Lexjet papers...what do you think of ESatin and William Turner?

I just purchased a new printer today (Epson SureColor P700) after being out of the home printing business for a very long time. I used to print most of my photos on two Lexjet papers, a William Turner 190g, and an Ilford Pearl. They no longer sell the Ilford pearl but they recommended their own brand ESatin 360g.

 

I was just wondering if there is anything new or different I should know about on the paper front.

I've tried lots of bargain papers and middle-of-the-road papers, but with my old Epson stylus Photo R1800 I always got good results with Epson's own better papers.

The two papers you mentioned were both produced by top-tier paper companies--Hahnemuehle and Ilford. I'm not sure, but I think the Ilford may have been a baryta paper. This past year, a number of popular high-end baryta papers disappeared from the market because one paper mill changed its equipment. (Paper companies buy much of their paper from other mills.) One was Canson Baryta Photographique (the original), which was my favorite. Not sure whether the Ilford met the same fate.

 

I stick with major brands--mostly Canson and Breathing Color now, but also Moab and sometimes Red River. I personally would rather buy directly from them to know what I'm getting.

 

Beyond that, I think you need to provide more information about what you want before anyone can suggest specific papers. There are scores of choices. E.g., for a coated paper, do you want something that's museum grade, or are you OK with a cheaper resin-coated paper? Do you want OBAs? How cold or warm? How much texture?

when i used to print, i went through a lot of papers. i noticed over the years that most prints did not hold up well over time, and so i always go with archival paper. i like thick paper and i never go with a high gloss finish. The Hannemuls William Turner was a favorite of mine, but i forget satin or pearl paper i liked most. WT has a lot of texture. I don’t know what OBA is

OBA stands for optical brightening agent. OBAs are dyes that fluoresce under UV light. They are used to create a cold white color. Most but not all cold-tone papers have some OBAs. Some people (including me) avoid them for archival printing because they fade over time. In addition, papers with OBAs can look quite different under different lighting; under lighting with little UV or when hung behind UV-protective glass, the OBAs don't fluoresce, and the papers look warmer.

 

Re high-gloss: I rarely use high-gloss papers, but I use mostly coated papers--baryta-style, luster, and satin. IMHO, the first cut is between coated and uncoated papers. Then there are many choices within both, and many in both categories are archival.