Hi Bill,

If you are new to inkjet printing, I would suggest you stick for now with papers from the same company as your printer and ink. That way you will be assured of maximum compatibility and, if that info is available, have the fade resistance information. Mixing ink and printers from different companies may result in surprises in terms of color fidelity, lack of paper profiles, clogged nozzles and possibly fade issues.

IF you want to explore other papers and if fade resistance is important to you, then make sure you have fade resistance information on the particular printer/ink/paper combination. The only reliable source of fade information that I am aware of is:
www.wilhelm-research.com

Frans Waterlander
pixographer

Bill,

There are dozens and dozens of different papers on the market. It would be helpful to know a bit more about what you are seeking, and if it is for a dye-type inkjet or one of Epson's pigment ink printers. Do you need a cheap, plastic paper for casual snapshots, heavy paper for scrapbook pages, or fine, archival matter paper for pictures to be framed?????

Frans and David offer good suggestions - the paper choice really depends on what you want to output. Your choices will also be dictated to some degree by the type of printer you have - dye or pigment.
You'll normally have the best results with the least amount of work using the manufacturers paper. But, there are some excellent alternatives out there - some less expensive, some more.

Once again I would like to thank everyone for their help. Part of what I am trying to accomplish with my question is identifying the most appropriate printer for me, it will need to be an every-day printer as well as a photo printer. I realize that the Epson line is lauded by many, but the new Canon's really have attracted my attention. Additionally, I will be using the printer to make prints for a course that I am taking and while the primary effort there is composition, I do want the prints to be the best that I can make them. Hopefully, one or two will be worthy of framing or possibly even sales. Thanks once again.

I am a real amature at this ink jet stuff. When I finally broke down and bought a digital camera, I also got a laptop computer and an Epson R300 printer. I had no idea what paper to use and have gone to that Wilheim site looking. Afraid I didn't get much out of it. So I started looking around for what I could find and talking to different dealers about their papers. I was suprized at their claims for print life. Of course their nunbers may well have come out of thin air. So I decided to try anything and everything that said professional on the package. Of course I also use Epson's papers also and could use them exclusively with no regrets. But some papers give me a "luster" and a "satin" finish I really like. How they'll hold up in the long term,,,who knows?

What I do know is that other than Epson, my choices are huge here if I'm not willing to try office supply trade names. For stuff I really Worry about, I use Epson paper but also try out the same photos on other papers. Mostly Home Depot, Office Max and Staples. If I were selling I think I'ed stay with Epson. But the truth is that nobody can guarentee how any of these will do in the long run, everything must be artifically aged to come up with image life! I keep an envelope of test photos that are dated but am afraid I may die prior to those images.

I have found that two big name papers didn't work good at all in my printers but know other people that swear by them.
Go figure! I think that ink jet printing is to new to have any answers carved in stone yet but there is sound advice. That being that the printer makers ink and papers should always work. Oh, by the way, I have never tried any other than Epson ink in my Epson printers. Not enough for me to gain!

So, try everything but for serious stuff, stick the the printer makers papers sounds like sound advice to me for the time being.

I am a real amature at this ink jet stuff. When I finally broke down and bought a digital camera, I also got a laptop computer and an Epson R300 printer. I had no idea what paper to use and have gone to that Wilheim site looking. Afraid I didn't get much out of it. So I started looking around for what I could find and talking to different dealers about their papers. I was suprized at their claims for print life. Of course their numbers may well have come out of thin air. So I decided to try anything and everything that said professional on the package. Of course I also use Epson's papers also and could use them exclusively with no regrets. But some papers give me a "luster" and a "satin" finish I really like. How they'll hold up in the long term,,,who knows?

What I do know is that other than Epson, my choices are huge here if I'm willing to try office supply trade names. For stuff I really Worry about, I use Epson paper but also try out the same photos on other papers. Mostly Home Depot, Office Max and Staples. If I were selling I think I'ed stay with Epson. But the truth is that nobody can guarentee how any of these will do in the long run, everything must be artifically aged to come up with image life! I keep an envelope of test photos that are dated but am afraid I may die prior to those images.

I have found that two big name papers didn't work good at all in my printers but know other people that swear by them.
Go figure! I think that ink jet printing is to new to have any answers carved in stone yet but there is sound advice. That being that the printer makers ink and papers should always work. Oh, by the way, I have never tried any other than Epson ink in my Epson printers. Not enough for me to gain!

So, try everything but for serious stuff, stick the the printer makers papers sounds like sound advice to me for the time being.