Photo paper

In my brief search for 11"x14" Epson glossy paper, I came to a conclusion that this format is not very popular. A number of reputable manufacturers make this format:

• Epson
• Inkpress
• Ilford

I wanted this format only because I have a couple of large frames. The minimum photo size required is 11"x11".

My search ended after I decided to go for the 11"x17" format which matches more with the aspect ratio of pictures from my D7000. I ordered a pack of 100 no-name sheets of glossy/matte paper (glossy on one side and matte on the other) for $65USD (including shipping) from an eBay seller from Waterloo, ON. We will see how the glossy side works with the Epson-compatible colour ink I purchased from Montreal--the ink cartridge was less than $3. If everything works out fine, I will post the eBay seller and the store name I bought the ink cartridges from.

First prints from the Epson Stylus 1280

I finally printed my first five photos on this Epson Stylus 1280 using the original Epson ink cartridges. The first two photos were printed on Epson glossy 4"x6" photo paper. I was expecting a perfect print. The colours came out superb but the photos were far from perfect. I could clearly see colour banding (I think I see blue banding more than any other colour) and the print head skipped one line of pixels too. Maybe the print nozzles are slightly clogged up? In any case, I thought I'd see those bands only on plain paper. I thought glossy photo paper would fix that problem, but it does not appear to.

I then tried Epson matte 8.5"x11" paper. Same thing. Bands of colours are obvious. Maybe it's because I did not choose the right settings when printing?

For the glossy paper, I chose glossy photo paper type and even chose quality printing vs. high speed printing. (I also selected to borderless printing which worked great by the way.)

For the matte paper, I chose the heavyweight matte paper type but here I chose high speed printing.

For what I use these photos for though, I'm ok with the quality. If the photos are for a wedding, well, that's another story.