Red River photo paper: I have a feeling I already know the answer but here goes. I have a Canon G4210 printer which prints OK photos. It's no Pro 100. Would I gain anything by using...

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

I have a feeling I already know the answer but here goes. I have a Canon G4210 printer which prints OK photos. It's no Pro 100. Would I gain anything by using Red River paper with it? Or should I stick with the Canon paper?

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

foathog wrote:

I have a feeling I already know the answer but here goes. I have a Canon G4210 printer which prints OK photos. It's no Pro 100. Would I gain anything by using Red River paper with it? Or should I stick with the Canon paper?

Unless you have a calibrator that allows you to for both calibrate your monitor and profile and calibrate your printer, I would stick with the papers that are already in you printer's color profiles list.

willaim Loc: Sunny Southern California

I have the Pro-100 and have been using a third party paper, but all of a sudden, for some reason the colors were off. I tried the Red River Exploration Sample Kit and I could not believe what a difference it made. It gives you the right profile for each paper to use for your printer. The colors were as close to my monitor as never before. Not familiar with your printer, but you might try Red River Paper before you decide to purchase the Pro-100, which, by the way is excellent.

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

foathog wrote:

I have a feeling I already know the answer but here goes. I have a Canon G4210 printer which prints OK photos. It's no Pro 100. Would I gain anything by using Red River paper with it? Or should I stick with the Canon paper?

Red River has a great support system for their paper with printing tips and all sorts of other things. I use their paper all the time and think you should give them a try. You may need a better printer too.
...Cam

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

willaim wrote:

I have the Pro-100 and have been using a third party paper, but all of a sudden, for some reason the colors were off. I tried the Red River Exploration Sample Kit and I could not believe what a difference it made. It gives you the right profile for each paper to use for your printer. The colors were as close to my monitor as never before. Not familiar with your printer, but you might try Red River Paper before you decide to purchase the Pro-100, which, by the way is excellent.

I don't do enough printing to spring for a Pro 100. Was just wondering if Red River paper might spiff it up a bit. It is more expensive than Canon paper. My first thought would be no.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

willaim wrote:

I have the Pro-100 and have been using a third party paper, but all of a sudden, for some reason the colors were off. I tried the Red River Exploration Sample Kit and I could not believe what a difference it made. It gives you the right profile for each paper to use for your printer. The colors were as close to my monitor as never before. Not familiar with your printer, but you might try Red River Paper before you decide to purchase the Pro-100, which, by the way is excellent.

There are multiple possible reasons for the color shift. First of all, check the firmware version of your Pro-100. The latest version is 2.003. My printer has 2.001 firmware, but I am not having any issues because I use only Canon paper and inks. The other variable you should consider is the ink you are using. If you are using third party inks, I would highly recommend that you switch to the Canon inks because the colors of third party inks are notorious for batch to batch inconsistencies. That can make a huge difference on some papers.

planepics Loc: St. Louis burbs, but originally Chicago burbs

I've been thinking of getting a sample pack of Red River paper myself. I have a Pro-100 but have never tried anything other than luster, matte or gloss. Should certain subjects be avoided with certain papers (i.e. don't print a flower on metallic)?

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Can't talk to your color shift issues, but Red River is my go-to paper for prints. Great quality and price.

SteveG Loc: Norh Carolina

yssirk123 wrote:

Can't talk to your color shift issues, but Red River is my go-to paper for prints. Great quality and price.

Absolutely! Love their products and support! The OP should probably stick with Canon though for their situation IMHO.

one_eyed_pete Loc: Colonie NY

foathog wrote:

I have a feeling I already know the answer but here goes. I have a Canon G4210 printer which prints OK photos. It's no Pro 100. Would I gain anything by using Red River paper with it? Or should I stick with the Canon paper?

Why not just try a pack of Red River. If you want some "spiff" try a pack of the Red River "Polar Gloss Metallic". It adds a little something-something to color prints but I was dazzled by the first B&W print I tried on it.

dbfrancy

Have an Epson R3000 printer. Use mostly RR UltraPro Satin 4.0. Prints are much better than other papers I've tried. The caveat, calibrate monitor, download profile for paper and printer you are using.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

IMHO Red River Paper is the absolute best available and I use it almost exclusively. They provide icc profiles for many many paper/printer combinations and explain color management thoroughly and simply on their site. Great company, in my experience. My go to. I've never had any complaints from clients based solely on the paper. Best of luck.

Menkaure Loc: Michigan

Red River all the way! They have a printer driver for each and every paper stock. Great prints on my Epson Surecolor R400.

SteveFranz Loc: Durham, NC

I've been a Red River Paper user (and fan) for many years. Living in the Dallas area I had a great advantage - I could drop by their warehouse and pick up a box or two of paper - and browse their clearance table. That was always great fun, I was able to try various type of paper at very reasonable prices. With Covid=19 that advantage is gone, at least for the moment. Hopefully they will reopen for their walk-in trade.

ralf Loc: NJ

I have a Pro-100 and I use Red River and Canon papers. I printed a lot of sample kits from a lot of paper-makers, and I came out with Canon and RR as my papers of choice. Red River has (IMHO) better color rendition than Canon. In other words it looks better to my eye.
The best way for YOU to see if you like RR paper is to order a sample pack. I suspect your printer uses dye inks (mine does, too), so I would stick with "shiny" papers and shy away from matte. You can use Luster (which I personally hate), but I prefer semi-gloss equivalents myself. My fav RR is Ultra Gloss 2. My fav Canon is Semi-Gloss. Which should tell you where my preferences lie.
Good luck.