canon and other papers

[virginia]

I'm thinking of getting the canon i960 printer and am wondering what kinds of canon (and other) papers you like using with it. When I had my darkroom I usually preferred matte, not sure if I will feel the same with color prints. Pricegrabber started at $5.80 (plus 5 for shipping) for 50 sheets of 8 1/2 by ll canon matte photo paper, which seemed pretty reasonable to me. What kind of canon papers do you like for your photographs? Where do you like to get them? What other kinds of papers (and paper and ink combos) do you like? I'm looking for more towards fine art rather than snapshot appearance, but keeping prices reasonable.

 

[Tysonic]

I'd start with some sampler packs from Ilford:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=8748

You can see Ilfords specs here along with profile downloads:
http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/homeng.html

Their papers are well regarded, especially the pearl (satin, semi-gloss etc.) versions. As for Canon papers, the only one I liked was Photo Paper Pro. If you belong to a Costo near you, look for Kirkland Photo paper. It comes in 125 packs for about $18. It is an Ilford product, however it's thinner than the standard Ilford papers (260gsm vs 280gsm).

IMHO, I thought my test prints with a Red River sampler pack were better than Ilford, Epson, or Canon papers despite the higher cost. They have many types of paper to choose from, I've standardized on Polar Gloss/Satin:
http://www.redrivercatalog.com/browse/index.htm

I've only used OEM ink, and I've recently profiled my printer and posted my results here:
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26

Tyson Schettig