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Thread: Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

  1. #1

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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    For those of you who print digitally, what paper do you prefer?

    I print using an Epson 7600 and Epson Premium Semimatte paper with Bill Atkinson's profile. I love the look and feel of the printed output, but the paper is a bugger to transport. It hates being rolled against its natural curl, and its stiffness makes it susceptible to slight creasing. Picture framers always grumble about the paper...

    I'm interested in your opinions and findings.
    Leigh Perry
    www.leighperry.com

  2. #2

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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    Leigh, I really like Epson's Somerset Velvet paper - 2 feet x 50 feet rolls - for use on the 7600. I too use the Atkinson profile w/the matte black ink and the prints are stunning. I just did a 40 print order for a client - 16x20's - all framed with no complaints.

  3. #3
    matthew blais's Avatar
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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    Ok , what's the Atkinson profile? used for watercolor/velvet and other non coated papers? I'm an Epson user and haven't heard of this! Thanks
    "I invent nothing, I rediscover"
    August Rodin

    My Now old Photo Site

  4. #4
    Resident Heretic Bruce Watson's Avatar
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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    Ink and paper go hand-in-hand. I'm not sure that discussing one without the context of the other has a lot of meaning.

    I'm using selenium Piezotones on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm on my Epson 7600. I like this combination because it results in as much Dmax as you can get with Piezotones. Photo Rag's surface is very smooth, and allows the Piezotones to develop a huge amount of detail. The tonal scale is nice and linear. Finally, the color of the ink and the color of the paper work together to make a very neutral gray to my eyes. I like this combination better than my old darkroom prints. Of course, YMMV.

    Photo Rag also works quite well with the Ultrachrome inks. To get maximum benefit, you would want to use the matte black ink, but it works well even with the photo black ink.

    Bruce Watson

  5. #5

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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    I use the Epson 1280 with piezotonew wram neutral and hahnemuehle Photo-Rag 188. The tonality is quite nice, the detail is superb. The look and texture of the paper are fine. Without meaning to i have fooled a few photographers and a few digitographers who wanted to know whether this was agraded or a VC paper, and what developer I used. Bob

  6. #6

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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    Bill Atkinson's profiles are at:



    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/epson9600/files/



    See his site, too. http://www.billatkinson.com

  7. #7

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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    Will his 7600 profiles work on a 2200 ?

  8. #8
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    "Will his 7600 profiles work on a 2200 ?"

    Ocassionally (there is a greater variation in manufacture in the 2200's). Also, make sure read the profile set-up instructions - they are slightly different than normal. I find a few of them work pretty well.

    As for papers (all for colour)

    Watercolour/fine art papers:

    Photo Rag is great, but expensive

    also the new PremierArt Fine Art Hot Pressed (and not so expensive) is wonderful stuff and very stable (slightly warmer that some papers as it has no OBA's). This is supposed to be the same paper as the new Epson Utrasmooth. it's a very luscious paper.

    I found some very good profiles for PhotoRag that also work quite well with the Fine Art with just a touch of tweaking. (again, read ther quite complex descriptions. I haven't tried their profiles for other papers).

    http://lenscraft.com/profiles/

    (for wide format users, Nash editions really seems to like Arches Infinity and have produced a good custom profile for it. They also lke the FineArt/Ultrasmooth there is an interview with them at )

    http://www.inkjetart.com/news/archive/IJN_11-20-03.html

    For glossy/semi gloss - the Epson Premium glossy is terrible. By contrast, the Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss is very nice (available in wider format with a slightly different name I think?). It works well with the Epson Glossy profile and Ilford also has some profiles for both formats.

    The Epson semi-gloss/semi-matte papers are quite nice (don't like the Lustre though). I also picked up a couple of profiles from somewhere for the semi gloss.

    BTW - the Epson 4000 has a very big footprint - it's not a small printer. In some ways it's bigger than the 7600.

    http://www.inkjetart.com/4000/index.html
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  9. #9
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    PS - Epson Professional Glossy Paper - S041456 or Glossy Paper–Photo Weight -S041388 (same paper, different name for sheets and rolls) is actually a very nice "glossy" paper for colour. The surface is a medium gloss almost like a glazed FB B&W paper.
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  10. #10

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    Digital prints -- what paper do you use?

    I prefer the Pictorico Photo Gloss for glossy paper since my Epson 2200 doesn't print blacks well on the Epson Gloss (held at an angle, the blacks seem embossed for some reson). Also, the Pictorico has a nice fiber-print type texture to it.

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