slightly OT..photo paper for Epson R1800

I know some of you folks have Epson printers and I just bought an R1800. I've been using all the Epson papers and I like the Premium Photo Lustre best but it is pretty expensive. Does anyone know a lustre type paper that is compatible with Epson but at a lower price. It is about $125.00 for 50 sheets right now. I'd be interested in knowing other brands that are also compatible. Thanks,

Jack

Ilford's Gallerie Smooth Pearl is better for print quality and feel in my opinion. You must get the "Smooth" version to be compatible with the R1800. I have both this Ilford and the Epson lustre. Can't say its much cheaper though. Downside to Ilford is that they only claim 30 years light fastness. I don't believe this though. I think it should be comparable to the results of any other RC paper with the R1800, which should be in the 70-80 year range.

That said, I typically print on matte papers, mostly Epson's Velvet Fine Art.

I agree on the recommendation of Ilford's Gallerie Smooth line. Ilford, AFAIK, hasn't published formal testing results of their paper's lightfastness, but I agree with Mel's assessment of the real longevity of prints.

I'm personally a Gloss person, but the Pearl is also excellent. Both of these papers are "whiter" than the corresponding Epson papers, so be sure to do a custom profile to get the most out of them and save yourself some headaches in color matching.

B&H sells the larger packs of paper from Ilford, and I do think they come in somewhat cheaper than Epson paper when purchased in the 50-packs.

That seems like a rather steep price.
Do the prices at Atlex look any better?

Probably, but the Super B papers are somewhat expensive. My velvet fine art is over $3 per sheet. Its $70 for a 20 sheet pack locally and not much cheaper at Atlex.

Luckily I bought 2 packs last year from Comp USA when they do their 2 for 1 paper sale. So much for that deal. I don't print much volume on this paper. I proof on the Epson enhanced matte, of which I have several boxes in letter size.

Mel, do you know if there is a local (Denver) outlet for the velvet? I havent tried that one yet. I work at Microcenter and we dont carry that one.

Jack

Comp USA carried it locally, but obviously they're out of business.

You might try Wolf's big store on Arapahoe. I would guess they'll have it. Mike's Camera might too.

Just so you know, the Velvet Fine art is a matte paper and very, very different from the luster. But I have excellent results from the velvet fine art on my R1800.

What I would recommend you do before you go down this path is look at the sample packs that Atlex sells. Maybe buy the BW1, LPSSAMPLE and the MATSMPL packs. Then you'll get to try a whole bunch of papers for not much money.

I've personally bought and tried the Hahnemuhle and Ilford sample packs and have several of the Epson papers on hand in various sizes (as in almost everything they make in Super B or smaller). The reason I use the Velvet fine art is not because it was my absolute favorite fine art paper, but that I got it for a very low price the last time I bought it.

This is really going the other way from the intent of your question, but if you like Premium Luster you may want to try out Harmon Glossy FB AI paper - it has an aluminum substrate that makes the final print seem more like traditional prints. It's not really "metallic" like the metallic prints you can order, but does add a bit more of a glow...

The reason I say it kind of goes the other way from your intent, is that the paper is $72 for 15 sheets of 13x19.

Possibly you could find the 13x32ft roll paper cheaper? I've not used the roll feeder on my 1800 yet.

BTW - B&H offers the 50-pack of Ilford 13x19 at $76.95.

I find that the Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl paper that Mel suggested is pretty good unless you are trying to print yellowish greens (like pine trees at dawn and dusk and early turning aspens). In that case, the canned profile has one hell of a time mapping those colors to something that's in gamut for the printer. I end up with a lot of blocking of colors in those instances which gives the images a painted look. I have the same problem with a custom profile I had made as well. You may be able to get better results if you do your own profile making though. I like the feel of the Smooth Pearl paper though. It just has a tendency to curl at the ends as it dries out in my house. I think I need a humidifier. :)

If you are still looking for a brand, you could also try the Inkjet Art Luster and Semi-Gloss sample pack.

http://www.inkjetart.com/cart/media-sample-packs-c-1_805.html

Also, the 50 pack of Epson Luster 13X19 is $100 at Inkjet Art or you could get 100 sheets for $160 and be done with it for a while.

Cheers!

Good suggestions from all...Thanks and I'll let you know how they work out. I did try the Ilford Smooth pearl on my Canon I9900 with good results so I'll see how it works on the 1800. I've used mattes before so I'm going to try Mels' suggestion as well. Thanks again.

Jack

Believe it or not, Kodak Professional Paper,Lustre is also quite serviceable on the R1800. In fact I like it a little better than Epson Premium Lustre. Can't remember the price from B&H.