Very happy with Red River Paper (I think)

[Evanford]

My trusty Canon Pixma Pro 9000 died a few weeks ago so I took advantage of Canon's rebates to replace it with a 9000 Mark II.  I always used Ilford Classic Gloss and Classic Pearl on my old printer with custom profiles.  I also used to love the original Canon Photo Paper Pro with Canon supplied profile but when they changed their papers I never liked the results with the new Pro II or Platinum paper.  I was pleased to see my new printer works well with the Platinum paper (still don't like the results with Pro II or the other Canon papers).   There was only one small issue.    The shadows of my prints were a little too light.  I figured before going the custom profile route I would try some different papers so I gave Red River a try.  I had already tried my old Ilford paper with Ilford supplied profiles for the Mark II and didn't like the results.  Because of this I had very low expectations for Red River with their supplied profiles.   I was pleasantly surprised.  The colors on the Arctic Polar Gloss and Ultra Pro Gloss match both my monitor and Canon Platinum prints exactly.   Best of all the shadow areas are much improved and better match what I see on my monitor.  I think I have found a new set of papers assuming they don't exhibit any gas fading problems.  Costing a lot less is icing on the cake. 

The luster and satin papers look good too but I have not tried them with my own photographs, only test prints.  So, no problem to discuss.  I just thought I would share my joy with how well the paper manufacturer's supplied profiles are working.  It's nice (and good business) that they put some effort into them, at least for my printer.

Evan   

[Ernst Dinkla]

Not to spoil the party but you should check Red River paper tests at www.Aardenburg-Imaging.com, in particular the ones you use. Pay attention to paper white shifts in this case as there are no tests done with Canon pigment ink on Red River papers. The Epson R800 pigments faded fast and steady on Red River Ultra Pro Gloss Plus but not as fast as the paper white shift went. The Red River Aurora Natural is a paper worth mentioning, I have my doubts about the rest.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst
Shareware too:
330+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.ht

[MHMG]

The Epson R800 pigments faded fast and steady on Red River Ultra Pro Gloss Plus but not as fast as the paper white shift went. The Red River Aurora Natural is a paper worth mentioning, I have my doubts about the rest.

Just a quick note to say that the R800 pigments which showed relatively fast fading on the RR paper were third party inks, not Epson OEM. Also, I seem to recall the RR Ultra Pro Gloss paper has been superseded by a newer version with a very similar sounding name. It's probably a good time to get some newer batches of RR product and printed with major OEM ink sets started in test

cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com

[Ernst Dinkla]

Mark,

There is one test done with Epson OEM R1800 inks on Red River Ultra etc. I was aware of the third party tests but I had that one in mind. Sure there is a 1 missing in my message but the Epson R1800 and R800 inks are identical

I wonder whether it is a good idea to test newer ones, Red River seems to be a company that does not stay long with a paper supplier (there are more companies like that) and by the time you have a test going they may have the next quality in the distribution channel. If there is a paper range worth testing it would be Moab I think.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst
Shareware too:
330+ paper white spectral plots:
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm