David,
I agree with your assessment of the Palladio product. I have seen
several prints made on Palladio by several photographers as well as
prints made by a Palladio rep at a conference in Washington several
years back. I have not tried the product myself because I have never
been impressed with the results of any Palladio print I have ever seen.
I suspect that the problem inherent with the Palladio product is that,
although manufactured to high standards and hermetically sealed, it
still degrades with time. There is simply no better quality then a
fresh coating. I have noticed a degradation in quality in as little as
half a day of sitting around before printing. (Even when freshly dried
before exposure and in Phoenix Arizona were its relatively dry.)
For the discriminating connoisseur of fine Pt/Pd prints, there is no
substitute for freshness.
Jeff