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Your Discount Source For High Quality
Inkjet Paper
FreePhotoPaper.com
offers only 100% compatible paper and ink for inkjet printers. We sell
papers and inks that have been thoroughly tested and approved to give you
prints that equal or exceed those produced using the manufacturers' papers
and inks.
We carry a variety of ink jet
papers with specialized coatings that have been designed especially for inkjet print heads, including the two most popular, thermal and piezo
electric.
All these custom-formulated coatings have been tested
to meet or exceed the printer manufacturer requirements.
Each has been specifically designed to answer the
needs of the end use and deliver excellent imaging results.
We buy from the only two paper suppliers that sell inexpensive high quality
paper that is 100% compatible with all inkjet printers.
I tested 63 brands of inkjet papers from 17 paper
suppliers over a nine month period. I found only five suppliers that offered
papers that were truly 100% compatible and equal in quality to the
manufacturers papers. Fortunately two of these
suppliers had reasonable pricing and are nationally known, both with
excellent reputations.
I then sent their papers to five digital imaging pros
for confirmation testing. Fortunately the experts agreed that the Konica and International Paper
sheets were
as good or better than the OEM's papers.
To understand what makes a
good paper you need to know a little about Inkjet Printing.
Inkjet printing uses water-based inks that are sprayed onto the paper.
Because of the increase in water it is extremely important that photo-finishing
papers are able to control water.
Otherwise it can
damage the paper by wrinkling and/or causing other imaging problems
such smearing, feathering and long dry times.
In order to combat these problems, photo-finishing inkjet papers must be
specially engineered. The basic structure of a photographic inkjet paper
consists of four layers:
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Receiver
(Microparticle, Gelatin or Polymer)
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Barrier
(Polytheyne, Cast Coating or Wash Coating)
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Base
(Cellulose or Film)
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Backing
(Various Plastics)
These four layers are designed to set the ink in place, eliminate the
water and protect the paper fibers from saturation. By changing the
formulations of each of the layers, a unique set of properties can be
obtained. The properties desired depend on the unique set of performance
attributes needed for the particular application. This is the reason there
is not just one paper that is the "perfect" one.
Performance
tradeoffs include:
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cost
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feel
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drying time
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gloss level
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image quality
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convertibility
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ink saturation
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ink feathering
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wear resistance
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fade resistance
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moisture resistance
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