Best Photo Papers

[NWFAP]

I've recently been using the Epson Luster 260g and Epson Glossy 250g photo papers for printing on m Epson 9900 series printer.  Most my customers are professional photosgraphers and they are "not that impressed" by the Epson luster 260g paper.  Any suggestions for photo papers (have the traditional look and feel of a photohraph) to run on the 9900?

thanks,

Matthew

[Wayne Fox]

 I'd be curious as to what they are referring to, since as a professional photographer and major lab owner of over 30 years,  Epson Luster seems to be extremely close to Kodak E surface photo paper.

Gloss on the other hand is a different story. I'm not sure any gloss inkjet paper can match the better high gloss photo papers.  Just the nature of the beast ... sprayed on ink vs dyes within the emulsion of the paper surface.

If they referring to the texture or the gloss? 

[Sven W]

If you haven't tested the Baryt / Fiber papers, I really recommend you to do so.
I run a lot of Canson Baryta and Epson Exhibition on our 9900. Also the Innova Fiba series.
And some Crane SilverRag and just a couple of days ago: Canson Platine Fibre.
All beautiful papers with huge colorgamuts, deep blacks and high sharpness.
Then you have Hahnemühle, Harman, Ilford. And I probably missed some.
Some are better (IMO) for B&W and some for color. The Epson Premium papers are more like RC / RA4 equivalents.
But the above mentioned are more like the "old" true "darkroom", airdried papers for B&W and as colorprints
they reminds of dye transfers.
Take a look at ShadesofPaper. Where you also can order sample packs.
/Sven

[disney34]

I've found that Epson's Premium Glossy Photo Paper works fine with this model.

[crystalrep1]

yes I agree with.....
Epson's Premium Glossy Photo Paper works fine with this model

[NWFAP]

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

After I discussed with my customer what his complaint was with the Epson Gloss/Luster it made more sense.  My customer explained that those papers are great photo papers and like Wayne said, the Luster is comparable to the Kodak Endura or Fujifilm emulsion based papers.  However, these papers are so widely available, and are used with both commercial and home epson printers, when he comes to a printing company, he expects that we provide special papers that he normally wouldn't have spent the time or resources researching.  So, my question now becomes, what are the products that the LL members recommend for a fine art/photo printing lab. 

When you look at some of the big photo labs, they only offer one or two different "fine art" or "Watercolor" paper (Mpix doesn't offer any specialty papers).  The only lab that I can think of that uses multiple fine art papers is Simply Color Lab and they only use Hahnemuhle products.  Below is their product lists.       

Fine Art Photo Papers:
    * German Etching
    * Torchon
    * Photo Rag
    * Photo Rag Bright White
    * Pearl
    * Bayrta

Eco-Friendly Fine Art Papers:
    * Bamboo
    * Sugar Cane


What different paper types do the LL members recommend?  I've tested Illford papers and wasn't to impressed.  I've tested a limited number of Hahnemuhle papers, but again wasn't to impressed.  I've got sample packs from Legion and Museo products.  What are others looking for as a product must have?

thanks,

Matt

[Alan Goldhammer]

Matt,
I think you will find that the choice of papers is highly individualistic and that one person's favorite is found wanting by others.  All I can advise is to try a number of sample papers on some actual prints, put them up on a board and judge for yourself.  If you want my prejudiced view, I mainly print on three papers:  Museo Silver Rag and Portfolio Rag and Ilford Gold Fiber Silk.  I have tried two Canson papers that I like but have enough stock of the previous three that a switch over right now is not in the cards.

Alan

[neile]

Requests for paper recommendations come up in this forum frequently. If you do a teeny bit of searching you'll find several threads with lengthy disucssions of favourites.

You may also find my Inkjet Paper List helpful (http://www.danecreekfolios.com/inkjet-paper-list/). You can use it to sort/filter by paper attributes you care about, and then search for the resulting paper names in this forum to see what people think of them.

Neil

[NWFAP]

Thanks for those answers guys.  I'm more looking at how you categorize all the different paper types, and what are the differences?  Here is an example:

Fine Art Smooth ( are these always Glossy?):
- Pearl
- Rag (is there a difference between a rag and and a photo rag?)
- Baryta

Fine Art Textured (are these always matte?):
- Etching
- Velvet
- Specialty (Green/Recycled/Rice papers etc..)

More insight into the different Paper genres would be great!

[neile]

Try looking at my inkjet paper list. It has all sorts of columns you can filter on (glossy vs. matte, texture, colour temp of the base paper, etc.) that you can use to group papers by category.

Neil

[BobDavid]

Of course, if you customer wants you to offer premium paper choices, she's got to be prepared to pay more for it. I think Epson premium luster is about 55 cents a square foot if purchased in rolls.

[Sven W]

Thanks for those answers guys.  I'm more looking at how you categorize all the different paper types, and what are the differences?  Here is an example:

Fine Art Smooth ( are these always Glossy?):
- Pearl
- Rag (is there a difference between a rag and and a photo rag?)
- Baryta

Fine Art Textured (are these always matte?):
- Etching
- Velvet
- Specialty (Green/Recycled/Rice papers etc..)

More insight into the different Paper genres would be great!

Sigh...That's a lot of information to describe here.
But, as Alan wrote, buy sample packs and print or beg for those small sample-books, that almost every manufacturer has.

My FineArt papers are all a combination of:
What they are made of.(cotton or alpha-cellulose)
What texture they have. (Rough, textured, velvet, smooth, ultrasmooth)
Glossiness. (matte, semimatte, semigloss, gloss, highgloss, pearl, luster, satin)
Color or tone.( cold, neutral, warm)
Amount and sort of OBA or non.
Archival stability.
And in the end; How does the paper perform when printing with printer XXX and ink XXX? D-Max, contrast, colorgamut, sharpness,
curling, scratch resistance. Etc, etc
I can go on for a week  , but to give you some tips, here's my favourites for today(they may change tomorrow):
Epson Hot Press Natural
Epson Exhibition Fiber
Canson Rag Photographique
Canson Baryta Photographique
All very luxury papers.
Printers: Epson 9900 & 11880

/Sven

[NWFAP]

Sven,

 Thank you for your response, that is the best feedback I've gotten!  I agree I just need to do a bunch of testing of papers, but I wanted to test by category (so I can do a fair comparison).

Thanks,

Matthew 

[chocodog]

Id suggest the kodak luster paper or the ilford gallerie pearl.

[Alan Davis]

Mathew,

I would recommend LexJet Sunset eSatin paper.

I have been using it for over a year now and am completely satisfied with it as a photo paper.

http://www.lexjet.com/smartfilterproduct.aspx?producttypeid=10&manufacturerid=15&ff_4=114&ff_1=2&ff_3=86


Alan

[Bill Koenig]

Why not ask your customers what they want if luster isn't doing it for them, but the price you'll pay for these so called fine art papers is going double if not triple the cost. Also, stocking more than two or three of these is going to get expensive.
Get a sample pack to show them, but make sure you get the pricing right first.
One other thing to consider with these Baryta Coated papers is they have a very delicate surface and scuff or scratch easily, so there could be some waste as well.