Shelby,
I have read George's response and I am not familiar with ICI paper so
the following comments should be considered in that light.
The best paper (and value for the money) I have found has come from
Epson with one exception in the coated paper category - more on that
below.
The best paper to produce images on in general is "glossy" paper. The
saturation is far better than on "coated" paper. The Epson
"Glossy Paper", "Photo Paper", and "Glossy Film" all fall into the
glossy category. Similar terms are used by other paper manufactures.
Some of the other paper companies charge a little less for a certain
category of their paper than Epson, but I have found the results less
satisfying - and you only are saving about 15 cents a sheet.
The differences between "Glossy Paper", "Photo Paper", and "Glossy
Film" can be generalized as follows:
Glossy Film - The premiere surface on which to reproduce images but
costly - about twice that of glossy paper. I have not found the
results to be twice as good as glossy paper. I use this paper only
when the absolute best quality is needed. Glossy film is noticably
thinner than glossy paper and photo paper - in fact it isn't paper at
all but a polymer.)
Glossy Paper - Nice ultra smooth glossy surface, excellent color. I
use this paper most of the time.
Photo Paper - The images are almost as good as the glossy paper, but
the paper is slightly heftier - about the same weight as regular photo
paper from a photo processor. This is the paper to use for unmounted
images you are distributing as snapshots.
Coated Paper - This is where I have found a much better deal from
another distributor other than Epson. Coated Paper does not have
nearly the output quality (especially saturation) as compared to the
glossy family. It is however MUCH cheaper than glossy paper. I use
coated paper for trial runs on images. The company Great White
produces a coated paper as good as Epson's for a lot less - 200 sheets
@ $9.95 vs 100 sheets from Epson @ $9.95. (High Quality Inkjet Paper &
Photo Quality Inkjet Paper are the names for Epson's coated paper.)
Uncoated or Standard Inkjet paper is not even worth considering for
images, even if you could get it free.
For final images though glossy is the only way to go. Kodak, HP also
make high quality glossy papers. I am thoroughly unimpressed with any
of Hammermill's glossy paper.
Everything considered Epson can't be beat for quality. A few cents a
page savings with "bargain" paper really is irrelevant when you are
trying to produce your images at a photo-realistic level. The cost of
the inkjet cartridges is where I would like to try and save money, but
so far Epson wins there too!
If you are using a Macintosh, make sure you are using your ColorSync
software it makes a big difference. If you are using Windows I don't
know what the color management system is, but it will help also with
getting the best images.
Good Luck!
-- Jim Scott (wgd@napanet.net), September 13, 1999.
Hi,
I would agree with Jim for the most part. I have tried several brands
of ink jet photo paper and promised myself to stay with Epson paper.
One thing I did notice about what Jim said is he liked the Epson
Glossy paper. I have found that it does print nice, but shows bad
faiding under flouresent lighting after 6 months. The "New Improved
Epson Photo" paper is doing much better with little signs of fading.
So for me I use the Epson Photo paper for all my photo printing now.
You may want to look into software like "Photo Printer" from ArcSoft.
I have taken my Epson Photo 700 printer, Epson 750Z camera, and
my Toshiba 100CS 75MHz laptop on the road and printed 4 photos per
sheet on sight. Kind of fun, but I don't do it all the time. Here is a
pretty good web site showing the improvement in the new Epson Photo
Paper.
http://www.tssphoto.com/sp/dg/fade.html
-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), September 14, 1999.