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01 January 2020

Keith Cooper’s paper reviews

Keith   |   Article, Articles and reviews, Black and white, Canon printer, Colour management, Epson Printer, HP printer, Paper review, Printing   |   1 Comment

All of Keith’s paper reviews

Collected data from all our paper reviews

Site Notice: Like many working photographers, our work has completely dried up in these challenging times, so I'll be at home a lot. The silver lining is that I've lots of articles and reviews to write - if you've any suggestions or questions, please do let me know - Keith ...Why not sign up for our (ad free) Newsletter to keep informed about new articles.


Over the years, Keith has tried out many papers from a range of suppliers.

This article brings together some of the basic specs from all the reviews. Not all papers have the same amount of specifications available, so there are gaps.

The data is divided up into two sections, the Matt and the Glossy.

Glossy includes any paper where you would use the Photo Black print option and Matt those that would use Matt Black

five black and white prints

Choosing papers

There are a lot of brands of paper, but not nearly so many companies actually make or coat it. This means that a paper may well appear under several names but essentially be the same.

For several reasons I can’t say that paper X is the same as paper Y, since there may be minor differences in specification, but also some of my knowledge of paper equivalences would breach commercial confidences.  I’ve tried to include as much data as I can that will help readers in countries outside of the UK to look at a locally available paper and make a good guess if something I’ve looked at is similar.

There are many manufacturer ‘Own brand’ (OEM) papers covered in the many printer reviews here, since I usually tend to test printers with OEM papers.

For many of the papers, there are also ICC profiles I’ve created for the printers I was testing at the time – available on request, free for non-commercial personal use.

The Matte papers

Art papers – different suppliers use differing terms for surface textures and measurements. Check the reviews for more info, since I often take photos specifically to try and show the surface texture.  Suppliers are listed at the end of the article.

Weight GSM Thickness Name Date Type Whiteness Notes Supplier
315 520um Cold Press Rough textured Natural White – IFA 13 01/11 Cotton 69 CIE 99 D65 Watercolour I
315 460um Soft Textured bright white IFA 26 03/16 Cotton 136 CIE 110 TAPPI Etching I
315 390um Smooth Cotton High White IFA 14 11/09 Cotton 109 CIE 100TAPPI Smooth I
315 380um Soft Textured Natural White IFA 12 07/07 Cotton 109 CIE 99 TAPPI Etching I
315 310um Smooth Cotton Natural White IFA 11 now Photo Cotton Rag 11/09 Cotton 109 CIE 99 TAPPI Smooth I
315 – Pro Photo fine art smooth 01/17 Cotton ‘Natural’ Smooth Imp
310 565um Printmaking Rag IFA107 10/16 Cotton 86 CIE 97.3 TAPPI Etching I
310 565um Watercolour Rag IFA108 10/16 Cotton 86 CIE 97.3 TAPPI Watercolour I
310 500um Photo Rag bright white 07/13 Cotton 99.5% bright white Smooth H
310 420um Prem Fine Art Smooth 10/16 Cotton 85 ISO Smooth C
310 – Pinnacle Cotton Rag 12/09 Cotton ‘White’ Smooth PS
310 – Pinnacle Smooth Fine Art 12/09 Cotton ‘Natural’ Smooth PS
305 – Cotton Etching 305 04/18 Cotton ‘White’ Textured F
305 – Platinum Cotton 305 04/19 Cotton ‘Natural’ Smooth F
300 515um Fine Art Cotton Textured Bright 10/18 Cotton L* = 97.5 a* = 1.8 b* = -3.5 M1 (D50) Textured E
300 515um Fine Art Cotton Textured Natural 10/18 Cotton L* = 97 a* = 0.3 b* = 3.3 M1 (D50) Textured E
300 490um Fine Art Cotton Smooth Bright 10/18 Cotton L* = 97.5 a* = 1.8 b* = -3.5 M1 (D50) Smooth E
300 490um Fine Art Cotton Smooth Natural 10/18 Cotton L* = 97 a* = 0.3 b* = 3.3 M1 (D50) Smooth E
300 480um Smooth Cotton 300 04/19 Cotton 94 CIE 84 TAPPI Smooth F
300 435um Cold Press rough bright white IFA 27 03/16 Cotton 136 CIE 110 TAPPI Watercolour I
285 300um FibaPrint Matte IFA 39 07/13 Coated 138 CIE 108(D65) Smooth I
260 – Photo Matte HD 01/17 Coated ‘white’ Smooth Imp
250 380um Museo Max 08/14 Cotton 91 Smooth C
245 – Innova Decor Watercolour IFA 23 07/13 Coated ‘Bright white’ Watercolour H
220 325um Decor smooth Art DS IFA25 Double sided 12/10 Coated 115 CIE 99 D65 Smooth I
210 225um Decor Smooth Art IFA 24 12/10 Coated 115 CIE 99 D65 Smooth I
210 350um Albrecht Durer 07/13 Coated 88.5% ‘Natural’ Watercolour H

The Glossy papers

Gloss/lustre/pearl/silk/semi-gloss all seem to mean slightly different things. Check the reviews for photos and examples.

