Printing on cast paper with the PRO-10

[pharmacist]

@palombian : Do you also use my miniature profile technique to save paper and ink ?

 

[palombian]

@palombian : Do you also use my miniature profile technique to save paper and ink ?

Indeed, @pharmacist .

 

[pharmacist]

How is that Action paper doing: is it RC or Cast based, because you said both the front and back are smooth suggesting it is RC paper

 

[palombian]

How is that Action paper doing: is it RC or Cast based, because you said both the front and back are smooth suggesting it is RC paper

In my observation cast papers can have - probably due to the fabrication process - a smoother surface than many resin coated ones, where in particular for the cheaper ones the paper structure stays more or less visible.

But RC papers always have a plastic coating on the back, making them resistant to bubbles and curls during printing (and afterwards in a moist environment).

The back of cast paper is the paper support, where you can write on with a pencil.
That's possible with the Action paper, and since the surface doesn't pass the CO test, it is definitely cast.
At that price even Action cannot sell RC.

See the Action paper with and without CO.

PS: for Epson printers who have other techniques (I would be interested how they manage it) this CO consideration doesn't apply, but gamut of cast paper will always be much lower than RC (or baryta).

CO solved most of my obsession for gloss differences, but from my time with the PRO-9500 (without CO) they were the least visible on papers with about the same gloss as the ink. At that point 3th party inks were a lot worse than OEM and CO covered the misery.
Since I switched meanwhile to OEM inks (with enhanced gloss) I can reconsider some before hated papers again.

Paper choice and print settings differ according to subject and taste (and budget).

 

[pharmacist]

This morning I went to the local Action here and I bought some of this Action paper: A4 in 210 gsm and 10x15 cm in 250 gsm version. I did some tests: my Epson ET-8550 likes both papers, BUT there were indentation on the 210 gsm version (known problem with cast papers on this machine, so use thicker matte like the Action Aquarelle textured paper that gives very nice results) or the smaller 250 gsm thicker cast paper version that does not suffer from visible indentation marks. My Epson P900 printer does not like this paper: on some patches the ink tends to glob together on high ink loads. So it works well with dye ink printers, but on my Epson P900 the results are suboptimal.

 

[palombian]

This morning I went to the local Action here and I bought some of this Action paper: A4 in 210 gsm and 10x15 cm in 250 gsm version. I did some tests: my Epson ET-8550 likes both papers, BUT there were indentation on the 210 gsm version (know problem with cast papers on this machine, so use thicker matte like the Action Aquarelle textured paper that gives very nice results) or the smaller 250 gsm thicker cast paper version that does not suffer from visible indentation marks. My Epson P900 printer does not like this paper: on some patches the ink tends to glob together on high ink loads. So it works well with dye ink printers, but on my Epson P900 the results are suboptimal.

You can see this "globbing" on some patches with the PRO-10 too in particular on the PDF (where my scanner tends to exaggerate).

In high quality setting the printing is bi-directional, since the total ink consumption is not much higher I suppose less ink is applied at once.

Good to hear the Aquarelle paper is usable on the ET-8550.

Best wishes.

PS: sad that bargain papers seldom are available in larger size than A4 (they are made for home dye printers).

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I have an Action shop in the vicinity and got some of the A4 photo paper for a test - with dye inks type 106 on a ET-8550 and with pigment inks on a T3100X.

The Action paper sells in Germany for €1.49 for 30 sheets, the paper does not curl at all with the dye inks and not with the pigment inks. The print with the dye inks looks good, not sp much with pigment inks - there is no real clean gloss, but that's quite typical that not all pigment inks and papers harmonize.

I created an icc-profile for the Action paper and compare it with another cast coated paper - Hayatec 240g via Amazon which does not curl either.

Both gamuts are quite identical in the lighter range down to a L*= 35, the image shows the gamut curves at L*=20 with the gamut boundary in blue for the Action paper and green for the Hayatec paper, there is a little bit more gamut in the darker range with the Hayatec paper and a slightly darker black point.
The Hayatec paper sells at 16.99€ for 100 sheets 240gr - quite some more expensive than the Action paper but pricing varies over the year.

https://www.amazon.de/Photopapier-t...-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

So the Action paper is actually a pretty good deal for the very low price.

 

[pharmacist]

I also have some LabelOcean 230 gsm paper (Ebay) in A2 format that can be printed well with my Epson SC-P900 and on that printer it does not glob at all. Also cast paper type, so black point is not as good as RC papers, but it does it job. The Action Glossy 210 gsm A4 paper does not work well with my Epson P900.

 

[palombian]

FYI PRO-10 ink levels after a few calendars with "regular" matte high settings.
No use of CO and MBK.

Wonder if PRO-300 changed something.

 

[palombian]

I've cut Canson cast A2 to 355x584mm (with 329x676 one of the maximum sizes on the PRO-10 and PRO-9500) to print a poster.

If this could be true in 2025 !