Printing your images on paper is one of the greatest satisfactions there is, although I have to say I need to print more myself. I have been using Epson papers for a long time, but lately I have also experimented with Hahnemuehle’s Matt FineArt and Bamboo papers as well as Museo Artist cards from Crane & Co.
It appears that Epson has just expanded their offering of what they call Signature Worthy™ papers which is directed at professional photographers and fine artists. You can read the full press release below.
Epson’s Press Release
LONG BEACH, Calif., Jan. 12, 2010 – Epson America is now shipping an expanded offering of Signature Worthy™ papers to professional photographers and fine artists. This expanded collection includes new Epson Hot Press and Cold Press Papers and Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper, all of which are optimized for use with award-winning Epson Stylus Pro printers.
Offering advanced capabilities, these media types are poised to redefine fine art markets in unique ways. Epson Signature Worthy papers enable photographers to achieve images with richer blacks, wider color gamuts and smoother tonal transitions that define the ultimate expression in print making.
“Epson fine art papers were inspired by the hand craftsmanship of artisans who developed the first watercolor papers and were vigorously tested to ensure prints have the highest print quality with consistency from roll to roll and sheet to sheet,” said Jeff Smith, product manager, professional imaging, Epson America. “In combination with Epson professional printers, these Signature Worthy papers give professional photographers and artists exciting new substrates that enable them to realize their creative vision.”
Optimized for use with Epson Stylus Pro Printers and inks, including new Epson UltraChrome® HDR ink technology (found in the Epson Stylus® Pro 7900 and 9900), the new Signature Worthy Hot Press and Cold Press Papers yield richer blacks, smoother tonal transitions and an expanded color gamut to produce the most advanced fine art prints. The Hot Press papers offer a smooth surface and Cold Press papers feature a textured surface. In addition, Hot Press and Cold Press Bright offer a bright white point, while the Hot Press and Cold Press Natural offer a warm white point.
Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper and Signature Worthy Hot Press and Cold Press fine art cut sheet papers are now available through authorized Epson Professional Imaging resellers. For more information on Epson’s complete line of professional media, visit: www.proimaging.epson.com.
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13. January 2010 at 8:09 pm
I have an Epson Stylus Photo R800, which I’ve managed to get some decent prints on (although I was frustrated to find Epson launched an A3 version just after I bought it).
I’ve always struggled to get the colour management 100% right though – it’s a bit of an art in itself, I think. I’ve only ever managed to be successful using an Epson printer + Epson inks + Epson paper + Epson printer driver, which makes sense, as the whole print path is calibrated.
I did once use some cheaper inks in my printer, and regretted it. I didn’t manage to get one good (photographic) print out of the set of cartridges.
I’ve seen some great monochrome prints on paper with a high fibre content come out of home printers – I might try these myself.
13. January 2010 at 9:16 pm
Thanks for the comment Mike.
Yes, I totally agree, colour management is a big art – or pehaps rather science – in itself.
I do think using Epson inks for Epson printers is important over third party inks as well as using the printer driver that ships with the printer.
As for papers I do get good results with Epson papers, but equally I have had no problems using other papers as long as you use their specific paper profile for proof and printing.
I’m not a printing expert, but calibrating your monitor is absolutely crucial to get good results with your prints. I used to use a simple Colorvision Spyder for this together with a Dell monitor (software calibration) and it provided me some very fine prints that I was happy with.
However I have since upgraded to an Eizo ColorEdge CE210W monitor (hardware calibration) which is a very nice (and expensive) monitor. I bought it as I wanted the best colours I could get for my fine art prints, but I do think you can actually achieve some very fine results with a basic monitor calibration device and a reasonably good monitor.
Thomas