What Brand & Type of Photopaper do you use?

d1hamby

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I've been using Staples photo Supreme because I only paid $0.04 for a 4X6 sheet.
 

pharmacist

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As a european guy Staples and Costco are unknown to me. I use the here "famous" SihlX 280 gsm high glossy photo paper from the german-based discount shop Aldi as my first choice. My next favourites are Tetenal semimatte, MOAB Photo paper satin (works great with my Epson Pro 3800, because it reduces gloss differential dramatically with the pigment ink combined with a more than satisfactory smooth glossy shine) and Epson own semigloss photo paper and luster photo paper.
 

fotofreek

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d1hamby said:
I've been using Staples photo Supreme because I only paid $0.04 for a 4X6 sheet.
d1hamby - I picked up some of the Staples glossy 4x6 paper to try it out when it was on sale for $1 per 60 sheets. If you have a Costco in your area try the 4x6 glossy photo paper - about the same price as the Staples you mention, excellent prints, and very good weight. The Staples paper I tried was their glossy photo plus. Too thin for a quality looking print. I haven't tried their photo supreme glossy paper as I really like the Costco paper a lot. The Staples photo supreme double sided matte paper is excellent.
 

lolopr1

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Pro 4800 OEM Inks: Epson Luster, Premium Semi-gloss & Velvet Fine Art Paper.
R1800 IS inks: Inkpress Fine Art Matte Canvas & Epson Enhanced Matte.
 

mikling

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It looks like the Kirkland Professional Glossy is the most popular paper used by refillers.

I wonder if Costco stopped selling it, do we know of an alternative? ....That can match it for cost and performance?

Let's discuss this here
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5133

it probably warrants a new thread
 

fotofreek

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For "everyday" photo prints the Staples glossy 4x6 paper(not their photo supreme) that I picked up on a sale at $1 for 60 sheets wasn't bad. I see that next week they have HP 4x6 photo paper (I think it was listed as "everydayJ") at $1 for 100 sheets. That part of the ad was very small - I hope I'm reporting it correctly. I wouldn't want to buy these papers at their retail price as the Costco paper is so good and inexpensive, but for a few quick prints it isn't bad,

Since photo paper doen't seem to suffer a shelf life I would stay several boxes ahead in case they do discontinue it. Costco, like most of the big box stores, keeps ordering what sells well as long as their profit margins are OK. I originally had an Epson inkjet printer and found 8.5x11 Epson Glossy photo paper at Costco. It was very nice paper and priced well. When I switched to the Canon i960 I tried that paper and found that it produced excellent results. When Costco dropped the Epson paper from their inventory and changed to their own brand paper I was initially disappointed and even complained (to no avail!) to Costco. The Coscto paper turned out to be a bit heavier weight and smother surfaced. Better in my estimation.

Whenever Staples has their double sided matte photo supreme paper on sale for $1 I buy the max number of packages - presently 2 packs. I usually have six or more packs on the shelf although I only use a few packs a year for greeting and holiday cards.
 

mikling

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fotofreek

I can only dream of the deals you are reporting down there.

Sometimes these discount papers are quite good especially if they are profiled. In fact the Oasis paper I reported using is a discount paper that performs much better that the Kirkland Professional Glossy on a color performance basis. For what it's worth, I know that the Kirkland professional Glossy holds back printers like the Pro9000. The output from the Oasis paper on the Pro9000 is easily visually superior. With this paper, the Pro9000 smartly shows what it can really do. With the Kirkland, it was a little more effort to see the differences between it and something like an iP4200 or MP600. Though once you knew where to look, it was a piece of cake to see the differences.
 

fotofreek

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I haven't seen Oasis paper - do you buy it in a retail store, or do you buy it online?
 

mikling

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Existed in dollar stores for a little while then disappeared. Not to be seen anymore. I was lucky in that I was able to obtain letter size that I could use to create profiles and then loaded up on 4x6 when I found out the gem it was. These are not to be found anymore but I have my stash. It is a Chinese brand as most things from the dollar store.
 
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