Printing on 'Fine Art' paper with Canon ix6550 or similar CMYK printer

Craigus

Craigus

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So I'm finally getting some nice results with my Canon ix6550 and my own profiles made with a Colour munki.

I ordered the £5 sample pack from "the print space" that includes a range of photos on different papers, some of them are really lovely and I'd like to have a go at making some prints on them myself. An A4 print is generally over £5 from most online printers on this fine art type paper, whereas I can get a pack of, for example, the Hahnenuhle Photo Rag 20 sheets of A4 for around £30 which works out much more economical.

My question though is will I get decent results on this type of paper with this type of 'cheap' CMYK printer? I'll set up custom profiles on them with my Colour munki.

I have had a few test prints done this week at A4 with DSCL on standard lustre and compared it to my output on similar Canon paper, and except for the colours being slightly more accurate on the DSCL prints, I can't see the difference, which is great news for general output. Will I get similar results with more expensive papers though? I know this is hard to answer but would appreciate any experiences people have had with this type of combo.
 
My prints are far far superior to DSCL. I reckon it's mostly down to paper choice.

I've had both these "explorer" packs (suited to different budgets) trying to find the right paper and the simplest thing I can say is "have a go" and see what results you get. http://www.on-linepaper.co.uk/services/online-paper-explorer-packs

The smooth pearl pack is cheap, but the paper 'aint great. The Baryta explorer pack is pricier, but it's a fantastic introduction to Baryta papers (and you get more of them!). It can take a while to get your printer spitting out what you see on the screen, and if you have Lightroom it's much easier, but it's important to get the ICC profiles installed. Well worth the perseverance.

I don't have the same printer as you though, but I'd strongly advise you to grab a test pack and see how it goes.

Edit to add I blogged a bit about my (very dull to some) paper experiences here in case you want to just go and order something specific.
 
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Thanks very much, I was hoping you'd reply! Haha.

I noticed you'd posted that link in another thread, think I'll give it a go as it seems quite reasonable at £25 for 35 sheets. Once profiled I'll still end up with 20 odd sheets too.

I'll have a read of your blog now.
 
Well you only get 4 of each one, so save your Museo silver rag to the end. It's a gorgeous paper.

Oh and onlinepaper show all their prices ex-VAT and they charge postage, so it's not always as cheap as you think...
 
Permajet do a free profile service for their papers on your printer. Just print off the test page (just follow their guide on how to do it) and send it to them and you get a custom profile within an hour or so of them receiving your print.

They have a few reasonably priced test packs. Just do a profile print for each paper in the pack and send them off together - make sure you write on the back of the print which paper is which.
 
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