Photo paper

[mz2890]

This site has been very helpful to me in selecting the Panasonic FZ20 and a Epson 800R printer( I'm waiting for delivery of both). My next concern is photo paper. I am new to digital photography, however I've enjoyed 35mmm film for years as a hobby only. The Epson people, for obvious reasons recommend their papers. Will others work with satisfactory results? Can I use the proprietary products from Costco, Kodak or others? Your comments will be helpful.

Thanks in advance.


Mike

[George Riehm]

This site has been very helpful to me in selecting the Panasonic FZ20 and a Epson 800R printer( I'm waiting for delivery of both). My next concern is photo paper. I am new to digital photography, however I've enjoyed 35mmm film for years as a hobby only. The Epson people, for obvious reasons recommend their papers. Will others work with satisfactory results? Can I use the proprietary products from Costco, Kodak or others? Your comments will be helpful.

Thanks in advance.


Mike

I use Costco Photo paper in my Epson 870, and it works great. Not sure of the colorfast properties yet, but with Epson inks it should be good for at least 10 years.

For sellable (or gift) stock I use Epson Matt Photo paper or semi-gloss in the Epson 2000P and the Epson 870. These are both pretty worry free. There are a couple of cloth-based (silk and linen) art papers from Pictorico and Red River that work very well also.

[jaykinghorn]

Mike,

Although you can run just about anything through your printer, the results might not be what you desire. The R800 uses the Ultrachrome Inks, which are a combination of pigment and dye. Most papers sold by Canon, Kodak and Cosco (to name just a few) are formulated to work with dye-based inks. Dye and pigmented inks sit differently on the microporous surface of the paper. You may find that papers formulated for dye inks streak, smudge, puddle or fade. A few papers made by Ilford and others have been created for use with Ultrachrome inks. You might give them a try, though you will get the most accurate and most consistent color with the least amount of hassle if you use Epson paper.

Enjoy your new printer
Jay Kinghorn
RGB Imaging

[propwash]

I don't know how much faith you have in the recommendations of Consumer Reports, but they say that they got the best results when they used the paper manufactured by the same company as the printer. In other words, they got the best results from using HP paper with HP printers, Epson paper with Epson printers, etc. I guess the manufacturers know what's in their own inks, and they make the paper so that it will have the best compatability with their own inks.

[mz2890]

Thanks George, Jay and Propwash. Your comments were helpful.

[jbalcius]

ok, this isn't exactly a fresh post, but, I recently got an Epson r200 printer.

I've been playing around with different photo papers.

I've tried:
Ritz Camera's Archival Glossy paper: Avoid this. The paper curls far to easily. The glossy finish isn't uniform accross the entire photo. Darker area's are noticably less glossy than others. Some less obvious details are impossible to see without angling the printed copy.

Fujifilm's Premium Glossy paper: Behaved like the Ritz paper, but, didn't have the same tendancy to curl.

Epson Premium Glossy Paper: Outstanding stuff on an Epson printer. The entire image was clear and visible from all angles. The Glossy finish was even across the entire photo no matter the color range.

Epson Photo Paper (non glossy): Not bad. It wasn't a perfect print, but decent for a proof.

Ritz Camera's Satin Finish Paper: Suprisingly good. None of the color/finish problems the glossy had. Produces a nice print without all the shine of a glossy photo.

Ritz Camera's Canvas: I was curious to see this stuff. It produced a rather nice print. I'm looking forward to using more of it for portait type photos.

I wanted to post this, mostly because I haven't seen much information on photo paper. I was quite shocked at the difference in the final print by switching paper.

[propwash]

When Consumer Reports ran their last bunch of tests, they said that generally, they got the best results with paper made by the same manufacturer as the printer (HP paper with HP printer, Epson paper with Epson printer, etc.) There were some exceptions, but it looks like you seemed to have similar results with Epson paper in your Epson printer

[jbalcius]

I wasn't shocked at the Epson paper vs the other brands. I, mostly, expected that. Even the printer documentation says that the inks are formulated to work best with Epson paper. But, I was shocked at how bad the glossy paper was for the Ritz and Fuji stuff. And considering how bad the Ritz Glossy was, I wasn't expecting the much nicer result on the satin paper. (ritz)

[ktpmm]

My daughter is doing her science fair project on the difference between photo papers.. Does anyone know of any articles or other research done on this that she can use for background info?

