Good A3 inkjet paper?

Samione · 3 Sep 2007 at 18:38

Using 80GSM office paper atm, the blacks in all prints come out horrible and faded, always seems the case with this sort of paper. Can anyone advise some decent A3 paper... not glossy. Cheers.

whitecrook · 3 Sep 2007 at 19:28

don't know any specifics, but beware many papers have a preferred side for printing. The pack will have an arrow or you can just feel the difference.

Samione · 3 Sep 2007 at 19:38

Yeah don't think that's the reason, I had the same issue with my old A4 printer, think it's just down to the quality of the paper. When I used to print with photoglossy paper it was fine.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 3 Sep 2007 at 19:39

Ilford range for photos

I am guessing you are after just office paper for documents? The reason the prints are weak would be the lightweight of the paper. Its not enough to hold the ink and it just bleeds out.

Samione · 3 Sep 2007 at 19:42

Nah i'm after good quality matte/satin finish paper for my A2 design coursework. No sign of bleeding on any of my prints so far, just the blacks are faded. If I can't find either in a local store i'll just be going with glossy, any idea how much im looking at for an A3 glossy pack of say 30 pages?

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 3 Sep 2007 at 20:38

My Iford Pixar? or something brand did Satin and Pearl coatings. I have prints on them and they are fantastic.

http://www.ilford.com/en/products/consumer/

Satin, Pearl featured on their drop down menu.

Samione · 3 Sep 2007 at 20:54

Nice website, I usually end up buying paper from staples, clarkes stationers or just paying for prints. Guess i'll be ordering from there in future.

Johnny|lucidcomposure · 3 Sep 2007 at 20:57

They did a budget version of their products called "Printastica" or something and it was price very well (about a 5er for a pack of 25) and prints were superb.

You usually found it in Woolworths or something. This was at least 3 years ago now though.

lsg1r · 3 Sep 2007 at 21:07

So which is it a2 or a3, you say both sizes.

Personally I use canon paper (A4 to A3) but I use canon printers. Generally own brand paper will give the best results. For A2 work I use Epson paper again on a canon printer.

Cost for canon a3 glossy is about £30 for 30 sheets iirc, although vat may be needed to be added on.

Samione · 4 Sep 2007 at 09:04

Yeah A3, sounds like a pretty hefty pricetag tbh. I paid 11 quid for a pack of 500 A3 inkjet office sheets yesterday, and as I mentioned the blacks are faded but still those prices seem a very big step up from 2p a sheet to 1 quid a sheet.

MacX · 4 Sep 2007 at 16:55

You have to pay good money for good quality paper... For heavyweight (460gsm) cotton based photo rag (card) it's up to £2 each for an A4. :eek:

188gsm A3+ photo rag is about the same.

But you don't say whether your printer is a pigment or dye ink based printer.

Some media will not play well with certain types of inks.

Samione · 5 Sep 2007 at 00:32

My printer can only take up to 280GSM I think. It's the hp deskjet 9800. I can get glossy A3 at 50p a sheet from my college so i'll go with that I think.