what is the "best" photo paper to print photo's

i like to know if any one knows a site that reviews photo papers like

kodak ,agfa etc and compare colors quality and paper quality , and

how long the photo holds in good quality ( assuming the conditions

are ok )

Wilhelm Imaging Research. (On web.) But they are more interested inthe stability of ink-jet inks and papers these days. That's where the money is.

 

Forget about Agfa, going out of business. (They also made some of the most unstable color paper 20 years ago.)

 

Fuji's Crystal Archive papers are probably still the most stable RA-4 papers. They have a very wide color gamut, and slightly hyper color saturation. They produce better results with Fuji films than Kodak films.

 

Kodak's Endura papers are their competing professional product. Very respectable stability. Not as wide a color gamut as the Fuji, and lower contrast. Available in three saturation levels (Portra, Supra, and Ultra). With Kodak Portra films, these are very accurate papers, track a great grey scale, and produce very natural results. The king of flesh tones (long Kodak's forte). They also work quite well with Fuji films.

 

Then there's the super-high-contrast high-saturation consumer papers, like the Kodak Edge and Royal products. If you want incredibly bright, saturated snapshot prints, these are just fine. For the stores with the banners outside saying "Now, brighter colors!" (I swear, I saw this at a Walgreens!) But if you want prints that have anything to do with what the subject looked like, forget it...

Kodak Edge paper never produces "incredibly bright, saturated

snapshot prints" for me. More like "overexposed with dull colors"

but that could be Qualex printing. Royal paper seems similar to Supra.

 

Fuji Crystal Archive, even the amateur version, seems to mimic sRGB

colors shown on your monitor better than any other paper. Could be the lab combos I've tried, hard to say.

Fuji Crystal Archive paper is considered the longest lasting silver halide paper, as tested by Wilhelm Research. As far as colour fidelity goes, nearly any paper can yeid exellent results, provided the equipment is set up properly. The brand of paper has the least influence in the quality of the end result. To compare them properly you would need to print the same image on the same equipment, with the same settings, and there would probably be very litle difference in appearance.

I'll echo Bill's comments on Edge and Royal. I actually like Royal, though I think I should start sending much of my negs off to have large prints made on Portra. Edge, on the other hand, makes beautiful orange clouds at dawn look a sickly dark yellow (a real experience I once had, and the person running the lab COULD NOT get the color right...and she knew what she was doing).

<i>The brand of paper has the least influence in the quality of the end result. To compare them properly you would need to print the same image on the same equipment, with the same settings, and there would probably be very litle difference in appearance.</i><P>Have you worked in a color darkroom? This hasn't been my experience at all. That said, it would be silly to assume that the same settings will give equivalent results, you adjust the settings to get the maximum out of the paper you use.