New printer and paper

hoftwi

hoftwi

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Hi all,

I have selling some prints in a local gallery for a while, I used to order from DS Colour Labs, they are great but consider I don't order a lot each time, the postage costs do add up.It's time I think I would get myself a printer. After reading through many posts regarding buying a new printer, I have my eyes set on the Canon Pro 100s. Then it comes to paper, I know it is also a personal choices that I have to try it out myself and decide. Unfortunately, they are not cheap to buy all, just to try them out. May you advise what brand / type of paper you would recommend? Mostly I will print A4 and A3.

What type of prints you would use Pearl, Satin or Fine Art paper? Thanks in advance.
 
I personally use Fotospeed papers - platinum baryta for monochrome and PF gloss for colour although I do like the Epson premium gloss.

Many would just recommend that you stick with getting a lab to print them, printing can be a money pit and there can be a learning curve to getting really good prints.
 
Permajet do trial packs with a number of different papers per pack. You can also get your own printer/paper profiles done for their papers and YOUR printer FOC (apart from the paper and postage).
 
I've just had a ton of test papers delivered for my Epson. Run off a test print with each one and I can safely say that the only way you're going to know for sure is to do the same!

Although what Alastair said is the tl;dr version :)

My favourites were (in no particular order!)

- Museo silver rag. An expensive paper, but renders both B&W and colour beautifully. It's a heavy paper with a really unique finish. My "luxury" paper, and I'm going to treat myself on my birthday to some A3 sheets!
- For a "matt" finish, I have decided on Canson Rag Photographique Duo. It's cheaper and lighter than Canson's heavyweight Rag Photographique but after close examination I find image rendition superior to the more expensive paper.
- For glossy, I preferred Canson Infinity Photo Gloss Premium. The proper "glossy" look is not for me, but this is a relatively cheap paper and will be a good "family snaps for the unappreciating" crowd.
- My pearl paper choice was (and still is) a difficult decision between Canson's Baryta Photographique and the Platine Fibre Rag. The former for B&W and the latter for colour.

I tried this from a variety of test packs including other paper manufacturers such as Ilford, Hahnemuhle, Fotospeed, Permajet, Pinnacle & Imajet. Also had some Canon branded paper and Kodak paper cheap of eBay and they were pretty awful by comparison.Was also disappointed by the Hahnemuhle papers.

Different prints look different on different paper. I find that "softer" images look better on matt papers whilst vibrant sharp stuff looks better on shiny stuff. To be fair though, everything looks amazing on that Museo paper.... It's just so flippin' expensive. Each image deserves consideration about the material you're going to put it on. The same print on a matt and gloss paper will look different and present a different interpretation of your image.

Finally - all our eyes and tastes (and feels!) are different. Get some test packs and print off the same image on all of them then compare. Do it blind too - as knowing the brand can influence your decision. I wrote the paper name on the back of all my test prints then once I'd evaluated them I turned them over. Was relieved that the Kodak one came last!

My wife thinks I'm bonkers for getting excited about paper, but those Canson papers are really lovely.
 
Have a good shop around for paper - there are only 3 paper manufacturers, so suppliers who brand their own (such as Permajet, Marrut etc) you can get the same paper with a different brand, but you might get a deal... ;)
 
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