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What Photo Paper do you use?
#1

I've been printing photos at home for quite some time now, but have so far only used Kodak Premium Picture paper (glossy) through my HP 7660. I like it because it's affordable, has a nice thickness and weight and when you turn it over, you get the cool Kodak logo (even though it says inkjet though Sad)

Lately I've tried a pack of Canon 6x4 borderless glossy paper. That work well and produces a nice print, but is slightly thinner than I like. I've been meaning to try HP and Epson paper, but haven't gotten round to it.


What paper have you tried (and on what printer)? What works best for you? Also, can anyone recommend any good matte paper (the textured kind, like you get from the lab)?
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#2

Do you have Office Depot in Australia? They have a house-branded satin finish paper that is similar to (but not quite as flat) as lab-quality matte paper. It is my favorite for home printing, though I rarely do that anymore.

_______________________________________
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#3

Hm... I don't think so... I'll have a search though. Smile

Is that the textured matte paper, or just the satin dull type? I like the ones where you can see the bumps and pits in... Smile
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#4

I'd say the closest thing to Office Depot We'd have (judging from name and the small description you gave) would be Office Works. As for my photo paper choice, I don't. I have only ever printed my photos on plain paper but my parents Canon i455 came with a packet of 5 Glossy 6 x 4 Photo paper sheets which I will try out one day,

Gear:
3 x GoPro Cameras
1 x Canon S100
1 x Nikon D5100
1 x Sony DSC-TX10
Apple MacBook Pro 15" (Retina Display)

"What do you want to pack today?"
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#5

My favourite still is Ilford Galerie in the Pearl otherwise I'm partial to running Epson paper rather than the Canon.
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#6

I'm using Canon's Photo Paper Pro. I tried some Kodak Picture paper and the Canon black ink wasn't compatable. It was almost embossed looking on the print. I figured I'd stick to what works best even if it does cost more. The combination of Canon ink and Canon paper has been giving me outstanding results.

Sit, stay, ok, hold it! Awww, no drooling! :O
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#7

Hm... now that you mention it, I notice that the black are highly reflective on the Kodak paper - i.e. if you look at the photo on an angle, the the black portions are shinier than the others.

Maybe I should try genuine HP paper, eh? Big Grin
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#8

I've used a bunch of different papers.

Epson Photo gloss and matte injet paper, both pretty good with fair color re-production.

I have a strong liking of JetPrint Premium and Professional grade Photo Glossies (the best I have ever used) but fairly pricy.

Kodak doesn't work well with my Epson Printer. Colors bleed and aren't sharp.

I've recently been trying the Kirkland brand professional Glossy paper. Less than 16 cents a sheet from Costco here in the US. It's working very well and online a few places are saying it compares directly to Swiss made Ilford Galerie smooth gloss.
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#9

Interestingly enough, on the weekend I wandered into Officeworks (one of the big office supply chains in Oz) and saw their own brand photo paper on sale. (6x4 50 sheets for $6.50 AUD).

Upon initial inspection, it looked identical to the Canon 6x4 photo paper that I had been using. Both appeared to have the same level of gloss, weight, sheen and surface texture, so I gave it a whirl in my HP Photosmart 7660. However the results were drastically different!

Once printed, I could see that the Officeworks paper was not completely smooth, and I could see textures in the ink (especially the darker colours). Also, you could see pixelling -- almost as if I had printed with a lousy $50 printer on plain paper. I printed using Canon paper straight after to compare side by side, and this time it actually looked like a photo.

Oh well, at least I gave it a try... I'll stick to the reputable brands from now on. Smile
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#10

I'm glad someone tried the Officeworks paper, I wasn't keen to spend money on it to see if it sucked.

There are heaps of cheap alternatives out there, I've tried the Folex, Celcast and some others but most are pretty ordinary.
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#11

StudioJ Wrote:I'm glad someone tried the Officeworks paper, I wasn't keen to spend money on it to see if it sucked.

Glad to be of service! Big Grin
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#12

Be carefully about using HP semi glass photo paper. I tried it with my Epson paper. It was a mess. The ink all beaded up. I'm told the paper is only good on HP printers.

I use whatever is cheapest. Prints are not my highest priority. I print only occassionally because I can't afford the cost. I also have only so many frames in the house. I keep exchanging the prints in my rotating gallery.

--Don

Nikon D3100 with Tokina 28-70mm f3.5, (I like to use a Vivitar .43x aux on the 28-70mm Tokina), Nikkor 10.5 mm fisheye, Quanteray 70-300mm f4.5, ProOptic 500 mm f6.3 mirror lens. http://donschaefferphoto.blogspot.com/
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#13

I bought a 100-pack of Staples-brand 4x6 (similar to Officeworks, I gather) for about the same cost as 20 'brand-name' sheets. There is an ever so slight quality difference, but it seems to disappear once the photo is put behind glass... good enough for me!