Weight GSM Thickness Name Date Type Whiteness Notes Supplier
360 390um FB Distinction 360 05/11 Fibre Some OBA Semi-gloss Pj
335 390um Warm cotton gloss IFA45 aka Exhibition Cotton Gloss 06/11 Fibre 75 CIE 85 TAPPI unglazed gloss I
325 330um Exhibition Fiber aks Traditional Photo Paper 05/08 Fibre Some OBA Lustre E
325 – Legacy Baryta 325 03/19 Baryta 75 CIE 85 TAPPI unglazed gloss F
310 315um Exhibition Photo Baryta IFA69 aka FibaPrint Baryta 02/14 Baryta 100/96 ‘natural’ semi-gloss I
310 315um Silk Baryta (prev. Warmtone) 05/11 Baryta 100 CIE 96(D65) semi-gloss PS
310 300um Photo Pearl 05/16 Photo 105% ‘bright’ Pearl H
310 299um Photo Pearl premium OLM70 02/15 Photo 145 CIE Pearl I
300 380um Museo Silver Rag 08/14 Cotton 90 semi-gloss C
300 370um Baryta Satin 05/16 Baryta White OBA Free Satin H
300 340um PermaJet FB Pearl 300 04/20 Photo 94 CIE Lustre Pj
300 290um PermaJet Titanium Gloss 300 04/20 Metallic 97 CIE Glossy Pj
300 287±5um Pinnacle Premium Photo Lustre 12/16 Photo 110 CIE Lustre PS
300 – Platinum Baryta 300 02/19 Baryta 100 CIE semi-gloss F
300 – Gloss Art Fibre 300 01/17 Fibre – semi-gloss F
295 280um Ultra Pearl 03/11 Photo 103 CIE Pearl Pj
285 285um FibaPrint Ultrasmooth Gloss IFA49 07/07 Baryta 152 CIE 111 TAPPI Lustre I
280 280um Titanium Lustre 04/13 Photo 96 CIE Lustre Pj
275 – Metallic Lustre 06/18 Metallic – OBA free F
260 – Pro Gloss Photo Paper 01/17 Photo High White photo paper Glossy Imp
260 – Pro Lustre Photo Paper 01/17 Photo High White photo paper Lustre Imp
260 267um Photo Metallic Gloss OLM71 02/15 Metallic 80 CIE OBA free I
260 267um Photo Metallic Lustre OLM72 02/15 Metallic 80 CIE OBA free I
260 – Metallic Lustre Photo 01/17 Metallic – OBA free Imp

Other media

I don’t use canvas much – the IFA36 was what I used for my big 14 metre print.

Weight GSM Thickness Name Date Type Whiteness Notes Supplier
390 520um Gloss polycotton canvas IFA56 03/16 Lustre >75 CIE Pk ink I
380 450um Photo Ultra Gloss canvas IFA36 05/08 Gloss 85 CIE 86 TAPPI Pk Ink I
380 – Pro Photo Canvas polycotton 01/17 Matte bright Mk Ink Imp
350 405 Matte polycotton Canvas IFA35 05/08 Matte 152 CIE 88 TAPPI Mk Ink I
– 500um iPrint Pure 3D Film 05/13 Holo Translucent Mk Ink Ant
115 160um Water Resistant Matte 11/16 Matte 90 CIE Polypropylene C

The 3D film is a bizarre idea – I still have a 36″ roll of the stuff (here in Leicester) if anyone is curious

Manufacturer/Supplier codes

My (very) local supplier and the goto person if I’ve any paper questions is Chris at Paper Spectrum, here in Leicester.
Please do mention us if you give them a call ;-)

This list will be updated as I test new papers…

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Site Notice: Like many working photographers, our work has completely dried up in these challenging times, so I'll be at home a lot. The silver lining is that I've lots of articles and reviews to write - if you've any suggestions or questions, please do let me know - Keith ...Why not sign up for our (ad free) Newsletter to keep informed about new articles.


1Comment

  • Mike Earussi | Aug 2, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    Thanks for the overview. BTW, you forgot to add “I” for Innova Art in your manufacturer codes.

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