indicates how deep and saturated the printed black can be on a specific paper. For matte fine art papers, Løberg considers a Dmax range between 1.60 and 1.75 to be excellent. Lower values typically indicate blacks drifting toward gray, compromising overall tonal depth and image contrast.
Creative Textured: The Best Performer Within the Family
Within the test, Diatecx Creative papers are included in the matte category—one of the most demanding in terms of print quality, ink absorption balance, and surface stability.
The three variants, all made from 100% cotton (ensuring chemical stability and long-term durability), achieved highly significant results.
The most notable data point emerges from Creative Textured 240 gsm. Contrary to what one might expect from a pronounced textured surface, this substrate reaches the highest Dmax of the entire range: 1.73.
Technically, this demonstrates an excellent equilibrium between ink absorption capacity and surface resistance—an engineering balance that is far from trivial when working with structured textures, where risks of ink pooling, micro-bleeding, or surface inconsistency are common.
This value places Creative Textured not only at the top of its own family but also in the highest tier among all cotton papers tested by Løberg (the top value recorded in this category was 1.74).
Smooth, Bright White, Ivory and Aquarelle: Performance and Positioning
Creative Smooth (240 and 320 gsm) reaches a Dmax of 1.65 in its OBA-free version.
OBA (Optical Brightening Agents) are chemical compounds that increase perceived whiteness by reflecting ultraviolet light; however, they may compromise long-term stability.
The Smooth Bright White version, which incorporates OBAs, pushes Dmax to 1.68, while maintaining a pure cotton base. Both versions achieve 10 out of 11 on the magazine’s whiteness scale—particularly appreciated for gallery prints and limited editions where visual brilliance is a key requirement.
Among cellulose-based media, the positioning of Creative Ivory Color 245 gsm is especially interesting. Despite being OBA-free and featuring a slightly warm base tone (7/11 on the whiteness scale), it achieves a Dmax of 1.68, matching the Bright White version.
Løberg explicitly notes the “rimelig pris” (reasonable price) of this substrate—an important factor for professionals managing high production volumes while maintaining cost control without sacrificing print quality.
Even Creative Aquarelle 210 gsm, despite its lighter weight and more pronounced watercolor texture, maintains a Dmax of 1.65, fully within the excellence range indicated by Løberg for cotton fine art papers.
What Do These Scores Mean for the Professional Market?
Range Breadth from a Single Supplier
The breadth of the offering—smooth, textured, with and without OBAs, multiple grammages—allows distributors and labs to cover diverse applications with a single supplier.
A lab may propose:
- Smooth Bright White for maximum visual impact,
- Ivory Color for optimal cost/performance balance per square meter,
- Textured for artistic projects where tactility becomes an integral component of the artwork.
Compatibility and ICC Profiles
A frequently underestimated yet crucial aspect of fine art printing is the availability of accurate ICC (International Color Consortium) profiles.
Løberg notes that Diatecx Creative uses standard Epson profiles—a choice that significantly simplifies workflow, as these profiles are pre-installed on professional Epson printers, while still providing a solid base for custom profiling via spectrophotometer.
For labs operating multiple printers or generating custom profiles per paper batch, this native compatibility reduces setup time and minimizes chromatic deviation risks.
Durability and Archival Quality
All tested Diatecx Creative papers are acid-free, meaning they contain no acids that could degrade fibers or cause yellowing over time.
This makes them suitable not only for commercial printing but also for certified limited editions where permanence is contractually required.
OBA-free versions (Smooth, Ivory Color, Aquarelle, Textured) provide maximum permanence according to museum-grade standards. Versions with OBAs, while slightly less archival in absolute terms, still offer preservation characteristics significantly superior to traditional coated papers or RC (Resin Coated) substrates.
Independent Validation: A Strategic Asset
Løberg’s test is funded by the Norwegian professional photographers’ fund to ensure methodological independence, and measurements are conducted with professional-grade instrumentation comparable to that used by certified laboratories.
For distributors, this represents a concrete, measurable, and verifiable sales argument.
If a substrate is tested alongside historic brands and achieves results within the same excellence range, it can be proposed with equal confidence to demanding clients: art galleries, professional photographers, architecture studios requiring high-end presentation prints.
Most importantly, having measurable data published by an independent third party eliminates uncertainty. Performance can be compared using a consistent methodology across hundreds of products.
The results speak for themselves—black on white.
Or rather, with a Dmax of 1.73.
Would you like to assess whether and how these media align with your production workflow?
Diatecx supports distributors and printers with targeted technical comparisons on print media, analyzing rendering performance, stability, and process consistency under real production conditions.
Contact: support@diatecgroup.com to initiate a technical consultation.