<><
Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ10
Image Management/Editing:ArcSoft PhotoBase4
Advanced Image Editing: Adobe PhotoShop 7
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#14

Here in the US I recently bought Office Depot Professional Photo Paper, the quality of the prints produced is not good with Epson inks... the ink is beading slightly and it just doesn't let the colors blend as well.
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#15

I've had excellent results with Epson Premium Glossy, using my Epson R300. I always wait for the toofer sales (2for1) at Office Depot or Staples, then stock up. There is a guy who reps Epson at the Big Box retailers (Best Buy, Circuit City) and he has shown me the difference in the color absorbtion is better and bleeding is less when using the Epson/Epson combination with my own prints. Waiting for the sales makes their paper price competative with the store brands and sometimes substantially cheaper.

Lars

** Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results **
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#16

I agree ischmekel, the Epson/epson combo works best, that said the Costco Kirkland paper gives results I can't separate from the epson.
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#17

For my canon printer, I was told to try Ilford Gallerie paper by a friend, and I haven't looked back since. Their Gallerie Smooth Pearl and Gallerie High-Gloss Media (which is really a film, not a paper) are drop-dead gorgeous when used appropriately.
As far as regular glossy paper goes though, I think I prefer the Canon Glossy Paper Pro over the Gallerie Classic Gloss though, and I haven't tried the Gallerie Smooth Gloss (which I suspect might look better than the Classic, but not be as fade-resistant).
Seems the Ilford inkjet paper is fairly hard to find though, I could only find a couple of places in Perth that seem to stock it regularly (I use Gerry Gibbs Camera-house). Still, it's the same price as the Canon paper (which is also excellent btw), so its worth tracking down.

I've also had good experiences with Epson paper, but that "everyday" glossy kodak paper you can buy everywhere is absolute junk IMHO, not worth touching.

I bought a 100-sheet pack of Epson ink-jet paper or high-res paper or something ages ago (not thick, not glossy, just normal paper with a matte coating on one side)... it was only about AU$20 for 100 sheets, and I was amazed at the high quality. If you don't need the weight or gloss, this stuff will knock your socks off (coz it looks like it is just printed on regular paper) and only costs about 1/5 the price of the "proper" photo paper.

I've heard a few people say that as a general rule, epson paper works fantastic in epson printers, and canon paper works fantastic in canon printers... which makes a lot of sense that they match their papers to their inks.

Just my 2c.

Cheers
Adrian

Adrian Broughton
My Website: www.BroughtonPhoto.com.au
My Blog: blog.BroughtonPhoto.com.au
You can also visit me on Facebook!
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Einstein.
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#18

I'm using Ilford with my Canon I9900.
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#19

Hey Adrian,

You can find the Ilford paper at all of the Camera House stores if you have one closer than Cannington. Also places like Team Digital & PRA both stock it.

What did you mean by "appropriately" for paper usage?
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#20

Hey J,
lol.. really? wow, I had trouble finding places that stocked it initially , but I was trying mainly stationary shops that stock heaps of the canon/epson stuff, not camera shops.

All I meant by "when used appropriately" is that certain images lend themselves to certain media.
Some images look better on Pearl, some on Gloss, and some on the High Gloss film.

For example, I've found that images with large areas of solid color or expanses containing big bold gradations or coloured light can look stunning on the High Gloss, which seems to have a slight metallic finish to it that gives a lot of impact, but isn't suitable for everything. Below are a couple of examples which really seem to suit the High Gloss, the first photo really loooks like it glows all by itself when printed on it, and the metallic in the film really makes the metal skin of the plane seem real in the 2nd shot (I can't take the credit for that photo - it was my grandfather learning to fly in WW2 - he's in the back).

[Image: P1010023.jpg]

[Image: Biplane.jpg]

But I've got other photos that have a lot of detail and need accurate colour and contrast that just don't work at all on the High Gloss. It might only really "work" with 5% of my photos, but it looks stunning when it does.
In contrast, the Pearl is great for portraits and many other images when you want to give a more traditional feel to the prints IMHO, or when you are trying to hide the fact they are inkjet prints. I use the Pearl a lot more than the High Gloss, and about as often as I use regular Glossy paper.
I contemplated printing that biplane on Pearl, and I'm sure it would have also looked good, but when printed on normal glossy 6x4's it just looks like an old postcard or something.

What do you guys think?

Adrian Broughton
My Website: www.BroughtonPhoto.com.au
My Blog: blog.BroughtonPhoto.com.au
You can also visit me on Facebook!
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." - Einstein.
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#21

I think old photos and b/w always look better on matte paper... especially those with the texture...
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