Good place to order photo printer paper?

divamum

So, we've acquired an inexpensive printer - I mostly keep my pictures in digital format, but occasionally it's nice to print something out for the less digitally inclined (read, grandparents!) so since this was extremely inexpensive, had good general reviews and the ink cartridges are fairly affordable, I took the plunge. (It's a Canon Pixma 2600, fwiw.)

In any case... are there any good online (or otherwise) suppliers of affordable paper? I figure I MUST be able to do better than Best Buy or Staples - I have of course googled, but any recommendations for reliable and affordable sources would be great. Thanks!

Tee Why

Have you tried Amazon.com?
I've also found that the Officemax top grade semi gloss paper to be cheap and quite good on my Canon printer.

dangin

if you're looking for cheap paper try meritline or costco's kirkland brand.

although it's honestly less expensive in the long run to just get your giveaway prints at costco than print them yourself.

divamum

dangin wrote:

if you're looking for cheap paper try meritline or costco's kirkland brand.

although it's honestly less expensive in the long run to just get your giveaway prints at costco than print them yourself.

Thanks for the response. Yeah, I still get standard 4x6 snaps etc done via Snapfish or Target, but for unusual crops or something where I want more control over the end result I figured I'd go ahead and take the plunge - the Pixma was only $40 and the cartridges on this machine are relatively inexpensive too, so for "special" use where I want to be able to tweak the final picture it seemed a decent (cheap) investment. And I have to say, on this occasion all the reviews I read were DEAD on - the prints have been great (to be honest? Better than the ones I've orderd, especially since I can control colour etc) and I'm not sure one could expect any more for the price.

Btw, having said "no Staples", I was in there yesterday for something else and saw that they currently have Canon high grade 8.5x11 (does anybody do 8x10 any more?!) 20 seet packs for buy one get one free - 40 sheets for $13 was actually a good deal!

angelaland

Atlex
www.atlex.com

He carries all of the major brands of photo paper and ink at a great discount. I've been ordering my supplies there for years.

dwayne_bradley

I have never tried it but...
I've heard really good things about Red River's line of papers especially the UltraPro Satin 2.0 paper.

http://www.redrivercatalog.com/

Prices are pretty good as well. For instance,

Red River UltraPro Satin 2.0 8.5"x11" 100 count = $31.50

Staples Photo Supreme Satin 8.5"x11" 50 count = $29.99

When I run out of the current stock of paper that I have, I plan on trying Red River. You can order "Sample Kits" from them that have a variety of their different papers so you can see which one(s) that you actually like.

Thanks,
Dwayne

divamum

angelaland wrote:

www.atlex.com

He carries all of the major brands of photo paper and ink at a great discount. I've been ordering my supplies there for years.

dwayne_bradley wrote:

I've heard really good things about Red River's line of papers especially the UltraPro Satin 2.0 paper.

http://www.redrivercatalog.com/

Prices are pretty good as well. For instance,

Red River UltraPro Satin 2.0 8.5"x11" 100 count = $31.50

Staples Photo Supreme Satin 8.5"x11" 50 count = $29.99

When I run out of the current stock of paper that I have, I plan on trying Red River. You can order "Sample Kits" from them that have a variety of their different papers so you can see which one(s) that you actually like.

Thanks,
Dwayne

Thanks guys! These are exactly the kinds of places I was hoping somebody could point me towards - much appreciated! (and oooo... satin finish - HUGELY prefer it to glossy and yeah, that is a great price!)

darkdragon

It is recommended by all manufacturers (of course) and a lot of profressionals that you print only on the paper brand of the ink you are using. What I've noticed is that if I print on an Epson printer (for example) with cheap paper it looks great until I compare it to the same print on premium Epson paper.

That being said, if you want to get Canon paper to match your printer you might want to check out Adorama. I ordered a 50 pack of Epson Premium Luster and the price was about half what I found it for in the stores here. However, when Staples has those buy one, get one sales it is the best deal usually.

Tee Why

Although I occasionally use Office Max papers, I'd recommend sticking with Canon papers b/c it's one less variable to mess things up.

I print letter size as well and found the Premium photo plus to be good, either glossy or semi glossy. The semi-gloss is hard to find though.

I too agree, the prints look a lot better than sending them out, which I've done as well.

Graham Cracker

Canon Premium Plus vs Premium Plus II

Tee Why wrote:

Although I occasionally use Office Max papers, I'd recommend sticking with Canon papers b/c it's one less variable to mess things up.

I print letter size as well and found the Premium photo plus to be good, either glossy or semi glossy. The semi-gloss is hard to find though.

I too agree, the prints look a lot better than sending them out, which I've done as well.

Have you noticed a big difference between the Premium photo plus vs. Premium photo plus II? Thanks Graham Cracker

Tee Why

I can't recall if I used the premium II versions. But I've used the semi-gloss and the glossy with good results. I kind of find the semi-gloss more versatile but more difficult to find.