What paper for printing color on Epson 3880?

[robgo2]

I am mostly a B&W kind of guy, but occasionally I venture into the world of color.  My favorite paper, by far, is Canson Platine, which is great for B&W but slightly weak in terms of color saturation.  I have also tried Gold Fibre Silk, which I find to be only marginally better, and which I avoid, because of its extreme susceptibility to scratches.  I realize that most of the problem is related to the color gamut of my printer, but I am still wondering if there are any papers that might produce more vivid colors with a 3880.  I prefer OBA-free paper but am willing to consider anything.

Thanks,
Rob

[Alan Goldhammer]

Ilford Gold Fiber Silk is as good as it gets with this printer and I've tried lots of different gloss papers.

[AFairley]

I prefer Epson Exhibition Fiber over the Gold Fiber Silk, but only because it is a cool white and the Ilford is on the warm side for my taste (though if were printing B&W I would choose the Ilford over the EEF).  I don't think you can go wrong with either one.

[howardm]

most people dont complain that the 38xx gamut is 'lacking'

I'm personally a fan of the Canson Baryta

[robgo2]

most people dont complain that the 38xx gamut is 'lacking

Well, when you compare a print's colors to the monitor's, then you can see that it is lacking.  I realize that this is true of all currently available printers and papers, but I am wondering if some papers provide a bit more color pop.  Evidently, not much.  Color gamut is continually being improved with each generation of printers, but they are still not able to reproduce the colors of a wide gamut monitor.  I guess that might be considered the holy grail of printer technology.

Rob

[howardm]

maybe consider a transmissive film with backlight instead of reflective opaque paper.

[robgo2]

maybe consider a transmissive film with backlight instead of reflective opaque paper.

That's not what I'm looking for.

Rob

[walter.sk]

I'm now printing on an Epson 4900.  I have found Epson Premium Luster (slightly different names but the same paper for sheet vs roll) to be stunning for B&W and color, with Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl producing almost identical results. For important color prints I prefer Canson Baryta Photographique.

[ewanmathers]

I use PermaJet Oyster.  Very white and they can make you a personal ICC profile just for your set up.  Excellent results every time and not as expensive as some other options.  This is my standard paper for prints.  I also use PermJet Museum 310 for fine art printing with fabulous results - so good that I print for various fine artists copies of their work for sale.

[Sven W]

Well, when you compare a print's colors to the monitor's, then you can see that it is lacking.  I realize that this is true of all currently available printers and papers, but I am wondering if some papers provide a bit more color pop.  Evidently, not much.  Color gamut is continually being improved with each generation of printers, but they are still not able to reproduce the colors of a wide gamut monitor.  I guess that might be considered the holy grail of printer technology.

Rob

What profiles do you use when comparing? Generic or custom made? With good profiles there's a very small difference
in color gamut between the Platine and Baryta (aka Ilford Gold).
More pop: go for a 4900 and its O+G. There I'll get slightly larger gamut than ARGB on those papers.
And my monitor(Eizo CG221) cover that to.

/Sven

[robgo2]

What profiles do you use when comparing? Generic or custom made? With good profiles there's a very small difference
in color gamut between the Platine and Baryta (aka Ilford Gold).
More pop: go for a 4900 and its O+G. There I'll get slightly larger gamut than ARGB on those papers.
And my monitor(Eizo CG221) cover that to.

/Sven

Sven,

I use custom profiles for Platine, Canson Baryta and Gold Fibre Silk.  I agree that the latter two papers are nearly identical and that the color gamut for Platine is only marginally less.  I really love the feel and the surface texture of Platine, which is why I use it for almost everything that I print. 

Regarding the 4900, I was tempted by the recent discount offer from Shades of Paper, but the machine is huge and would have required converting my very pleasant office into an actual studio, something that neither my wife nor I wished to do.  Also, Mark Segal recently commented in this forum that he does not see a dramatic difference in prints made on his 3800 and 4900.  I'm sure that there is a difference, but probably not enough to matter to someone like myself who does photography as a hobby.  I think that I'll wait for the next generation of printers, which should be coming our way in one to two years.

