Costco (Kirkland) glossy - made in Japan?

Searched and didn't find any discussion on this...

I've got a stock of Canon gloss paper (the PP-301, which I prefer to the Platinum line because it doesn't have quite the level of OBAs). I acquired many packages during the famous "buy one, get 5/7/9 FREE" deals in the last couple of years. However, my stock is getting low and Canon doesn't seem to be as forthcoming with the paper deals this year.

While in Costco recently I found their Kirkland "Professional Glossy" paper is now made in Japan. My searching turned up info on the Swiss, U.S., and Mexico versions of this paper but nothing (so far) on the Japanese. Anyone tried it yet? Any comparisons to previous versions?

GrantCee said:

Kirkland "Professional Glossy" paper is now made in Japan

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If it is anything like CD/DVD recordable disks, where Japanese Taiyo Yuden (now JVC) manufactured the highest quality available worldwide (only approached by a particular Verbatim DVD out of Singapore and Falcon out of UAE (IIRC), then maybe the Japanese paper will be of high quality as well.

FYI -- The Japanese recordable disk market may be completely different now that I haven't burned a disk in 3+ years.

stratman said:

FYI -- The Japanese recordable disk market may be completely different now that I haven't burned a disk in 3+ years.

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Was Genghis Khan still around in these days too...

The Hat said:

Was Genghis Khan still around in these days too...

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Why yes he was. The Khan, as we called him, was the moderator of the finest quill pen printing forum at that time called PrinterMongols. You did not want to get on his bad side or he'd burn down your thatched roof and take your yak.

Can't wait to see the quality of this Japanese paper at my local Costco. Time to stock up on the old as well as I use that as a standard "photo" paper as a reference base. It's like throwaway paper. My guess is that this new paper originates from Mitsubishi.

mikling said:

Can't wait to see the quality of this Japanese paper at my local Costco. Time to stock up on the old as well as I use that as a standard "photo" paper as a reference base. It's like throwaway paper. My guess is that this new paper originates from Mitsubishi.

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My main concern is the level of OBAs in the emulsion. I'm not a fanatic about the subject, as I don't expect my photos to be truly archival, but I do want to minimize any short-term changes in appearance which may occur as those things age while on display. Canon's Platinum papers, for instance, are loaded with them — while their cheaper versions are noticeably different in base brightness and seem to have less.

Interesting Mitsubishi tidbit: back in the '80s and '90s, when I ran a series of photo labs (ranging from one-hour machines to full custom printing houses) we used a lot of Mitsubishi EP-2 paper. One of the astonishing characteristics was their consistency between emulsion numbers; where Kodak would change dramatically, requiring machine rebalancing, the Mitsy paper would barely vary. In many cases, the new emulsion would be visually identical to the old. Though the densitometer would register small changes, they were almost always below the visual threshold. I was a very big fan (and very large user) of Mitsubishi products and would love to try an inkjet paper of theirs.

Resurrecting my own thread...

I've had a chance to print a significant number of images, using the Pro-10 and PC inks, on the Japanese Costco paper.

Verdict: it's really quite nice, especially given the cost (got it on special at 9.3 cents per 8.5x11 sheet — 150 sheets at $13.99!) It required just a small tweak to my normal Canon profile to match perfectly. Most people would likely not see any difference, but I noticed it in B&W.

Just wish it was available in semi-gloss. Now I'm interested in trying more private label papers, but I'll start a new thread for that topic.