Customer Reviews

Epson 13 Inch x 32.8 Feet Premium Luster Photo Paper (S041409)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

and Amazon has a decent price compared to what I've seen elsewhere.

I'm using an Epson 1280 photo printer. The luster roll paper is very nice, and I think it's a significant improvement over the standard glossy paper. I find the glossy far too shiny (the glossy paper resembles glossy RC paper, while the matte is closer to Azo in finish). Each to their own taste, but I think for large prints a semimatte or matte finish is the way to go.

Loading roll paper is a bit painful, as it needs to be decurled at the end before it's loaded and the whole process wasn't terribly intuitive. It took a few tries the first time to get it loaded, but now it seems pretty easy.

Cutting the paper after it's been printed is a bit awkward, but the solution I found was to leave a 1-2" border at the end of the job, chop it off with some scissors (probably cutting it crookedly in the process) then cut it neatly later with a paper cutter.

I'm printing out very large (26" by 24") images, and so far it's worked great. I'm still learning some tricks to get two 13" prints merged together, but even my rough efforts so far look just fine... and it's a lot less expensive than a 36" printer. It's just a neat trick one can do with a borderless printer.

I've used this paper in cut sheets with a desktop photo printer in the past and liked it. Now I have a 24" Canon printer and use fiber-based papers for large prints, but I wanted something I could get in 13" rolls for smaller prints. Premium Luster is the only high-quality RC paper I know of that is available in 13" rolls (Ilford used to make Galerie Smooth Pearl in 13" rolls, but if they still do nobody seems to be stocking it).

This is a high quality paper, with DMax as good as anything else on the market (I've measured over 2.6 with Canon Lucia EX inks). The color gamut is also very good, though not quite to the level of some of the higher-end (and much more expensive) fiber-gloss papers. The surface is nice for an RC paper, it's not super glossy but the luster texture isn't too rough either. The paper white is a bit on the bluish side due to optical brighteners; this will give nice bright color prints, but for black-and-white prints I prefer a warmer white.

Despite what the specs on the Epson website say, the 13" rolls are on a 2" core, not the 3" core that the wider rolls come on. I guess that's for compatibility with printers like the Epson 2400.

My main complaint is the strong curl this paper has; much worse than other roll papers I've used, probably due in part to the smaller 2" core. This can actually cause problems with head-strikes during printing, especially in a printer that doesn't use a vacuum feed (I have to set the vacuum strength to "high" on my ipf6300 to avoid head-strikes). Unless you're dry-mounting the prints or using a mat with quite a bit of overlap, you'll have problems with the curl unless you "de-curl" the paper after printing (not as easy to do as you might think, without damaging the print).

One other minor issue, this paper shows fingerprints more readily than others I've used, so handle with care.

All in all it's a nice RC-luster paper, capable of producing very high quality prints. Best suited to color, or cool-toned black-and-white if that's to your liking.

Very nice prints on epson r2400 people are very impressed with prints and frame them.

Is proportionately more expensive than the cut paper, the comparative costs are higher, but it is a good photo paper

It is difficult to find paper meeting requirements for printing my panoramics. The difference in price for cut paper and rolls makes roll paper a better economic choice, b ut the curl is difficult to control and waste becomes a significant factor. Aside from this, the prints I did complete were beautifully rendered on this low lustre paper.

AFTER I SOLVED THE CURLING PROBLEM WHICH HINDERED FEEDING INTO PRINTER, THIS PAPER PROVED TO BE THE BEST MEDIUM I HAVE FOUND FOR MAKING FRAMABLE PRINTS OF ARTWORK PHOTOS.

If you have an Epson printer, or one that is compatible with Epson photo papers, these will give you great results.

This is a fine paper, resulting in beautiful prints. The only drawback is that the paper never seems to "relax" and lose its curl, even after being pressed under a heavy book for several days. However, once mounted and framed, the curl is not evident. For the ability to make big prints, I'd purchase this paper again.

I have an Epson R2400 printer and have experimented with numerous types of paper, including non-Epson brands such as Red River (which by the way is a great alternative that works just fine in an Epson printer). Epson's Luster paper in my mind is one of the best. Colors are rich and life-like. I've typically used glossy but since going with the luster paper I'd have a hard time going back. Compared to matte the colors really pop and give images life. I print mostly landscape and adventure photography and all sorts environments. For examples of photos I print go to [...]