What month was the article written about photo paper in consumer reports?

Right now she plans on testing Epson Glossy, Office Depot professional (the most expensive ironically) and Printworks.

Any help, advice, etc would be appreciated!

[Rhys]

My daughter is doing her science fair project on the difference between photo papers.. Does anyone know of any articles or other research done on this that she can use for background info?

What month was the article written about photo paper in consumer reports?

Right now she plans on testing Epson Glossy, Office Depot professional (the most expensive ironically) and Printworks.

Any help, advice, etc would be appreciated!

I'd be interested to know whether there's a difference between types of paper - between different manufacturers' satin, pearl, matt and lustre papers. I tend to use the cheapest matt paper I can lay my hands on because at the end of the day, the prints all go into plastic sleeves.

[gary_hendricks]

This site has been very helpful to me in selecting the Panasonic FZ20 and a Epson 800R printer( I'm waiting for delivery of both). My next concern is photo paper. I am new to digital photography, however I've enjoyed 35mmm film for years as a hobby only. The Epson people, for obvious reasons recommend their papers. Will others work with satisfactory results? Can I use the proprietary products from Costco, Kodak or others? Your comments will be helpful.

Thanks in advance.


Mike


Hi Mike

Frankly, I don't think you need to buy paper of the same brand as your printer (i.e. a Canon printer doesn't need to take Canon photo paper).

What I usually like to do is to get just a small batch of photo paper, then test print some photos. Check for clarity and color re-production, then check for fading by exposing the paper to sunlight. If it's ok, I will stick to that brand of paper from then on.

Hope this helps! :)

[John_Reed]

Hi Mike

Frankly, I don't think you need to buy paper of the same brand as your printer (i.e. a Canon printer doesn't need to take Canon photo paper).

What I usually like to do is to get just a small batch of photo paper, then test print some photos. Check for clarity and color re-production, then check for fading by exposing the paper to sunlight. If it's ok, I will stick to that brand of paper from then on.

Hope this helps! :)My experience with Epson printers at least, is that they are very fussy about the particular paper chemistry that they print on. I've had trouble with non-Epson papers in dye-based printers, and also with my pigmented ink 2200. Using a Kodak paper, for example, with the 2200 will result in roller tracks on the print. I buy either Epson papers, or Epson-compatible papers. For example, Ilford makes some quite excellent printing paper, and they specifically say "Epson 2200 compatible" on the box. A word to the wary... :o

[sun5150]

I just got some glossy photo paper thats made by Smart Papers call Kromekote Inkjet Studio Picture Paper.
Smart papers is a paper maker for offset printing.

The gloss on this paper is real high and the color came out nice from my Canon S9000.
The Paper is 10 mil thick and has a 93 brightness.

[davidmurphy]

This site has been very helpful to me in selecting the Panasonic FZ20 and a Epson 800R printer( I'm waiting for delivery of both). My next concern is photo paper. I am new to digital photography, however I've enjoyed 35mmm film for years as a hobby only. The Epson people, for obvious reasons recommend their papers. Will others work with satisfactory results? Can I use the proprietary products from Costco, Kodak or others? Your comments will be helpful.

Thanks in advance.


Mike

Hey,
I just tried the photo paper samples I got from freephotopaper.com.
And I have to say the prints were beautiful on both the gloss and satin.
I highly reccommend you check out their free samples at http://www.freephotopaper.com/sample-offerf.htm
A free course on digital photo printing also comes with the samples (http://www.freephotopaper.com/sample-offerp.htm).

regards

[beatyjenyns]

Hey,
I just tried the photo paper samples I got from freephotopaper.com.
And I have to say the prints were beautiful on both the gloss and satin.
I highly reccommend you check out their free samples at http://www.freephotopaper.com/sample-offerf.htm
A free course on digital photo printing also comes with the samples (http://www.freephotopaper.com/sample-offerp.htm).

regards

hi davidmurphy,

thank you for your providing link, your photo papers are really excellent, i got my free sample from http://www.freephotopaper.com/sample-offerp.htm.
to my surprise (http://www.freephotopaper.com/sample-offerf.htm)i got it in 3 days.

cheers
beaty

[adam75south]

lmao i bought office max photo paper and even using the profiles for the epson paper, the prints look awesome.

next i'll definitely try the ilford pearl...or the red river polar satin. i've heard lots of people who swear by both of those.