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tooki · Aug 31, 2003 , 10:57 AM

I have an idea for a site that could be really useful to a lot of us: a database that lists compatibility between different inkjet printer models and different brands of inkjet paper.

For example:

Epson Photo Paper works perfectly in both my Epson SC740, and in my new Canon i850.

I have some 3M brand photo paper, and it works fine in the Epson, but not in the Canon -- the ink pools up in dense areas. I have some old Kodak photo paper that does the same thing, as well as some brand-new Burlington photo paper from Target.

I for one can't afford to buy a whole pack of every brand of paper to see if my printer likes it or not -- but the whole internet can.

Presumably we'd need to design some test page PDFs for people to print, since a lot of folks don't even know the defects we'd be looking for.

What do you people think?

(The inspiration for this -- other than the frustration with incompatible papers -- is xlr8yourmac.com's Drive Compatibility database.)

tooki

snct · Aug 31, 2003 , 11:43 AM

I agree that it's a good idea. I didn't know that there were incompatibilities between photo papers; as I usually just get the HP paper for my HP printer. Such a database could help people save some money though.

Immortal K-Mart Employee · Aug 31, 2003 , 01:04 PM

I found that kodak paper works well in just about everything.

X-Ray · Aug 31, 2003 , 03:10 PM

Generic papers like Kodak will work in general purpose ink jets. For example it works fine on my HP 950. If you own a photo ink jet printer you'll need to use the manufacturer's paper. Kodak paper will work neither in my HP Photosmart 7150 printer nor my Canon i70. The inks and paper in photo printers are developed for stability and fade resistance when used in conjunction with the manufacturer's ink. Even if Epson paper will work in a Canon it is ill advised as long term stability and fade resistance are probably compromised. Anyway why would you want to use Epson paper? Canon's branded paper is much nicer with a gloss finish that's hard to beat!

tooki · Aug 31, 2003 , 04:06 PM

(1. I have a stash of Epson paper from when I had an Epson as my primary printer.
2. Epson's paper [which is comparable to Canon's Photo Paper Plus] is cheaper than Canon's

3. I doubt the stability is affected.

4. It makes no difference whether the printer is a photo printer or not, it's all about the ink formulation, no matter what the printer's design is. My i850 is a 4-color inkjet and it still doesn't accept a lot of paper. An Epson 6-color dye inkjet will work with anything. Any printer with pigment inks needs different paper than printers with dye inks. The ink that my printer uses is the same ink as many older Canons that were decidedly not photo printers.

tooki)

tooki · Aug 31, 2003 , 04:11 PM

In any case, this is not a thread about which papers work where. It's a thread to gauge interest in a website to document explicit tests of combinations of printers and papers (all kinds of paper, including non-photo papers).

tooki

reynard · Sep 1, 2003 , 10:31 PM

I like the idea. Might encourage pricing competition among manufacturers if it was found that buying a different brand of paper gave you similar results.

bradoesch · Sep 2, 2003 , 09:24 AM

I'd be interested in seeing the difference between the Epson paper and Kodak paper with my Epson SC760 and a test PDF.

scadboy · Sep 7, 2003 , 09:25 PM

I consider this absolutely necessary, and have a wealth of experience with both commercial inkjet papers and non-standard printing materials that I would be more than happy to contribute to such a venture.

sounds like fun

Back up 15 and punt · Sep 8, 2003 , 04:10 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
(1. I have a stash of Epson paper from when I had an Epson as my primary printer.
2. Epson's paper [which is comparable to Canon's Photo Paper Plus] is cheaper than Canon's

3. I doubt the stability is affected.

4. It makes no difference whether the printer is a photo printer or not, it's all about the ink formulation, no matter what the printer's design is. My i850 is a 4-color inkjet and it still doesn't accept a lot of paper. An Epson 6-color dye inkjet will work with anything. Any printer with pigment inks needs different paper than printers with dye inks. The ink that my printer uses is the same ink as many older Canons that were decidedly not photo printers.

tooki)

Not completely true about pigmented vs. dye based inks. HP current line of printers use both pigmented and dye base inks to print photographs. Their standard tri-color cartridge 57 uses pigmented cyan, magenta, and yellow inks. This cartridge works in conjunction with HP's photo cartridge 58 which uses pigmented colors light cyan, light magenta and a dye based black ink.

tooki · 03:41 PM

Are you sure it's not the other way around -- pigment black and dye colors?

(Dye black is notorious for not being dark enough.)

