Hey everyone,
For those of you that print their work, I wanted to ask what your favourite paper is. I know it’s very much an individual thing, but I was just curious.
Myself, I’ve been using either Baryta papers, specifically the Ilford Gold Fibre Silk or Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique or smooth matte papers like Canson Infinity Rag Photographique.
I recently tried the Canson Infinity Arches 88 matte paper and although I really loved the feel of it and the look of my prints on it, the paper had a lot of quality control issues and about 30% of the sheets had some kind of black mark or line on it so I was very disappointed. I talked to the manufacturer about the issue, and I didn’t really get a warm and fuzzy feeling from them to the point that now I don’t think I’ll be buying any Canson papers from now on and I’m looking at new options.
Canson Platine Fiber Rag was my go-to when I was still doing a lot of printing, but it looks like Canson is a no go for you. Sorry to hear they were not stand up and sorry I can’t add any value to your question.
I’ve never taken my printing seriously enough to test papers. I’ve been printing with a Canon Pro9000 Mark II and stayed with Canon papers. I do mostly black and white and like the matte paper better. This said I am planning on switching to an Epson ET-8550 as the cost of Canon cartridges are so high and will start exploring different papers. I look forward to hearing everyone’s choices. Thanks.
Red River Polar Luster Metalic, when I used to print. Their other luster papers were also excellent. I do not print myself anymore. It was too hard to maintain a pro-printer, they are kinda like a working dog, they need to work! I just did not print enough to justify the cost and maintenance plus I always struggled with color management. All my printing is now done through Bay Photo.
Thank you for your input, everyone! I’ve been doing some research and it looks like Hahnemühle papers are highly regarded so I’m probably going to try them out. I’m thinking of trying out Hahnemühle Photo Rag and Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta.
I read somewhere recently that baryta papers were not being produced now. It seems that there is very little to be purchased at this time also, mostly in rolls. I will keep looking for the article and see if I can shed some more light on the subject. If anyone else know anything please post it.
After doing some more research it appears that the manufacture of most of the baryta papers quit production of them and Epson (among others) have listed a Baryta II paper but it has never been available. Ilford is stating “Baryta like” . I also ran across some post that state baryta should not be used with dye based inks, never heard that before.
Thanks for the news @Teep . It would really be a shame if baryta papers were to go away because other than the fact that I find that the surface is prone to damage, I really like using them. They have a wide colour gamut and just the right amount of sheen.
Red River Polar Metallic 255 for images that have some blue in them and Red River UltraPro Luster 300 for most of my photos. These papers produce fantastic prints on my Epson P700…Jim
I have used this paper too and I still have a box (I think). I’ve always liked it and never had any problems with it. It was just the “Arches 88” paper that I had troubles with. What got to me was how dismissive they were about my concerns when I told them about the problem.