Question about printing on high quality papers at home

[jordand]

For larger prints I use professional photo studio services.
For sizes up to A4 I usually use my Canon Pixma IP4600 printer and Canon Pro Platinum 300g/m photo paper, combination I’m completely satisfied with in most of the cases.
I sometimes try different kinds of artistic paper and inkAid coatings.
Thing is that I want to try some different types of media at home.
Visiting Hahnemuhle site I found that they offer different types of photo paper in A4 size, BUT they don’t provide ICC profiles for “small” printers, such as mine.
My question is: is it worth it buying expensive photo paper (such as Hahnemuhle) to print at home and if so, how am I supposed to deal with the lack of ICC profiles?

[James G]

Jordan, I print quite a lot. I use Epson printers and print A4 and A3 at home. Like you I also experiment with different papers.

So

is it worth it buying expensive photo paper (such as Hahnemuhle) to print at home and if so, how am I supposed to deal with the lack of ICC profiles?

Simple answer is yes (although I personally prefer Canson papers )

But... and there is always a but, it does mean that I have to generate my own ICC profiles.
I use the Spyder Print system from Datacolor http://spyder.datacolor.com/portfolio-view/spyderprint/. There are alternative systems out there, but I already used Datacolor Spyder for monitor calibration.

I'm more than satisfied with the results, and have in fact generated my own ICC profiles for all the papers I use, (including those not intended for digital photography).

[DanK]

There are also companies that will create ICC profiles for you, for $25-30 each.

After some years of frustration with this problem, I switched to dedicated photo printers. If you are willing to use dye-based inks, which I suspect you are using now anyway, you can get them for very little. Canon periodically puts their basic model (Pro-100) on special or bundles it with cameras, so the used market has lots of them , never used, for very little. I use a Pro-100, and it gives me wonderful results. I used the predecessor (Pro 9000 II) for several years and was very pleased with it.

[Manfred M]

In addition to the information that James and Dan have supplied, another option is to upgrade your printer to a colour photo printer that is supported by the paper makers.

When I look at the cost of the ColorData (Spyder) and x-Rite (ColorMunki and i1) paper profiling tools, it might be just as cost effective to buy a colour photo printer, especially if you already own a profiling tool for your screen. I know that when I bought my photo printer, I did some cost / benefit analysis and went for a more expensive model, just because the price of ink (on a cost per ml) was a lot less expensive. When Epson discontinued the 3880 (which is what I use), the price was still quite high, but the unit shipped with $600 of ink, so if one took that into account, the actual cost of the printer was less than a paper profiling device.

[James G]

Jordan, Manfred makes a valid point.

it might be just as cost effective to buy a colour photo printer,

In my case the cost benefit analysis took account of ongoing ink costs since I print quite a bit. (This is also particularly relevant if you 'experiment' a lot with alternative print media.)

I researched alternative ink systems because of the relatively high cost of Epson Inks. Following a number of excellent discussions on this forum about these systems I opted for a non Epson CIS. Essentially the ink economics made it a no brainer (80% cost reduction for ink). Both the alternative suppliers I have used over the last three years offer bespoke paper profiling service for their ink systems.

Profiling papers myself is arguably a less cost efficient solution, because of the initial outlay for the (Spyder) calibration system. But I if I'm honest I get a degree of satisfaction from controlling all aspects of the end-to-end imaging process myself.

Ultimately if you are more of an 'occasional' printer, following either Dan or Manfred's strategy, is more sensible from a time and cost point of view.

[DanK]

In addition to the information that James and Dan have supplied, another option is to upgrade your printer to a colour photo printer that is supported by the paper makers.

Sorry that I wasn't clear. That's what I was suggesting, but at a more budget level. For example, this is what I now use. You can see that Canon is having yet another special on it and that it is selling for $150. (I paid $0 for mine; it came bundled with a camera.) It uses dye-based inks, so the photos lack the permanence of pigment, but it is capable of gorgeous prints, and all of the paper vendors I have checked have ICCs for it.

I have been using dye-based printers for years and so far haven't had to reprint any faded prints. but I do use UV-[protective glass and usually don't hang prints in open sunlight.

Dye-based printers have an advantage as well: they almost never clog. I have left mine unused literally for months in adverse conditions, and I have never had a single clog.

[rpcrowe]

I use the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 II and am very happy with this printer, I paid less than $100 (USD) for this printer as it had been virtually given away by Canon as part of a camera package. It was in its unopened box when I received it...

+1 for the non-clogging attributes of this printer - when combined with Canon OEM ink products!

This printer replaced an Epson dedicated photo printer which seemed like it clogged if I waited a couple of days without printing with it

BTW: I also use a Brother laser printer (also sub $100) for my document printing. I do use third party toner with this printer and if I purchase my paper on sale, the Brother results in a cost of less than one cent per printed page which is really nice when I want to print a hard copy version of a PDF instruction manual for one piece of gear or another. I then have the manual spiral bound at a rather decent price at a local copy shop.

[Manfred M]

Dye-based printers have an advantage as well: they almost never clog. I have left mine unused literally for months in adverse conditions, and I have never had a single clog.

Dan - I think that might depend on the printer.

I have had dye based printers from Canon, HP and Lexmark (who got out of the inkjet business), that were unpredictable clog machines.

My Epson 3880 pigment photo printer that I've had for four or five years has never clogged even once. There was a period of around 9 months a few years ago that I did not print a thing, and when I finally did, the first print came out perfectly. That totally shocked me because of the extremely dry air we have in this part of the world over the winter.

I suspect like many other things, you get what you pay for, and companies targeting the commercial photography market realize that clogs are not acceptable in this class of machines.

[davidedric]

In the UK (I appreciate the OP is in Bulgaria) Permajet will profile any paper for £7 or $10, or any of their own extensive range of papers free.

https://www.permajet.com/Home

Dave

[marlunn]

Going back to the question on Hahnemuhle paper. I have printed their A4 paper on my Canon Pro 100s using the default icc profile on their web site and it looks very good, better than with the fotospeed tailored icc profile on their, fotospeeds, platinum etching paper in fact - even the reds are good. Noted the printer model difference but buy a sample pack of the A4 - use the default profile and see what you get - you may be surprised at how good it is. just ensure you use the nearest printer model/ manufacturer and the same ink type eg dye and it should be pretty close.

[loosecanon]

I think you will find Canon provide a lot of profiles for papers other than their own, but not epson. Most paper makers also provide a profile.

I make my own profiles because I also use independent inks - the saving on a set more than pays for a replacement printer head, but I have only replaced one. For long term storage of the head I take it out of the printer and store it in an airtight box with a few drops of water top stop it drying out.

[DanK]

I think you will find Canon provide a lot of profiles for papers other than their own, but not epson. Most paper makers also provide a profile.

Thanks for posting this. I use Canon printers, so I checked. I found this website: https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/p...-party-papers/. There are three boxes at the top, one for each of the Pro printers. These take you to pages that appear to have Canon-produced ICC profiles for a modest number of other papers, which seem to be mostly rag and fine art papers. Lower down on the page are manufacturer-specific links which take you to the manufactures' pages for ICC profiles for a much wider range of papers, along with handy tables showing compatibility of specific papers with each of the printers.