Printing on cast paper with the PRO-10

[palombian]

Sadly enough Aldi doesn't sell it's famous (and cheap) RC paper anymore.
For my calendars I need 100-150 A4's every year.
So I searched for leftovers in my stock and found cast papers of different (or no) brands.
(these papers have a cardboard back where you can write on with a pencil, while RC - resin coated - paper has a plastic back).

When making a printer profile the ink was smeared. Setting the printhead higher (avoid paper abrasion) removed the smear but the color patches had blank dots.
I suspected the CO (gloss optimiser) and set for matte paper.
This solved the problem.
I got gamut volumes between 850.000 and 970.000 for different papers. About the same as good quality matte papers but below the 1.300.000 of the Aldi (not far below Canon Platinum).

As with the PRO-9500 the regular matte setting uses the PBK black ink and not the MBK, a luck when printing on glossy paper.

After all the results are very acceptable for give away prints, but I wouldn't buy cast paper again.
I continue scanning local 2nd hand sites, sometimes I find old stock of good quality.

Happy printing to you all in 2025.

 

[pharmacist]

They have very nice paper and not expensive at this polish webshop:

https://www.papierdozdjec.pl/

You can ask for a quote about costs and shipping to Belgium. No cast paper but quality RC papers. Available in different quality options (240-300 gsm), glossy and satin/pearl papers: from A6 tot A2

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

@palombian - you are reaching the limits of a cast coated paper, some don't like pigment inks at all. Sellers promise you the best colors ever - the widest gamut and all that - I made the same experience. It may look a little bit better with dye inks.

 

[pharmacist]

I have some papers of Label Ocean 230 gsm cast paper and it is not bad with my P900 with pigment ink, but you can noticeable see the lower black level with PK. It however absorbs the ink well.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I made similar experiences with cast coated papers - one brand curls, another one runs quite well with pigment inks, another one has a wider gamut than the other papers or a better black level than other papers - you need to test if a particular brand meets your requirements and balancing the paper limits against a low price. I'm using as well such cast coated papers in particular cases , that's LogicSeek papers since a while - they come in a nice and sturdy box.

 

[palombian]

I have some papers of Label Ocean 230 gsm cast paper and it is not bad with my P900 with pigment ink, but you can noticeable see the lower black level with PK. It however absorbs the ink well.

It seems to me on the PRO-10 the black level of PK is enhanced considerably with the CO coating (the latter not been absorbed fast enough on my casts papers and puddling/smearing).

And to have sufficiently high gamut on matte papers you need to use the "Fine Art" settings. These not only use the MBK, but lay more ink of all colours.
But this forces 30mm wide margins (on PRO-9500/PRO-1/PRO-10).

Canon removed these restrictions with a firmware update on the PRO-1000, and from the start on the PRO-300.

Since I do not often print matte I don't care too much.
Matte papers are much lower priced (ex Proline Vibrant mat) so I can buy A3+ where the 30mm border is not such a loss as on A4.
I use Fine Art settings on all matte paper, also on the PRO-9500 you can make prints with deep colours.
Found 2 packs of A2 Canson labeled cast paper in my stock, will try these too.

PS: for owners of Qimage, there is an old hack to remove the wide borders

 

[Artur5]

Yeah, that hack seems to me the only valuable asset of Qimage. I still don't understand why this program disables advanced printing settings on all my Canon and, what's worse, it doesn't restores those settings after you quit Qimage. That's idiotic. It's a chore having to re-enable manually these properties every time you use the program.

BTW, Qimage removes the wide margin limits but then you can't use custom sized paper. You have to stay within the standard sizes A5, A3, A4, A4+ 8x10", 10x12" etc.

 

[The Hat]

BTW, Qimage removes the wide margin limits but then you can't use custom sized paper. You have to stay within the standard sizes A5, A3, A4, A4+ 8x10", 10x12" etc.

You wouldn’t catch me using Qimage, I’ll stick with Photoshop, saying that I’ve never had a border issue with my Pro 9500 or i9500..

I wonder if anyone has ever tried Paintshop pro.. ?

 

[palombian]

Yeah, that hack seems to me the only valuable asset of Qimage. I still don't understand why this program disables advanced printing settings on all my Canon and, what's worse, it doesn't restores those settings after you quit Qimage. That's idiotic. It's a chore having to re-enable manually these properties every time you use the program.

BTW, Qimage removes the wide margin limits but then you can't use custom sized paper. You have to stay within the standard sizes A5, A3, A4, A4+ 8x10", 10x12" etc.

Qimage is indeed a weird program, but you can do things with it LR cannot.

Anyway, my latest tests on cast and matte papers indicate that I won't need the margin hack soon.

I made some profiles with "Other Fine Art 1" settings.
Canon MBK (genuine LUCIA) does not adhere on the cast papers I tested. The gamut width and black level was also lower than with the regular matte setting.

I couldn't resist to buy in the Action store a pack of 30 sheets A4 210g GLOSSY PHOTO PAPER for € 1,49
(5ct per sheet ).

Compared to my other cast papers the profile was not bad at all, the surface and the back are smooth, all colours have the same gloss and adhere very well (about 925.000 gamut volume and black L=10 - the best was L=6).

Will make further tests, but at first sight it looks very good paper for the price.

 

[palombian]

While my Colormunki was doing overtime the Amazon courier delivered a pack

25 A4 KODAK Ultra Premium Photo Paper 280g (€ 9,99, 40ct/sheet).

https://www.amazon.com.be/dp/B08YXLX7Y7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

This is definitely RC - it seems all plastic - the surface is smoother than the ALDI papers, comparable to Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II and not far behind Platinum PRO.
I got a slightly better gamut volume than the ALDI's (1.400.000 and same black level L=3 for all - IMO RC papers have almost the same color rendition, only the weight and the surface differ).

Much more expensive of coarse (ALDI was 12ct), but very competitive with glossy RC papers from Canon, Epson, Olmec, 123ink and the like - in particular with the free Prime delivery.
So I will stop buying and start to print on all these papers I accumulated over the years

But I bet most people won't see the difference with the 8 times cheaper Action cast paper.

Genuine Canon pigment ink (Lucia EX) seems to work well with cast paper (but even at my average purchase price it is way more expensive than the paper, so it is a bit stupid maybe...)