Greetings to all,
I am a "newbie" in the sense that I just last week purchased a Z3200, and came across this forum by way of a lot of Googling. My background is in signage, however, so I was hoping for some direction in purchasing photo papers for my Z3200. I justified purchasing the Z3200 thanks to a generous "cash for clunkers-esque" rebate, and the need to do some small interior banner work (just graphics, no photos). Another incentive was watching Mr. Reichmann's Youtube video in which he so coolly and effortlessly installed a Designjet Z! Anyway, the Z3200 is so much more than a graphics printer, that I am now left wanting to exploit its amazing photographic reproduction abilities by way of making prints. I was wondering if I might prevail upon the collective wisdom of forum members for guidance in selecting photo papers for it? I am not looking for a point-of-purchase retail look (again, more akin to my background) but, rather, something that more resembles a conventional portrait that would be framed. Thanks for any ideas!
Congratulations!
You can probably find out most of what you need by searching for posts on the Z3100, which has been out longer and is broadly similar other than the newer inkset. Trying out many different papers is one of the (potentially expensive) joys of using such a printer. Most of us have come to use a handful of favorite papers for our work, depending on æsthetic preferences. The built-in spectro makes it a piece of cake to profile and use 3rd party papers.
Just my preferences; other folks will have their own favorites.
1) For best color gamut, detail and general image quality, I tend to turn to luster/satin surfaces. I'm quite fond of HP's professional satin photo paper. Yes it's plastic feeling, but the surface is very unobtrusive and attractive, D-max very good, color gamut excellent and price fairly reasonable. Epson's premium luster photo paper (or whatever they call it now) is very affordable, especially in 100' rolls, and gives very similar gamut & D-max, if you can tolerate the stippled surface texture. I turn to it when I'm printing work for others who aren't quite as picky as I am.
2) If you want a paper with a more luxurious hand feel, the newer fiber-based baryta or satin papers are really nice. I love Hahnemüle photo rag baryta for black & white and for color images that don't demand high saturation, especially in the reds, though your Z3200 is probably better here than my Z3100. Great D-max, and a fairly subtle surface stipple slightly less obvious than that of Epson luster. No optical brightening agents, yet a surprisingly good paper white. Hahnemüle photo rag pearl has a slightly more 'organic' surface texture, not as good a D-max, but better gamut especially for saturated reds, with a somewhat warmer paper white. Many people really like Harman's FB AL; great D-max and unrivaled detail, but I find it way too smooth & glossy, almost plastic in its surface texture.
3) Straight matte cotton rag papers are the Z3100's achilles heel due to mediocre red saturation, but your Z3200 is presumably a lot better in that regard. I'm very fond of Hahnemüle photo rag satin; it has a rather narrow gamut and D-max typical of a cotton rag paper, but a really intriguing differential surface sheen after inking that looks almost metallic. It's perfect for subtle or high key images, and actually works well for many black & white images that don't require maximal contrast/dynamic range.
4) HP's professional matte canvas is my current favorite canvas, though I haven't tried that many. Good enough D-max, very nice canvas texture and a decent gamut and "paper" white. HP's "collector's satin canvas" is best forgotten by comparison; very poor gamut, dull yellow "paper" white, rotten D-max.
Hope that gets you started.
Have fun!