Matte paper

fotofreek

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I use double sided matte paper for greeting cards and had been using Epson Double sided matte for a few years. Last year I tried Staples photo supreme double side matte paper that is heavier than the Epson double side matte and prints beautifully on my i960. Much better feel than the Epson paper. I also just picked up a package of Kodak heavy matte paper at Costco that Kodak claims is suitable for printing on both sides. This is a new item at Costco. It does print on both sides nicely, but this paper is too thin for greeting cards or other double sided print jobs. The paper puckers from the wet ink in areas with a heavy ink density due to the fact that it is pretty thin. It would be suitable, however, for single sided CD case inserts or other jobs requiring light matte card stock. The price is really right. I was going to take it back as it was not suitable for my double side printing needs. I kept it, however, for test prints before printing on the Staples paper, and I will also use it for Nozzle tests when the pattern is broken in a very subtle way. I find that plain paper used for the nozzle test has a tendency to have the ink spread slightly in the paper fibers and make the test look better than it really is. I then use a piece of coated paper to get a sharper image of the test pattern.
 

on30trainman

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Just a heads up - If you are still using the Staples Matte Photo Supreme paper did you notice that Staples has a sale on it for $2 for 50 8" X 11" sheets? The sale goes until March 31st per their sale flyer. I just bought two packages and am going to give it a try soon. I see that you seem to like it alot. Boy at that price I may even pick up a couple more packs before the next weekend - if it works out OK for me.

Steve W.
 

fotofreek

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Great price - I should lay in a supply!

A later edit --- Trainman, thanks for the tip. For better or worse I had bought several packs of this paper on their two-for-the-price-of-one last November to use for this year's greeting cards for several holidays. Following your tip I stopped at one of the Staples stores in San Francisco yesterday and bought another five packs. At four cents per page this is a great deal for ANY inkjet coated paper on the market. In addition, it is the best weight of any coated paper I've used for greeting cards. I have used non-coated card stock in the past, but the color response with inkjet photos was pretty flat. Special coated papers give the best rendition of photos short of using glossy papers.

For a short time our Costco store had Kodak matte inkjet paper at a great price. It is a much lighter weight than the Staples photo supreme double sided matte paper, but it is suitable for other projects. I've used it for printing posters. I downloaded a poster program that breaks up the image into sections that can be printed on my i960 - 8.5x11 paper size. I've done some 20x30 posters in nine panels and mounted them on 20x30 foam core display board. The edges of the individual panels do show when looking up close, but it does give you an opportunity to print much larger than the printer format. You can also prepare the poster-size file and take it to Kinko's for printings so there are no seams. Fun stuff!
 

on30trainman

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fotofreek,
Just a follow up on my experience with the Staples matte paper. Finally got around to printing with it - wanted to make a printer profile for it before doing much printing. I have Profile Prism and have used it to profile the Costco Kirkland glossy paper with the Hobbicolor UW8 inks I am using with good results. Yesterday I printed out the printer target page and let it dry thoroughly over night - this morning I made the profile. Printed out a couple of the stock test prints - the grays are very clean and the colors look great. Printed out a picture that has also been printed on the Kirkland glossy paper and compared the two. All I can say right now is WOW. The results are fantastic. The matte finish of this paper makes for a great photo. I am going to continue playing with the printer profile some - just printed out the target again using the Photo Paper Pro setting with Q=1 on my ip6000D. Tomorrow I will make another profile with that target and see if I can see any difference in the output. I don't see any bleed through that would prevent me from printing on the reverse side either.

Actually today I was near my local Staples, so I went and bought 5 more packs of the paper. Just can't beat that pricing. Happy I found it and hope it keeps working well for me.

Steve W.
 

fotofreek

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Trainman - mine was a less scientific evaluation. Printed some photos as part of our annual greeting card and was amazed with the color response. Photoshop Elements 3, i960 with MIS refill inks, and just using the Canon settings.
 

alesk

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Let me add that I did the wedding invitations for my son's wedding in 2010 with Staples Photo Supreme double-sided matte paper and my Canon s9000 printer, and I'm not just tooting my horn in saying that the result was beautiful, and professional in quality. It is clearly my paper of choice when making greeting cards and the like.
I do however have a question.
Now that my s9000 has gone it's way after over 10 years of fine service I now use a Canon Pixima Pro 100.
I have only used it one time so far with this paper, using QImage and the standard photo matte settings, and the results were OK. However, do any of you have suggestions for additional settings for this paper and a Pro 100?
Thanks ...
 

Emulator

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Tried to cross reference to Staples in the UK, all I could find was

Staples Supreme Matt Paper A3, 270gsm, 20 Sheets 1 Pack
Available for free store delivery
Delivery: Next Working Day Item Number : WW - 392160
Buy More Save More
(ex VAT)
1 - 2 @16.67
3 - 5 @15.83
6 + @15.00

Presumably not the same!
 

Emulator

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Yes, that is the paper I currently use! It's mainly Ilford in origin and performs well.
 

rodbam

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Has anyone compared the Staples matt paper to the Canon photo matt paper? I often wonder when someone says they get very good prints from different mat papers as to haw good the prints really are. I have no choice or access to affordable matt paper down here but I did buy some A4 Canon matt paper & the results wouldn't stand up to caparison with say Ilfords smooth pearl etc.
The now discontinued Canon fine art premium matt printed beautifully for a matt paper & I could afford it now & then, $47 for 20 sheets of A3+. I'm really desperate to find an affordable mat paper locally that I'm considering buying an art watercolour book called Canson montval & use the pages from that, costs about $30 for an A3 book of 12 sheets 300gsm.
 

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