Hey folks,
I'm looking at purchasing an inkjet relatively soon and really like the Epson line and what people have to say about their printers. The only draw back of course is the switching of black inks on the 4880 series.
I normally do a lot of my prints at a Wolf Camera where they print on Matte paper. That said, I have no experience using Luster, Fine Art, Semi Gloss or any others of the large selection of papers available today.
So with that said, what types of papers are used for what types of jobs. I'm sure that an answer to this is highly subjective but what I am trying to determine is if it is likely that switching inks will be a concern or if most users simply put in a roll of their favorite paper and stick with it.
Any info is appreciated.
Dave
You'll get lots of different opinions on this, but here's my two cents. Matte papers initially became the de facto standard for Epson's inkjets because they had really good image quality and avoided troubling gloss differential/bronzing issues. Also the d-max from the photo black ink on luster papers with Epson's 2200/7600 generation was better, but not that much better than matte black ink on matte paper. Subsequent Epson generations have greatly improved d-max and gloss differential characteristics. The very deep d-max modern inkjets produce on luster/semigloss/gloss papers change the equation. They produce such a striking increase in dynamic range from paper white to d-max, compared to matte papers, that a side-by-side comparison makes the matte paper look pretty weak. Luster/gloss papers also have a very obviously better color gamut. That's not to say that matte papers with matte black ink can't still yield a very nice print.
I still use matte and Hahnemüle's 'semi-matte' photo rag satin papers for images that don't depend on absolute dynamic range or a huge gamut for their impact. I really like some of the surfaces, and the lack of reflections or bronzing/gloss differential issues is very nice. For lots of 'gentle' nature images these papers work fine. On the other hand, many images need the extra punch provided by the greater dynamic range of the luster/semigloss etc. papers. Almost all of my black & white prints go on these papers, simply because the deeper d-max improves their visual quality. Fall color and similar gamut-depended images also just look better on such papers.
I'm not willing to give up the option of easy switching from matte black to photo black, because I still have some favored matte papers for some images. So I bought an HP Z3100 when it came time to upgrade from an Epson 7600, and I have no regrets at all. The cost and inconvenience of swapping blacks on the 7600 was a show-stopper, and I didn't want to deal with that again. Just my opinion, but if switching from matte to photo black is part of your workflow, the Epson printers that require a change-over will drive you crazy. Unless you simply buy two of them, of course.
