Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
Gene51 wrote:
You usually get the best results with the least amount of effort using the manufacturer's paper. Epson and Canon offer a very wide range. Baryta paper, with it's barium sulphate layer, is generally considered to be a great choice for detail and contrast. Best detail and contrast is not always a goal. The subject material has a lot to do with what kind of paper you use.
Mfgr's paper usually don't need to be profiled, as long as your display is profiled. The printer driver will pick the right color profile, ink metering etc for the paper choice.
There are too many variables to say that any one paper is better than any other paper.
You usually get the best results with the least am... (
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Really, Gene? ... I hadn't realized Printer Drivers were that intelligent ....
Baryta, huh? ... Will look that one up, too ... thanks ....
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
Wanda Krack wrote:
I choose the paper type according to the image. Some print better on mat, some on glossy, some on metallic and some on semi-gloss or luster, linen, canvas, or rag. Red River has a beautiful pearl metallic paper. I use both Red River and Epson papers (have an Epson printer). The above suggestion of obtaining a variety of papers to start with is a good one. It took me a while to decide which type of image I prefer on which type of paper.
Thanks for your input, Wanda ...
When you use that Red River pearl metallic paper ... what kind of images do you normally print on it?
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
jerryc41 wrote:
Do you mean glossy vs matte? For me, it depends, but I like glossy. As others have said, it's best to use the paper made by the printer maker.
Oh, okay, Jerry ... I'll look around for a Hammermill, Baryta, or Red River inkjet printer, then ... didn't realize there were any ....
Why so much paper talk when you don't even know what printer the OP has?
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
whwiden wrote:
A glossy paper tends to appear sharper than a matte paper. My understanding is a resin coated or "RC" glossy paper is not archival, whereas some of the matte papers are archival, so over a longer time frame the glossy might fade and lose its crisp initial appearance. Some papers use optical brighteners to make the paper have a brighter white look. These are not good for archival properties but give the print more "pop" so perhaps enhance the appearance of contrast.
The glossy and semi glossy papers print with deeper blacks.
A glossy paper tends to appear sharper than a matt... (
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Oh, okay, WH ... so, for archival use, then - you'd recommend flat (or matte) papers, then ....
But, for non-archival use ... and for better contrast ... you'd go with glossy papers, then ... did I read you right, WH?
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
The Watcher wrote:
Why so much paper talk when you don't even know what printer the OP has?
It's an Epson WorkForce 845, Watcher .... (my main color inkjet, anyway) ... but I also have a couple of monochrome lasers (Okidata, NEC) ...
Oh, and there's also an HP ink-jet on top of the big laser ... oh, yes, and a couple of Lexmark ink-jets, kicking around somewhere ... oh, THERE they are!
"Really, Gene? ... I hadn't realized Printer Drivers were that intelligent ...."
Its not that printer driver are that intelligent, its that getting involved with third party papers (and I use many of them) requires getting involved with ICC profiles and configuring the driver to use third party profiles. Using Canon paper in a Canon printer, for example, simply requires choosing the paper. Much better for the beginner to simply choose paper type and limit the experimenting to that.
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
Jrhoffman75 wrote:
Not Hammermill. Hahnemuehle.
Third party papers require downloading and installing ICC profiles to get the best quality. Since you are experimenting I suggest you use the paper from your printer manufacturer first.
You basically have gloss, semigloss and matte surfaces. Canon has a variation on those - there is a Platinum paper that is very glossy compared to some of their other glossy papers. Also a semigloss and Luster, which have slight difference in surface texture.
Used to have a Canon Bubble-jet, JR ... traded it in on that Epson Workforce 845 I mentioned ....
That flip up design of theirs - meant it was never sealed ... so, there were always large openings ... which the mice saw as welcome signs!!!!
Put up with it for a while, but, whenever I used it, again ... the fresh ink smell combined with the overlarge openings ... well - you see the problem!
The Epson units - particularly, the double-drawer ones, like the WF 845, are sealed shut, when static ....
Will Canon papers work well with an Epson Inkjet, though? ... Or, are they designed more for Bubble-jets?
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
Jrhoffman75 wrote:
"Really, Gene? ... I hadn't realized Printer Drivers were that intelligent ...."
Its not that printer driver are that intelligent, its that getting involved with third party papers (and I use many of them) requires getting involved with ICC profiles and configuring the driver to use third party profiles. Using Canon paper in a Canon printer, for example, simply requires choosing the paper. Much better for the beginner to simply choose paper type and limit the experimenting to that.
"Really, Gene? ... I hadn't realized Printer ... (
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Oh, okay, then, JR ... good advice for the beginners out there, then ....
Me? ... I've been using computers and associated printers since 1978!!!!
Wow!!! ... 40 years, huh? ... I'll have to brush up my "beginner" togs ....
Chris T wrote:
Oh, okay, WH ... so, for archival use, then - you'd recommend flat (or matte) papers, then ....
But, for non-archival use ... and for better contrast ... you'd go with glossy papers, then ... did I read you right, WH?
For archival, you need to be using appropriate inks. For the matte papers, some are reported to be better than others for archival purposes. My understanding is that a paper that uses an optical brightener will not tend to be as good for archival purposes. You need to research the particular paper for these qualities. For matte, Canson rag photographique and aquarelle are both archival if memory serves. Baryta papers are a semi-gloss paper that can be nice looking. I have seen a number of museums use ilford papers like gold mono silk for permanent exhibitions so I assume they have decent archival properties but I have not researched this.
I do not generally like the look of glossy papers so I do not use them very often. If I do not want to use matte, for deeper blacks and enhanced sharpness, I use a baryta paper.
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
JohnSwanda wrote:
I have an Epson printer, and my favorite paper is their Epson Fiber Exhibition Paper. It has a very similar look and feel to the old air dried B&W double weight glossy fiber darkroom paper I used to use.
Not like RC, though, is it, John ...
Does it come in reams, or just 10-sheet packs, though?
I started with an Apple II.
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
Jrhoffman75 wrote:
I started with an Apple II.
Yeah, JR ... me, too ... selling them, at any rate ...
My first PC was a TRS/80 ... then I switched to Commodore ... Vic-20, C-64, C-128 .... still got them all, too ...
Then, when Commodore started making IBM PC / XT clones ... the tail was on the other end ...
Still have an original Commodore XT ... AND a Commodore AT, as well ....
After that, started building them from scratch, myself ... must be at least a dozen home-brews, around here, JR ....
Chris T
Loc: from England across the pond to New England
whwiden wrote:
For archival, you need to be using appropriate inks. For the matte papers, some are reported to be better than others for archival purposes. My understanding is that a paper that uses an optical brightener will not tend to be as good for archival purposes. You need to research the particular paper for these qualities. For matte, Canson rag photographique and aquarelle are both archival if memory serves. Baryta papers are a semi-gloss paper that can be nice looking. I have seen a number of museums use ilford papers like gold mono silk for permanent exhibitions so I assume they have decent archival properties but I have not researched this.
I do not generally like the look of glossy papers so I do not use them very often. If I do not want to use matte, for deeper blacks and enhanced sharpness, I use a baryta paper.
For archival, you need to be using appropriate ink... (
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Ilford Gold Mono Silk, WH?
But that's an emulsion paper, isn't it?
Chris T wrote:
Some are coated ... others are flat ... which kind offers the best detail and contrast?
It all depends on the images one wants to print, and what you prefer for that certain image. Do you want some texture, do you want the blacks to show in a certain way, luster, gloss, or matte, etc., etc? The list goes on and on. There is no best paper for all, there is only the best paper for a particular picture!
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