?s 4 Andy (& others) about i9900 and paper

imann08

I just purchased a Canon i9900 and am having some difficulty with paper. I noticed that you (Andy) have had yours since 04 so you must have some considerable experience with it by now if you still own it. The questions I have are as follows:

What papers work well with the i9900? More specifically, what ones other than Canon papers. I will use Canon photo pro when I can but I have noticed that Canon does not have a very large selection to choose from.

What types of paper do you use for what situations? For instance, when do you use glossy and when do you use matte, semi-gloss and others? What are the fine art papers that I see for?

What do you recommend as a good place to purchase paper? I have done plenty of googling and have seen a few good sites but am open to any recommendations.

I am very wet behind the ears new at this and could use the help. I know this is a lot but I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

Isaac

imann08

One other thing. I see a lot of paper types and can't often figure out how to tell which is the best and which is the second best etc. For instance, with the Canon paper, where would the Hi-res photo paper fall in that group? With some of the papers it is obvious and with others it isn't so obvious. Also Canon doesn't seem to want to provide a photo paper pro for Matte or Semi-gloss. I don't quite understand that and want to know if I should go to a different type of paper for that situation. Thanks again.

marlinspike

www.redriverpaper.com's polar gloss works well with the Canon BCI inks (well...all their papers do actually), but you'll need to have a custom profile made (those generic profiles never work well). www.cathysprofiles.com is who I use.

Andy

I do not have the i9900 anymore. BUT the redriver papers are great, and so is Ilford Classic Pearl.

marlinspike

Also, I think it's helpful to note one paper that doesn't work well with BCI-6 inks is Kodak Ultima. I wish it did since it has great fade resistance, but it doesn't.

Sam

Isaac,

Is your monitor calibrated? Do you know how to use ICC profiles? If not you might just a well go over to the nearest brick wall and bang your head against it 10 or 20 times. In the long run this will be less painful than trying to get your prints to match your monitor with an uncelebrated system. Please don't ask how I know this.

That said I have had good results with the Canon Matte, and the Canon Photo Paper plus Glossy. The paper I seem to use the most is Ilford Classic Pearl, but recently obtained a box of Red River Polar Matte.

I would recommend using the Canon papers until you have a good base line established and are getting what you want out of the printer. Also when looking at different brands of paper I would check to see if they have an ICC profile for your printer before buying. Check to ensure the paper is compatible with dye based inks.

Getting a good print is much more than just throwing different papers into the printer’s maw.

Fortunately you have come to the right place, and can get all your questions answered, and avoid reinventing the wheel. I have done this many times, but the darn thing never seems to come out perfectly round.

Sam

imann08

Thanks to all for responding. I appreciate it a great deal.

I saw the redriver papers and Ilford papers mentioned in other threads when I did a search. I think it was in the thread where Andy was stoked about his new i9900 purchase.

Can anyone fill me in regarding what types of paper (matte, gloss, etc) they use for different types of photos?

I should clarify that I am not a photographer but simply a photo retouch and restoration guy.

Sam,
I do not pay much attention to calibrating my monitor. I simply set the default settings into it. The reason for this is because of what I have read from Dan Margulis. I think it is him that said that spending too much time to calibrate your monitor and get everything matched up is basically a waste of time. In other words, no matter what you do you will never get your printer, monitor, scanner, etc to match up.

Again, I appreciate all the input. I will check out the redriver papers and Ilford papers. I had not heard of them prior to last night.

JimW

I don't have a Canon printer, so I can't help with that. But I use Epson Prem Luster for most everything and also Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 (matte) for some portraits. The Hahnemuhle doesn't always like to feed real well into my Epson 2400, needs a little shove sometimes, since it's so thick.

<<< I do not pay much attention to calibrating my monitor. ... spending too much time to calibrate your monitor and get everything matched up is basically a waste of time. >>>

Well, I guess all I can say is I respectfully disagree. It's been my experience that when I finally got calibrated and profiled, the angels sang, I use a lot less paper and ink, and this entire digital rigamarole became doable. Also, as Sam said so eloquently, my head stopped hurting.

ian408

I'll second the vote for RedRiver papers. If you're not sure which paper,
they've got a very nice package of samples that allow you to experience
what's available.

The Ilford papers are nice as well. I like the film like papers.

imann08

Well, I could be wrong about the calibration thing. While I know PS pretty well there are other areas that I just don't get. I'll back down in any argument about this stuff. lol

ian408

I think the paper you use depends on the look you're trying to achieve.

I kinda like the heavy bond for 12mo calendars (single page). Or maybe a
nice glossy for snapshots. or other framed stuff. The sample package from
RedRiver is really a great way to explore your options.

Ian

marlinspike

One more paper report. Canon photo paper pro looks a lot better than canon photo paper plus coming out of my iP6700D.

imann08

I just picked up the sample everything pack from red river. I appreciate everyone's input. I'll most likely try the Ilford as well but for now I'm going to see what the red river does.