Rob 

[NigelC]

I use PermaJet Oyster.  Very white and they can make you a personal ICC profile just for your set up.  Excellent results every time and not as expensive as some other options.  This is my standard paper for prints.  I also use PermJet Museum 310 for fine art printing with fabulous results - so good that I print for various fine artists copies of their work for sale.

Out of interest, what paper configuration settings were you using with that paper - I've had some problems with ink streaks on the non-printing side and smudging along the edge - suspect paper flatness is the issue but i have fairly old box of Pemajet photo glossy which I would like to use - suspect need to set to 0.4mm and platen gap:wide.

BTW, do you prefer Museum to Papyrus or Parchment - trying to work myway through some samples of these and hahnemulle papers to compare - i think PJ costs significantly les than Han though.

[StuNY]

I did a pretty extensive test of papers about a year ago on my 3880 where I pretty much tried everything recommended here and other forums from glossy to matte using the profiles provided by each company. I ran a standard test image (mosaic of my typical images and some color swatches) across all with full range of colors and black/white. Per your desire to get something more rich and saturated, there was only paper I found that stood out from the others in this regard. It was the Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Barta. While there were qualities of other papers (Gold Fiber Silk, Epson exhibition fiber etc.) that were a better fit for some images, when it came to really rich reds and blues the Photo Rag Barta really stood out from the rest.

Do keep in mind that I am not making custom profiles which I'm sure with some work would easily make any one of these papers "more saturated", but if you are going for original profiles that would be my recommendation.

[bwana]

can someone explain to me why rolls of paper are less expensive than precut sheets?

for example, sheets $154    550 inches
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/802648-REG/Hahnemuhle_10641441_Photo_Rag_Baryta_17.html

a roll $117  468 inches => $137 for 550 inches
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/593941-REG/Hahnemuhle_10643198_Baryta_Photo_Rag_Paper.html

[JohnBrew]

Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl.

[Martin Ranger]

I just did a completely unscientific test of about 20 non-matte and 25 matte papers using an Epson 4900. Since I don't have a profiler and didn't want to pay for getting over 40 profiles made, I used the generic ones provided by the paper manufacturers. Not ideal, I know. I printed one page with a mosaic of several "colorful" images and b&w as well as color ramps, and one page with two images that are typical of my photos. From those I chose 5 non-matte and 5 matte paper based on my taste, and had a bunch of friends rate those, so the whole exercise was pretty unscientific. Big caveat: paper choice is extremely personal. You might hate the paper I like and so forth. For example, I don't like paper with too much texture, so I didn't include any in my final selection. That being said, the consensus seemed to be that the two top papers are:

- for non-matte: Canson Baryta Photogaphique (which I believe is the same as the Illford Gold Fiber Silk) followed by the Harman by Hahnemuehle Baryta Gloss Baryta and the Canson Platine (sharing second place).

-for matte paper: Moab Somerset Museum rag followed by Harman by Hahnemuehle Matte Cotton Smooth.

The reason given for the choice tended to be be how "colorful" the papers were. One cheap paper, the Moab Lasal Exhibition Luster, which I liked for its colors was rejected by the crowd for not "feeling nice" and being "flumsy".

Of course the matte papers have much more subdued look.

This was all based on the canned profiles, so the results might be different with better profiles. And again, tastes vary!

Hope this helps,
Martin

[howardm]

less labor and time to process the paper from master roll to finished, boxed and cut sheets.

Why is anything in 'bulk' less expensive?

can someone explain to me why rolls of paper are less expensive than precut sheets?

for example, sheets $154    550 inches
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/802648-REG/Hahnemuhle_10641441_Photo_Rag_Baryta_17.html

a roll $117  468 inches => $137 for 550 inches
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/593941-REG/Hahnemuhle_10643198_Baryta_Photo_Rag_Paper.html

[robgo2]

Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl.

In my own personal testing, PRP is very similar to Platine, but I prefer the latter.

Rob