****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This is undoubtedly very, very good paper. I made the big mistake of trying one of the budget brands to see whether the claims of "as good as or better" were true, and they were not. I probably can't add much more to other reviewers' comments about the quality of the paper.However, I do have one complaint - and it cost the supplier a star. The two-for-one promotion is great, and I understand the need to make sure unscrupulous sellers don't separate the two packs and sell them on at the usual single pack price. But is it really necessary to stick the two packs together with such so much glue? And it's the type of glue that sticks to everything! I've had to throw the packaging away as it was so determined to adhere to anything that came close to it! More fool me for trying to put one pack in a drawer for storage while using the other pack. I should have just left them stuck together.That niggle aside, I highly recommend this paper to anyone looking to print high quality photographs.You'd think using Epson paper on an Epson printer would give the best results. I did, and I was wrong. I bought this paper to use on an Epson ET 2700 printer. The paper did not give good colour reproduction. In particular, the blacks were actually dark blue. I checked all the settings and made sure the paper was correctly identified. I tried different colour options and printing via Epson and other software. Still blue. Other cheaper papers worked much better, even when using the settings meant for Epson papers rather than the generic ones; and when blank sheets were put side by side with different brands, the other papers looked noticeably whiter than the Epson sheets, which I think is probably the main reason for the poor colour reproduction. The Epson ET2700 uses a black pigment ink, which should give better black reproduction, and I did wonder whether this might also be an issue, but I can't find anything to suggest it would be incompatible with the Epson paper. Maybe it was just a bad batch, but whether it is an inherent problem or a quality control issue, I'll not be testing it again.I was disappointed with the A4 pictures produced by my new Epson ET-2650 printer using the Essentials Photo Paper that PC World sold me to go with it. Colours were not very accurate, there were some black streaks in the top borders and several very visible lines of what looked like cog marks on the surface - presumably from the mechanism that pulls the paper through the printer. I changed to this Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper and the results were great. Colours came to life, the other problems disappeared and I am very happy with my photo prints. This paper is thicker (255gsm v 200gsm) and considerably more expensive than the generic one but obviously suits the Epson printer much better and I think it was well worth paying more for such good photos. For best results make sure that both the printer and the printer driver on the computer are set to Epson Premium Glossy paper.This arrives in a shrink wrapper, remove the shrink wrapper to discover that the wrap round promo label is glued to both packets, rip this off to find that the two packs of photo paper are glued together back to back. As these packs have the tear off strip to open them on the back you have to tear the packs apart to get to your paper, even if you get them apart without damage the glue sticks to everything it touches so you can not put them down without them sticking to whatever they touch.Epson, or whoever packs these needs to address this.Epson are renowned for making very good quality printers. Their ink is of course more expensive than compatible inks but the good news is that it does not clog the very fine jets and the colour is consistent from one cartridge to the next. It is also colour fast for about 100 years as opposed to inks that fade with sunlight. So, having bought a photo quality printer and good quality ink why waste money on inferior paper? I have used several types of photo paper over the past 15 years. Some good names produced very poor results indeed - quite a shock sometimes. Epson paper is always consistently good. It provides sharp, clear prints with good colour reproduction and is fade free from what I read. This Ultra Glossy Photo Paper is top quality. I have found that it produces some very subtle differences in image colour that can be easily lost in other papers. It makes the difference between a good image and an outstanding one. I have no doubt that some of the professional papers out there will produce equally good results but I have been delighted with this paper and would recommend it to anyone. If you like really good quality prints buy this paper.
