I recently decided to replace some of my framed (amateur) watercolour paintings with some framed photos - so went in search of the best deal on packets of A3 glossy photo inkjet paper.
As anyone who has done the same, shopping for photo quality inkjet papers can be a bit of a challenge. To start, it's hard to find anything larger than A4. Then you have to decide on the brand - and does this really make a difference to the final printed product anyway? On offer are what I call 'the old staples' - from manufacturers such as: Epson, Canson, Ilford and Canon. Then there's a number of other brands that can often be harder to find, like Agfa, HP and Kodak, and then there's what you can find available online via Amazon and eBay - brands I have never heard of.
As my picture frames get updated from time to time I wasn't overly concerned with image longevity - I just wanted to find a product that reproduced the colour intensity and sharpness of the digital file faithfully. If it fades in a few years, I'm not that bothered.
Another factor to consider when shopping for a bargain is ink consumption - we all complain about the cost of inkjet inks. Even budget, generic ink brands are becoming increasingly expensive.
I use an Epson multi-function printer/scanner (XP900 ) that takes paper up to A3 (29.7mm x 420mm) and have been happily using generic inks from www.wholesaletoners.com.au for years. I have been very satisfied with both its lightening quick service, but also the reliability of its ink products. Like most, I get tired of being reminded by Epson software that the inks being used are 'not genuine Epson inks', as if I didn't know, but currently very I'm happy paying less than half the cost of the genuine Epson product. If I were selling my prints, I'd buy a pigment based printer - and load it with genuine archival inks, but that's a rabbit hole I'm not interested in exploring.
After a lot of investigation, and jotting down comparison prices, I eventually decided to try a brand I'd never heard of - MIR-AUS - a decision based mostly on its extremely attractive price: $1.20 per sheet of A3 Premium 260gsm gloss paper (pack of 20 sheets). The company specialises in dye-sublimation printing and continuous inking systems, something I'm not interested in - but it seems to have a good range of Premium Gloss, Matt, and Satin A4 and A3 papers in packs up to 50 sheets.
The results, printing out of Adobe Photoshop Elements were impressive, with excellent detail, surprisingly faithful colour, good contrast and brightness. If I'd bought a pack of 50, the unit cost reduces to just over a dollar a sheet, a bargain when compared to paying $4 or $5 per sheet for Epson, Canon or Ilford products. To be fair these more expensive papers are a little heavier (thicker) and have excellent (documented) archival characteristics, something that's not required in this example, although I will conduct my own fade tests over time. Currently my control print, taped to the window and enduring some of the hottest summers days in Sydney, has not faded noticeably after two months. At this early stage of testing, that's very encouraging...
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