Epson Artisan 50 + Ultra Premium Glossy Paper: Whoa!

[George Tyndall]

To the best of my knowledge, this is Epson's least costly photo printer (under $100). Fifty sheets of Epson's paper costs under $40, and there may be enough ink included with the printer to cover all of those. This is 79lb paper (regular inkjet paper is 20-24lb) with a truly mirror-like surface.

I also have some ULtra Premium Matte Presentation paper on order. I'll report on it later.

Steve, I'm very glad I followed your advice to use genuine inks, which for this printer are Epson's Claria six-color. Thanks for that advice.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

For prints up to A4 I use Costco's Kirkland paper. Sadly they don't do larger sizes so I have been buying Canon's A3.

[Steve Grisetti]

Gotta love the Costco alternative, John!

[Gerlinde]

I use Red River paper. If you haven't heard of them, I recommend to check them out. They offer sample packs of their paper at a very low price and they have different versions depending on the ink your are using. They also have all custom print profiles to down load for Epson, Canon and HP printers.
Great selection of specialty papers too. And if you are a NAPP member:

NAPP members can order a free inkjet paper sample pack from Red River Paper. Kits include over 20 different papers compatble with any printer.

Red River inkjet papers are as good as or better than the big name brands.

Go to http://www.redriverpaper.com/napp

[George Tyndall]

For prints up to A4 I use Costco's Kirkland paper. Sadly they don't do larger sizes so I have been buying Canon's A3.

I've never noticed photo paper there. Where should I look?

[George Tyndall]

I use Red River paper. If you haven't heard of them, I recommend to check them out. They offer sample packs of their paper at a very low price and they have different versions depending on the ink your are using. They also have all custom print profiles to down load for Epson, Canon and HP printers.
Great selection of specialty papers too.

g, I checked the site. Their heavyweight glossy sells for less than half what I paid. I'll try some.

Where on the site do I see the custom print profile for Epson?

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Don't know where you might look in Costco in the US. In the UK the photo paper tends to be near the printer inks.

Originally I was buying both Epson and Kodak paper from Costco. Then they stopped selling both and had only Kirkland Signature Professional Glossy Inkjet Photo Paper. I bought some and was very pleased with the results.

I recall reading somewhere, but cannot vouch for the veracity, that if the paper packaging had 'Made in Switzerland' printed on it then it was made by Ciba Geigy who at that time owned Ilford (the photographic film and paper manufacturer, not the UK town . Since then Ilford had been bought out by the management and is no longer a Ciba-Geigy subsidiary. If the package had 'Made in USA' on it then it was made by Kodak.

[Barb O]

For prints up to A4 I use Costco's Kirkland paper. Sadly they don't do larger sizes so I have been buying Canon's A3.

I've never noticed photo paper there. Where should I look?

twosheds and George,
The recommendations that I have seen and heard for the Costco Kirkland paper were that it performed well on Canon photo printers as an alternative to the Canon paper. The emphasis here is on Canon printer. So I would not necessarily expect similar results on George's Epson printer.

twosheds,
Have you used the Kirkland paper with an Epson photo printer?

George,
I expect to be in my local Costco sometime this week so I could look. I was thinking that the Kirkland photo paper might have been near the printer inks which were an isle or two further into the store from where the printers are on display.

[George Tyndall]

Where on the site do I see the custom print profile for Epson?

I found the location, however, upon reading up on the particular paper that I ordered -- "Ultra Pro Glossy 2.0- it appears that I can use the Epson setting for the paper with the similar name. I'll try that first and report back after I've received the paper.

BTW, if this 68-lb paper really does look as good as Epson's 79-lb version, then I will be VERY impressed, as Red River's version costs less than half the amount.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

....twosheds, Have you used the Kirkland paper with an Epson photo printer?.....

No, Barb. Only photo printer that I have is a Canon (i9950), which concurs with your comments about printer makes and compatibility with the Kirkland paper.

[Bob]

I used the Kirkland glossy photo paper with an Epson 1280 with excellant results. It was virtually indistinguishable from the Epson glossy paper. However, that printer did not use Claria inks. My present printer uses Claria Inks, but I haven't tried the Kirkland paper with it.

[Gerlinde]

Hi George,
sorry I didn't answer earlier, I was away for a couple of days and no computer

I'm glad you found the printer profiles. I always use the Epson profiles with the Red River Paper too and they work as well as the RRP profiles on both of my printers. I have a Stylus Photo R220 and a Stylus Photo R1800. I really like their 60lb River Linen and the Arctic Polar Gloss.

I have a box of Kirkland Paper too, but I never use it any more. What Epson profile are you using for that?

Make sure you order a sample pack from Red River, you will get 20 different papers ( 2 sheets each, 8.5x11 ) for $8 plus shipping.

[George Tyndall]

I have a box of Kirkland Paper too, but I never use it any more. What Epson profile are you using for that?

Make sure you order a sample pack from Red River, you will get 20 different papers ( 2 sheets each, 8.5x11 ) for $8 plus shipping.

I used the Epson Ultra Premium Pro Glossy Photo profile with the Kirkland (as advised by Kirkland) and got results AT LEAST as good as with the Epson paper, despite the fact that the latter is 79-lb and the Kirkland is 69-lb (but feeding one sheet at a time, haven't tried loading more).

I will order the Red River samples now, thanks for reminding me.