Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: Dansk on January 17, 2008, 10:46:25 am

Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Dansk on January 17, 2008, 10:46:25 am
I went to buy some last night and could only find Premium Luster ( no ultra ) and its a 4* rating instead of 5*  I searched it out and didnt find anything. 8.5x11 size. I checked Epson website and see its only the 13x19 Ultra available no 8.5x11. Anyone know why? Thanks
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Satch on January 17, 2008, 11:19:29 am
I thought the "ultra" tag was just marleting BS to distinguish it from the way cheaper but just as good knockoffs.  Is ultra actually a diffrent, "better" product than "regular" luster?
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Dansk on January 17, 2008, 11:26:42 am
I believe thats somewhat true. The original "premium Luster" became the "Ultra Premium Luster" but it had Epsons 5* ( five star ) rating and the current premium Lsuter that I found at my local supplier is only a 4* so I'm wondering what happened? Did they change the paper or just drop the rating or what?
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Satch on January 17, 2008, 12:25:39 pm
Dansk, check this out:

http://www.inkjetart.com/photo_papers/ceramic_luster.html (http://www.inkjetart.com/photo_papers/ceramic_luster.html)

You'll be happy and have more $$ in your pocket (or twice the paper to print with).
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Dansk on January 17, 2008, 12:46:00 pm
Thanks for th link worth hanging onto thats for sure. I am familiar with off brand papers and I have used them with great success in the past. Currently I am not doing a large amount of printing. I just find by the time I get a profile set up to work with them for the amount of printing I do its not worth the hassle. I can get 250 sheets of Epson locally for 139.00 so its not a huge savings at 92 dollars.

  I'm just curious about what happened to the Ultra Epson paper is all.
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: TylerB on January 17, 2008, 01:02:54 pm
Hawk Mountain's luster just won an award at PPA. They are a great US company, and their prices are very very reasonable.
I use their gloss.
http://www.hawkmtpaper.com/photo.htm (http://www.hawkmtpaper.com/photo.htm)
Tyler
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 17, 2008, 01:11:20 pm
B&H lists both the "Premium Luster" and "Ultra Premium Luster" separately. They have the Ultra in stock in 8.5x11" in both 50-sheet and 250-sheet packages. They are indeed different papers.
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Dansk on January 17, 2008, 01:15:02 pm
Quote
B&H lists both the "Premium Luster" and "Ultra Premium Luster" separately. They have the Ultra in stock in 8.5x11" in both 50-sheet and 250-sheet packages. They are indeed different papers.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167813\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

  Thanks. Any idea what happened to the Ultra?
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Satch on January 17, 2008, 01:28:51 pm
Quote
Hawk Mountain's luster just won an award at PPA. They are a great US company, and their prices are very very reasonable.
I use their gloss.
http://www.hawkmtpaper.com/photo.htm (http://www.hawkmtpaper.com/photo.htm)
Tyler
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167812\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I just received a pack of the Sharpwing to try out.  Ordered it because someone said I believe on another forum that it was almost a perfect match for Epsn Semi-Matte, which is currently my favorite paper.  However, when I compared it with SM and PL it was much closer to the PL.  Wonder if they changed it?
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Satch on January 17, 2008, 04:18:21 pm
Quote
B&H lists both the "Premium Luster" and "Ultra Premium Luster" separately. They have the Ultra in stock in 8.5x11" in both 50-sheet and 250-sheet packages. They are indeed different papers.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167813\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I couldn't find anything through a Google search or on Epson's own site as to what has actually been improved, if anything, in the ultra version.  Oddly, it looks like the basis weight has actually dropped, so I guess that does let them call it a "new" paper.
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on January 17, 2008, 06:32:58 pm
Quote
I couldn't find anything through a Google search or on Epson's own site as to what has actually been improved, if anything, in the ultra version.  Oddly, it looks like the basis weight has actually dropped, so I guess that does let them call it a "new" paper.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167844\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
I doubt if anything besides the name has changed, just as for Epson's "Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte" which used to be called "Enhanced Matte Paper" and before that "Archival Matte Paper", with no change to the paper.

Epson seems to get tired of their paper names periodically, and the marketing department has to come up with new names, which of course confuses us poor photographers no end.

I now have to look at a carton and write down the name before I go shopping because I can never remember their *&^%$ paper names any more.  
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: Pat Herold on January 18, 2008, 02:58:16 pm
We have profiled the new Epson Ultra Premium Luster paper here and compared it to the previous "Premium" paper from the same printer.    There is a slight, but noticeable increase in gamut saturation with the newer paper.  It's slight but it is there.

-Patrick Herold
www.chromix.com
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: gkroeger on January 18, 2008, 04:30:04 pm
Quote
I doubt if anything besides the name has changed, just as for Epson's "Ultra Premium Presentation Paper Matte" which used to be called "Enhanced Matte Paper" and before that "Archival Matte Paper", with no change to the paper.

Epson seems to get tired of their paper names periodically, and the marketing department has to come up with new names, which of course confuses us poor photographers no end.

I now have to look at a carton and write down the name before I go shopping because I can never remember their *&^%$ paper names any more. 
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167870\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I suspect the change from Premium to Ultra Premium corresponds to the change in the roll versions from 250 gsm to 260 gsm.  Both Premium Luster and Premium Semimatte rolls have undergone this change over the past few months.
Title: What happened to Epson5* "Ultra" premium luster???
Post by: KeithR on January 18, 2008, 06:12:55 pm
Quote
Hawk Mountain's luster just won an award at PPA. They are a great US company, and their prices are very very reasonable.
I use their gloss.
http://www.hawkmtpaper.com/photo.htm (http://www.hawkmtpaper.com/photo.htm)
Tyler
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=167812\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Have to agree with Tyler, only I like the luster(which I liken to a semi-matte).