I just purchased an Epson Ecotank ET-8550 printer and I’m looking for some recommendations for paper. I’ve never had a home photo printer before, and looking online at what’s available isa bit confusing. I’m familiar with different finishes , what I’m really asking about is weight, opacity, and brightness. Also are there specific brands that will and will not work with specific printers. Any help anyone can offer is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the variety and choices of papers to print on. Here is my advice: start with one non matte paper, like luster, gloss, or semigloss. Non matte because it is much more difficult to get a matte paper to match what you see on a screen than it is to match a luster , gloss, or semigloss paper. After you master printing on one non matte paper then if you are interested start learning to print on a matte paper. Your Epson printer should work on most brands of paper, but in the beginning it will be easier to use Epson paper, not because it is better, but because you will have fewer steps to correctly choose to get your computer, monitor, printing software, and printer to correctly talk with each other. Part of getting good prints is that you have to have what is called an ICC profile for each paper. Those profiles automatically are part of the Epson printer driver. If you use non Epson papers you have to supply the ICC profile yourself. These profiles are obtained from the paper companies, but you have to load them into the correct place in your computer OS. The last thing in the world you want to do when you are just starting to print is experiment with many different papers. That way lies madness. After you learn the basics on one paper, then you can branch out and explore, including non Epson papers. FYI, my go to paper used to be Epson Luster, but I switched to Red River Luster because it is cheaper and I can’t see any big difference. For matte papers I use Moab Entrada Bright.
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I like using Red River Paper, their website is very helpful.
Theresa: I just bought the 8550 myself to replace a P600 for the savings in the ink and better paper handling. I’ve used Epson semi Gloss in the past and been satisfied with it. I started using Ilford Smooth Pearl a few years ago and have been very pleased with it. I’ll second Tony’s take on matte paper and just prefer the vibrance of the prints. >=))>