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The best glossy photo paper for my Lexmark (and, possibly, for your printer) is Kodak Inkjet Photo Paper.
   technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Digital imaging on the cheap, Part 4: 'Kodak Inkjet Photo Paper' comes out on top


Oct. 29, 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

   I'm often amazed at how bad my color inkjet printer can be when it's printing images. Sometimes, stuff I print looks like it came from a coloring book for Crayola rejects.
   But at other times I'm overjoyed. Sometimes my pictures come out looking just like the glossy prints I get from Kodak.
   What's the secret? The paper. Good prints that look like glossy photographs need good paper. There's no substitute.
   Glossy photo-grade inkjet paper is expensive, sometimes costing $.50 to $1.25 a sheet, depending on how much you buy (bulk packs save you a lot) and whether you can find discounts. This means you have to choose glossy paper carefully. It could quickly become a big expense.
   Choosing which paper to buy is tough. Some printers are finicky, working best only with certain types or brands of paper, while others seem to do well with any decent brand. I was lucky; my Lexmark Z11 (very inexpensive because of a rebate) works well with many different types of glossy photo paper. You might be just as fortunate with your printer, but the only way to find out is to try out the various brands.
   I tested a dozen different papers by printing some of my own photographs and by making gallery-quality prints of watercolor paintings done by my wife, Nancy. I'm reporting on the best of the bunch. Remember that your results might be different.
   The best glossy photo paper for my Lexmark (and, possibly, for your printer) is Kodak Inkjet Photo Paper. Prints come out looking bright and clear, with no hint that they were produced on an inkjet printer instead of in a photo-finishing plant. The prints even have the familiar "Kodak" name repeated across the back.
   Kodak Inkjet Photo Paper has a thickness (or "weight") rating of 117 lb. That's two to three times the thickness of some other photo-quality inkjet papers. ("Weight" in paper ratings is only loosely related to thickness, but that's how most of us translate the term, and that's the easiest way to understand it.)
   Close behind is HP Premium Plus Photo Paper Glossy. It's rated at an ever higher thickness (145 lb.) but is not quite as glossy as the top Kodak paper. I rate a variation, HP Premium Plus Photo Paper Matte, right behind the glossy version. It has the same weight but lacks the extra glossy sheen of the first two papers.
   The HP matte paper produced glossier prints than some cheap papers that are labeled glossy. My tests showed the matte paper ideal for some black-and-white photos. I have some heart-touching prints from my months as a war correspondent in Vietnam in the mid-1960s, and they look appropriately clean and haunting when I use HP matte paper.
   I tried two versions of Jet Print Photo paper, JetPrint Photo Premium Photo Paper Brilliant Gloss Finish and Jet Print Photo Professional Photo Paper Superior Gloss Finish. The "brilliant gloss" paper is imported from Switzerland and the "superior gloss" paper is imported from Japan. Both are sold by International Paper Co. The packaging does not list the weight rating.
   Both did well and would be acceptable if you could not find either of the two top-rated papers. The "brilliant gloss" paper doesn't have a brilliant gloss when I use it in my Lexmark, and the other paper had about the same sheen -- acceptable in every way but not as good as the Kodak or HP papers I rated as tops.
   I was disappointed with Royal Brites Ink Jet High Gloss Photo Paper. The weight wasn't as heavy as the others rated above (and the weight wasn't given on the packaging) but prints seemed adequately photo-ish in feel and general appearance. However, results were clearly inferior to the best Kodak and HP papers.
   I got dismal results with CompUSA Inkjet Coated Paper (24 lb.) and with Canon High Resolution Paper HR-101 (weight not listed). I was also disappointed with Epson Matte Paper -- Heavyweight (44 lb.).
   If you can't afford the time or money to test these and other photo papers, choose the Kodak paper. But be sure you don't confuse Kodak Inkjet Photo Paper, my top-rated paper, with Kodak Glossy Inkjet Paper. I checked how well Kodak Glossy Inkjet Paper performed and was so dismayed that I installed a new ink cartridge and tried it again in case the problem was related to ink. No such luck. Kodak's Glossy Inkjet Paper is no match for Kodak Inkjet Photo Paper.