I should rephrase what I was thinking when i wrote the pigment-vs-dye-compatible paper thing: a paper has to be designed to work with one or both kinds of inks. Papers designed for dye only (e.g. most inkjet paper) is horrid with pigment inks (you get weird metallic sheens, variations in gloss, and other weirdness). Papers designed for pigment ink can have problems with the ink not drying soon enough. More recent manufacturer papers (Canon, Epson) seem to be designed to work well with both types of inks (especially since Epson now uses hybrid inks, the DuraBrite ink). One of Canon's new models, the i860, uses both dye and pigment black inks, for optimum text and photo printing.

Dyes need to sink into the surface of the paper for best results, while pigments need to sit at the surface to look their best.

tooki

tooki · Sep 9, 2003 , 03:48 PM

The main problem I see is that most third-party inkjet paper is just not compatible with certain inks (like Canon's ubiquitous BCI-3e and BCI-6 series ink). I kinda get the impression that modern printer inks, regardless of whether they are dye or pigment based, or a hybrid, behave more like one another than they have in the past, but that the third-party paper technology has not advanced together with the inks.

tooki

veryniceguy2002 · Sep 24, 2003 , 07:45 AM

Originally posted by tooki:
The main problem I see is that most third-party inkjet paper is just not compatible with certain inks (like Canon's ubiquitous BCI-3e and BCI-6 series ink). I kinda get the impression that modern printer inks, regardless of whether they are dye or pigment based, or a hybrid, behave more like one another than they have in the past, but that the third-party paper technology has not advanced together with the inks.

tooki

Tooki,

From my experience, the paper incompatability problem also happens to OEM paper, not just 3rd party ones (I had a problem before where printing on a HP printer using original HP ink on a HP paper doesn't come out well).

I like your suggestion to setup such web site! At least I hope it would give me an answer such as "If I use HP xxx paper on an Epson paper (because it's cheaper than the Epson equivalent paper), would it come out OK?", without gambling to buy a 50-sheet pack to try it out...

betoranaldi · Oct 13, 2003 , 01:18 PM

Well I am knowledgable in php and mysql (basic) and would love to throw up a dynamic page were people can post there findings in this area.

Would people be interested in this?

if so how exactly would you like me to layout this information?

Just let me know...

-Brian

JB72 · Nov 19, 2003 , 12:48 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
I have an idea for a site that could be really useful to a lot of us: a database that lists compatibility between different inkjet printer models and different brands of inkjet paper.

...

What do you people think?

(The inspiration for this -- other than the frustration with incompatible papers -- is xlr8yourmac.com's Drive Compatibility database.)

I think that's a tremendously good, useful idea Tooki. The XLR8 database is invaluable to me.

Best of luck.

billybob128 · Dec 12, 2003 , 05:34 PM

HP everyday photo paper works here with my epson sylus 760 amazingly well

dpfenninger · Dec 13, 2003 , 12:13 PM

Anyone know if Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper works with the Canon i950/i960?

I have a lot of Epson paper for my Stylus Photo 780, but am thinking of getting the Canon i960 and would hate to just dump all this paper.

Thanks!

X-Ray · Dec 14, 2003 , 11:44 AM

Unofrtunately, the Epson will not work. Photo (as opposed to general purpose innkjet) printers of all brands are restricted to using only their own proprietary papers.

dpfenninger · Dec 14, 2003 , 07:26 PM

Originally posted by X-Ray:
Unofrtunately, the Epson will not work. Photo (as opposed to general purpose innkjet) printers of all brands are restricted to using only their own proprietary papers.

Huh? Then what is the purpose of this thread?

tooki · Dec 16, 2003 , 12:56 AM

I have found that Epson papers work just fine in my i850. It's possible (but unlikely) that the i960's inks (which are the BCI-6 series, vs the BCI-3e series in the i850) don't work, but since they use the same Canon papers, I assume it'll work fine.

tooki

Eug Wanker · Dec 29, 2003 , 10:10 AM

Which specific papers do people use? I bought all Canon paper as a gauge for my i960. The Canon papers seem price competitive with stuff like Epson, etc. around here, but none of them are cheap.

I've purchased for testing:
PR-101 - Photo Paper Pro ($$$$$)
PP-101 - Photo Paper Glossy Plus ($$$$)
MP-101 - Matte Photo Paper ($$$)

See info here.

I figure the Matte will be good for printing colour throwaway maps and stuff, no?

Disgruntled Head of C-3PO · Dec 30, 2003 , 01:56 PM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:

I figure the Matte will be good for printing colour throwaway maps and stuff, no?

Throwaway stuff I print on plane paper and it looks fine.

You can also get the kodak double sided stuff to save money, it looks pretty good.