Has anyone tried Canon Premium Fine Art Smooth Paper?

[*Rich]

Beginning to test matte papers to be used with a Pro-1000 pigment ink printer. I'm assuming the printer manufacturer's paper would be a good place to start, so I'm beginning to look at Canon's pro-series papers.

I have discovered Canon's Premium Fine Art Smooth Paper on B&H Photo's website, but there are no reviews. Maybe this is a new paper for Canon? https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1303107-REG/canon_1711c002_premium_fine_art_smooth.html

I'm used to using Epson's UltraSmooth Fine Art Paper on an Epson 3880 printer, but have recently switched to the Canon Pro-1000 printer. Anyone know of any ICC profiles for using Epson papers on a Canon Pro-1000? Thanks.

 

[rodbam]

Gday Rich. When I bought my Pr09500 pigment printer it came with some photo papers & one of them was Canon Fine Art Smooth & it gave excellent prints. I then tried out the Canon Fine art Natural 100% cotton paper just like the fine art smooth. The fine art natural is 230gsm which I found thick enough to handle whereas the fine art smooth is 310gsm & about twice the price.
The fine art natural has a slightly textured surface which can mainly be seen with side lighting. Canon also do a Fine Art Bright 100% cotton which is a bit whiter than the natural. All three of these papers gave fantastic results.
I did find when using the fine art natural & bright papers they needed to brushed or wiped before putting in the printer as little spots of cotton could flake off leaving a little white spot in the print I don't remember this happening with the Fine Art Smooth but I only used one 25 sheet packet of that one.
I think with a top printer like your Pro1000 I would tend to pick the Canon Fine Art Smooth as they may not shed any cotton spots in the printer.

 

[*Rich]

Thanks Rod. I have just ordered a pack of Canon Fine Art Smooth to test, along with a few third-party papers: Hahnemuhle Photo Rag UltraSmooth, Moab Entrada, and Red River's Polar Matte and their Aurora Natural. Any other suggestions?

I may try to have a custom ICC profile made for the Epson UltraSmooth Fine Art paper and their Hot Press Natural. I'm curious how they would print on the Pro-1000. I will report back in a few weeks with my test results.

 

[rodbam]

I read years ago that the Canon Fine Art papers were sourced from Hahnemuhle. Because my prints go behind glass I am now using Canon Pro Luster & it prints up really well.
Yes report back it will be interesting to see your results & the comparison to your Epson 3880 prints.

 

[Nick Levitin]

Gday Rich. When I bought my Pr09500 pigment printer it came with some photo papers & one of them was Canon Fine Art Smooth & it gave excellent prints. I then tried out the Canon Fine art Natural 100% cotton paper just like the fine art smooth. The fine art natural is 230gsm which I found thick enough to handle whereas the fine art smooth is 310gsm & about twice the price.
The fine art natural has a slightly textured surface which can mainly be seen with side lighting. Canon also do a Fine Art Bright 100% cotton which is a bit whiter than the natural. All three of these papers gave fantastic results.
I did find when using the fine art natural & bright papers they needed to brushed or wiped before putting in the printer as little spots of cotton could flake off leaving a little white spot in the print I don't remember this happening with the Fine Art Smooth but I only used one 25 sheet packet of that one.
I think with a top printer like your Pro1000 I would tend to pick the Canon Fine Art Smooth as they may not shed any cotton spots in the printer.

Hi Rod, Saw this post just now. Just wondering what icc profile you used for Canon Premium Fine Art Smooth with the Canon Pro 9500. I have had one made for my Canon Pro-100. The results are very good, but I understand that with pigment inks the blacks are much deeper. Is that your experience?

Thanks,
Nick

 

[The Hat]

@Nick Levitin, There are only a couple of Fine Art paper settings for the 9500, so you should give each one a try and see which one gives the best results.

Print on A5 will save your good paper and it will help for display purposes, wait several hours for the ink to properly dry before viewing..

 

[Nick Levitin]

Thanks. Haven't used the printer in some time and just discovered that Canon is no longer providing drivers for my Mac which now has Mojave 10.14.2. Does this mean the Pro-9500 is no longer usable? Any work arounds?

 

[stratman]

I do not use a Mac, but my quick Google search and general rules of thumb with Windows systems suggest:

Maybe if you can run the Pro 9500 driver in a older operating system "compatibility" mode as can be done with Windows. A Mac user will be able to advise if this is possible and how to do.

Or, there are some other printer drivers available to use, like a generic or Gutenprint. See #6 and #7 here.

Or, run an emulator of some kind. Note that WineBottler and CrossOver do not require a copy of Windows and WineBottler is free.

Or, downgrade your operating system to an earlier version that worked with your printer.

Or, network an old computer with an OS that is compatible and run the printer off that computer.

Or, buy a new printer.

 

[rodbam]

Nick, I use a Colormunki Photo to make my own profiles. I haven't really compared the blacks from the pro9000 to the pro9500 but the consensus was that the dye inks in the pro9000 have a bit more pop. I do enjoy making B&W prints with the pro9500 they look very good to my eyes.