Good photo quality prints on a budget.
Written: Aug 26 '03 (Updated Aug 27 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful pictures on a budget
Cons: May curl slightly when dried and exposed.
The Bottom Line: Beautiful photos on a budget, but may curl when exposed. A bit on the thin side.
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| hm8080's Full Review: Epson Glossy Photo Quality Paper A4-Size 20 shee... |
For you US Letter folks, A4 size is 8.3" x 11.7" and is the standard paper size in Europe and most other regions in the world. It is however, available in the US too if you'd like borderless photos of this size printed on your Epson, or Canons that support borderless A4 photos.
I recently bought an Epson Photo Stylus 830 to print my own photos taken with my Canon Powershot A60 and Canon S45.
(Notice how I've discovered you can actually have hyper links in your review body? Love it!)
Anyway, I also needed photo quality paper and Epson recommends that we use Epson photo printer for best results. The various comments and user postings on Usenet newsgroups also indicate that Epson's photo printers print best on Epson photo paper. This isn't surprising as most printer makers really tailor their inks to look best on their papers (and vice versa).
But Epson's premium glossy photo papers are a bit too expensve for my cash budget (I have since 1999 bought everything in cash and vowed never to use the credit card again, this has worked wonders in that I have managed to save actual money - cash! and no more mountainous bills and exorbitant interest rates!).
So I went looking for cheap photo paper. The first I tried was a generic brand and I thought it was very good...until I bought an Epson sample pack to try...the results were just gorgeous. Since then, I've bought more Epson photo paper and this glossy paper is certainly worth the money! It costs only about $12 if I'm not mistaken, however, I can get mine for about $8 - 10 after bargaining with the local mom and pop store :)
That's great and I've thus far printed more than 20 fullsized A4 photos on this paper. The results are much more vibrant and alive than when printed on the generic glossy photo paper. Colors and contrasts are just much more clearer and brighter.
I have yet to try Epson's premium glossy photo paper so I can't comment on that but I think if their budget glossy paper looks this good, then the premium must look even better.
Now, the package tells us to set the printer driver to "Photo Paper" and Epson's printer driver automatically selects "Photo" mode when printing using their Epson PhotoQuicker software (which comes with their inkjet printers, even low-end C40 series models).
This mode is definitely appropriate for this paper as it prints at 1440 x 720 dpi isntead of 2880 x 720 dpi which consumes more ink but produces better details. This paper is rated for printing at this mode best and it makes sense since it is a budget paper. The higher mode is for Epson's premium glossy paper.
I have tried printing at the higher "Best Photo" mode and the results aren't immediately distinguishable, perhaps because it needs the glossy premium paper? But the minute dithering patterns of the lower "Photo" mode is gone. but put side by side, both modes on this photo paper looks almost identical so it is advised that users of this paper simply use the "Photo" quality mode for printing on this paper.
The paper also curls slightly when you leave it exposed although in a dark room. I left one out on a shelf in a dark corner and it has curled rather badly. The other photos I stored away in a storage compartment have remained flat.
Also, I noticed that the colors have not faded any, even when unsealed and exposed to the air. But Epson strongly cautions against this and advises users to seal the photos away from moisture and sunlight. My photos have not been exposed to bright light so I'm not sure if they will fade all too quickly and I certainly don't intend to test this and waste one good photo!
All in all, I can get about 20 high quality A4 prints with one Epson cartridge and perhaps 30 "Photo" quality prints (some people one Usenet claim 40 per cartridge) on the Epson 820/830. Factor in the cost of this budget glossy paper and color ink cartridges and each print costs about 96 cents to print. That is somewhat expensive, but definitely worth it.
I recommend this paper for those who intend to save some money and yet have beautiful quality prints. Just make sure you keep your prints in an album or stored away in a dark compartment/room.
There aren't many photo paper reviews here on Epinions, if you have used photo papers of any type before, do write your comments on here. It'd be very helpful I'm sure! Till next time, happy printing! ;)
By the way, you can view two of my sample (low resolution) digital photos at
http://hxm4x.tripod.com/sunflower.jpg
and
http://hxm4x.tripod.com/genius.jpg
Sorry, can't make the links to work cause Tripod seems not to allow external link references to any material they host.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
hm8080
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Location: Where the sun rises first
Reviews written: 61
Trusted by: 32 members
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Sometimes there not always here...
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