Longevity: Epson paper on canon printer.

[r.sriram]

Is there any reason canon paper, specifically, photo paper plus, semi gloss

would yield longer lasting prints on canon printers and inks, as opposed to

using Epson paper on the same ip4200 printer? Is there some special way the

canon inks and paper interact, which could affect print life? I ask because I

can get Epson semi-gloss 251g/m^2 paper at nearly half the price of equivalent

canon 260g/m^2 paper.

[matt_mccarthy3]

What usually matters on print longevity is the quality of the paper when using the pigment-

based inks. Dye-based inks are at the same level as what you see in magazines and cheap

posters. Pigment based inks use the same kind of material as you would find in paint, thus it

will have more longevity. Papers that are acid-free and uncoated generally have longer print

lives. To get more out of a semi-gloss, you may want to consider a UV coating sparay.

These usually extend the life of any print surface. As far as I know, Epson's printer/ink

combinations yield longer print lives than Canon's do. Take a look at the Wilhelm Institute's

ratings for that.

[vincent_j_m]

I've used Epson semi gloss paper on my canon printer, but it always has a greenish/cyanish color cast. No matter how much I tweak the image in PS I still get this cast or something else which is equally weird after too much tweaking. Methinks we need proper profiles for the paper but how I'm going to do that and what it would cost escapes me.

 

Is there any other paper which works nicely with canon printers which doesn't produce a color cast like Epson? Or any profiles available online for free or a low cost?

[david_lau3]

I understand short longevity is a problem but if it is over 10 years why we care that much? If we keep our image file properly we can always reprint it later. As technology advances it is very likely that the reprint 10 years later will be much better than the current one.

[david.seaton]

Prehaps the OP is giving it away as a gift. Or is selling it. Or it is a large print on expensive paper (well Canon photo paper plus isn't a super expensive paper relative to some fine art ones).

[r.sriram]

Thanks for the suggestions. As for colour shifts, yes I did see a significant cyan shift on Epson paper <i>if I let the printer manage colour</i> by choosing "Printer colour management" while printing from photoshop. However, I experimented with the profiles supplied, and found very accurate colour rendition using Epson paper using the Canon ip4200 SP2 and PR2 profiles, and relative colorimetric. Surprisingly, I get slightly <i>more</i> accurate colours when using Epson paper and these profiles, compared to the same image printed on canon paper.