Customer Reviews

Ilford Galerie Classic 8 1/2 x 11 Inch Pearl Paper 25 Sheets (1979257)

5 star:		(7)
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This paper produces top notch results on the Canon Pixma line of printers. The new Chromalife 100 inks work great. Great paper for pictures of people. The flesh tones are excellent. This is a swellable paper which means long life from dye based prints. It also means that the prints aren't waterfast, so handle with care or spray on a protective shield if they will be handled often. If you are displaying behind glass, this is "THE" paper to us with Canon printers, IMHO.

I live next door to a professional photographer who uses this same paper for his customers(which includes me). It is very high quality paper even for my little printer.

Nice quality paper. I especially like the texture of it. Colors are good from a Canon Pro 9000 printer. I recommend it.

The quality of this product is amazing. Has a beautiful texture. Colours are presented very richly on it. High recommend it. Will be purchasing more in different sizes.

This is my go-to paper for dye-based canon printers such as the canon i9900. Great color reproduction with the free downloadable profiles from ilford's website.

If you search around the internet you will come across a vast array of suggested inkjet photo paper, from the common glossy offerings from all the giant companies to all sorts of exotic varieties from many boutique suppliers. There is no doubt that talented printers have worked very hard on their workflows to achieve excellent results from these different printing papers.

In my case, I have been experimenting with aftermarket ink to see how it compares with Canon ink. One fear is that the bogus ink will fade quickly, but the ink guy said that Ilford's Classic line of papers had properties that would prevent this. He wasn't profiting from this suggestion, so I decided to give it a try. I chose the pearl style because I thought it was time to branch out from the usual glossy and that this would benefit some of my photos.

I have been shooting B&W 4X5, developing it at home, scanning it to the computer and then printing it on a Canon Pixma inkjet. I also use a vintage folding camera and scan the color film developed in a lab. Most of my shots are on a digital camera.

The description "pearl" pretty much describes the look you get. Not glossy, not totally matt. There is no swirly pearly look, nor any dramatic luster. It is a subtle effect that makes for a nice colorful print without the actual gloss.

Portraits tend to look better in a pearl than in gloss, so do many scenics. The same is true in B&W. I shot a ghost town and tried to make it look like an actual vintage photo with grain and technical flaws. It looked good in gloss, better in pearl.

Obviously it would be incredibly silly for anyone to say this paper is better than that one. It might be true for one photo or for a particular and unique style of photography. It might depend on the size you print, if you mount it behind glass, if it is lit up by spotlights in a dark museum and so on.

Famous photographers usually develop a theme and a workflow and perfect every step in that process, one they don't deviate from. Us amateurs usually shoot shots of opportunity and therefore have to alter our workflow and use of printing paper for every situation. It is actually more difficult for us in that respect and it is a good idea to have a decent variety of printing papers so you can print appropriately. Ilford is a quality brand and it isn't expensive.

Also, it seems to hold the detail well. You don't sacrifice sharpness that I can see, at least in the 8X10 size. Ink seems to stay in place and the luster of the entire image is uniform even when you look at it at a flat angle. I am very pleased and I would like to try the other Classic papers as well.

Ilford Galerie Classic is a very nice photo paper with a soft [as the name, "Pearl" implies] finish that gives flesh and food pictures a realistic, warm image.