Sample Image Prints On Glossy/matte Photo Paper With Pigmented Ink

[thanhhuy123]

Hi,

Can someone scan some examples of printout using pigmented ink on glossy or matte photo paper? I'm curious because some say that pigmented ink isn't happy with glossy photo paper.

 

[The Hat]

I use cheap photo paper for any photos that I print, it’s the Sihl Premium 280 gm A4 Inkjet Photo Paper.

It’s rated as High Gloss, light resistant, water proof, with Micro porous coating which dries instantly.
It performs just as well using dye or pigment inks but excels when using dye ink.

This sample was printed using dye and pigment ink on three different printers,
the top two were dye and the bottom one was pigment ink..

 

[thanhhuy123]

Wow! Thanks @The Hat !

By looking at the image, I can see that pigmented ink is happy with glossy paper. It's just a little bit...darker, I think???

Can you have a look at this and this page? Someone stated that pigmented ink doesn't dry correctly on his glossy paper.

 

[barfl2]

I use cheap photo paper for any photos that I print, it’s the Sihl Premium 280 gm A4 Inkjet Photo Paper.

It’s rated as High Gloss, light resistant, water proof, with Micro porous coating which dries instantly.
It performs just as well using dye or pigment inks but excels when using dye ink.

This sample was printed using dye and pigment ink on three different printers,
the top two were dye and the bottom one was pigment ink..View attachment 140

Very useful test The Hat I have saved to my hard drive for further tests. I also printed the file I have got solid colours but colours printed are somewhat different and certainly lighter in tone. This is of course compared to the computers display. I have tried with this and other files to print using the printer driver selected or not but made no difference to the output.

I note you printed on 3 different printers yet colours are virtually the same, I would judge the last one was the pigment one?. What settings do you use for the Sihl paper and any other adjustments. Mind you I am getting these colour shade differences on other/tests. Now got to try and find out the reason.

 

[The Hat]

Are you are still having problems with your colour output, the reason I asked is because I printer out
the scan of the colour test again but this time used a totally different printer on plain paper
with standard settings and it still looks the same.

If you can’t achieve consistent colours when using different papers from day to day then there is something very wrong with either your print settings or your printer, i.e. cartridges and inks..

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

The color gamut between pigment and dye is a lot closer than it used to be. The main issue with using pigment on gloss is bronzing (color shifting when viewed at an angle). Even this is less of a problem than it used to be, and Epsons with a Gloss Optimizer cart reduce it even more. This, however, creates a different gloss than the paper's original gloss would have been.

The main issue is even if there was perfect non-bronzing pigment ink, if you print pigment on top of high gloss paper it's going to be noticeably duller than lighter density/unprinted areas of the paper. It kind of defeats the entire purpose of using gloss paper.

Also some gloss papers may not hold the pigment well and it will rub off easily. You would have to test each paper you want to use, though if it's a common paper I'm sure someone here would be able to tell you if it works or not. HP's cheap Everyday Photo Paper works fine in my 1400 with Image Specialists inks, but it's not a very high gloss paper, and it's just for basic printing, not for something your really care about. I don't really use gloss papers in the pigment printer otherwise.

 

[The Hat]

I do and I don’t use pigment ink on my glossy photos, it all depends on what they are and where
there’re going, 95% of the time its good old dye inks.

The test print in post 2# is done on full gloss with no optimisers on the pigment ink..

 

[thanhhuy123]

So if I get an Epson with CISS and have option: all dye, all pigment. What should I choose? I want pigment to print text office documents. I also want dye to print pictures as well!

PS: @Fenrir Enterprises ,I'm not quite understand the "bronze" effect...If we can have images (taken with camera, since scanner can't do this, I think.) of printouts on glossy/matte paper with pigmented and dye ink to illustrate then it's better! (Without gloss optimizer, since we don't have and use it here.) => No no, don't do it if it's gonna cost you so much! If it's cheap, then please!!
PS: @The Hat , thanks so much for wasting precious ink and paper to illustrate things for me.

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

Bronzing basically means that if you print with pigments on glossy paper, then when you look at the print at an angle, the color will change and the photo will look weird. This is much less of a problem than it used to be. It still happens, but bronzing with inks a decade or more ago would completely ruin the picture, now it just looks "a little off".

Even without bronzing, if you print on glossy paper with pigment, areas with heavy ink are no longer glossy. White and pale areas will be glossy while dark areas will be matte.

I got a very good deal on two 1400s so I use both. I use the dye for ultra high gloss prints, and the pigment for everything else. If you don't want to run two printers you may want to limit yourself to using satin/luster papers instead of high gloss papers.

It's kind of hard to decide what to do in this situation. I know most people don't want to run multiple printers, but if you are only printing black and white text you may want to try to see if you can find a black & white laser printer - but you will also want to see if cheap refilled cartridges for it are available in your country.

 

[The Hat]

If ever I need to improve my photos and remove all of the bronzing, I just put them back
throught my iX7000 and coat them with I.S. gloss optimiser which usually takes care
of most of the bronzing but the reds still tend to be a little bit flat..