After much toil and compromise with the 3rd party brands, I realized that Canon's Photo Paper Pro was a high-quality, consistent paper. It wasn't an exciting discovery - using the expensive paper from the printer manufacturer instead of discovering some money-saving yet exotic specialty paper - but at least my prints were looking good.
Then as I was restocking on ink, I noticed that Canon updated their product line, releasing Photo Paper Pro II and Photo Paper Pro Platinum. Intrigued, I ordered a 20-pack of letter sized Platinum. Sure enough, soon I had a chance to shoot a portrait of a friend of mine that had many vivid colors, high dynamic range, and a great level of detail. I did a small shoot-out between some Red River paper, Photo Paper Pro (the original), and the Platinum. I won't labor you with the details, but when I printed on Photo Paper Pro after a few Red River misses, I sighed with relief - the colors were rich and faithful, and the image looked great. I then pushed the envelope and printed with Platinum. Wow!!! It got even better! The differences were subtle, but perceptible. The Platinum seemed to have a bit more "pop", probably owing to its higher brightness.
For a recent gallery showing, I printed a couple dozen more prints on this Platinum paper, and got a good feel for its performance. I found that soft proofing wasn't really necessary with this paper - it looked very faithful to the screen without having to bring anything back into the gamut. Despite being a brighter base paper, the prints came out a bit darker than some of the other papers I was messing around with. A bump of 5% to brightness in Qimage did the trick. The colors also seemed a bit less saturated. This is a tough one to make a call on - I'm used to Canon's idea of colors (whether camera-processed JPG or their super-glossy paper) being a bit too much on the Disney side, so I was actually appreciative of a more subdued default. A saturation boost of 2% or 3% did the trick. Note that the "unsaturated" colors were still plenty deep and rich, just not quite as punchy.
I'm going to try the Photo Paper Pro II next to see if it's a good middle point between the (already good) Photo Paper Pro and this beautiful but expensive Platinum. This paper definitely earns its name - it's the top of the line with a price to match. I didn't see a world of difference between this and the old Photo Paper Pro in terms of visuals, but Canon claims that the archival qualities in this paper are state of the art, and I believe them. So for prints I really care about, I'm all about the Pro Plat! Get best results with Canon Photo Paper Pro II. Also a little bit less pricey. Using Canon 9000 Pixmar Pro.
Could not tell any difference that would justify the extra money spend on this type of paper. I use a Canon Pixma Pro9000, which I just got a few months ago. I am going to discuss the paper quality versus my printer, however, because sometimes the color production from the printer seems perfect, and other times it comes out dark. But the printer always gets the sharpness and image quality right.
So far, I am very pleased with this particular print paper. The colors are well-saturated, clean and glossy, although I find sometimes I may have to wait a while for the print to have "dried" before the colors are accurate. Again, this may be more the printer's fault than the paper itself. I have given prints made on this paper to various clients and they have been very pleased; so far, I have not heard any complaints about fading. (However, I think ANY print will fade in time if left in direct sunlight frequently.)
The print quality is fantastic and I've been pretty happy so far. As I experiment with papers more, I may find one I like better, but this is pretty good for now. This is the best glossy inkjet paper I've used up to this point. The paper has a real solid feel and good weight. I can make B&W prints that really sparkle using this paper with the latest model Pixma Pro 9500. I use the paper to make prints for patrons at a university photogprhic archive. I've never had a complaint since I started using Pro Platinum about a year and a half ago and several patrons have commented on how nice the paper looks and feels.
My only problem with this paper is that I can't get enough of it. Buy that I mean I want the 8 1/2 X 11 paper to come in 100 sheet boxes, heck, 250 sheet boxes because I go through so much of it. I really want Canon to make this paper in 11x17 and 17x22 sizes as well, the 11x17 for the archive work and the 17x22 to use with my personal Canon 5100 printer. Purchased this product after trying DOZENS of other brands, and types of photo paper. Best advice? Do NOT get cheap with photo paper when printing on a PIXMA Pro 9000/9500 printer. This Pro Platinum works in perfect harmony with these printers. I hear a lot of people complain about the price and that there is no difference when compared to the less expensive Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II. Well after purchasing both types of paper and doing the same prints on them I only have one thing to say, Pro Platinum wins. Pro Platinum is way thicker, and heavier. The brightness of white is way higher than any other paper I have used. And best of all, the ink dries way faster! If you have a high end printer, then this is the perfect paper for it, period. You won't be disappointed.
One piece of advice, when using Photoshop, leaving the setting to "Canon Color Sync" actually works better with this paper than using the printer's own profile of "Pro Platinum <1> PT". This photo paper is amazing at what it does. With the 80 weight the colors come off with the correct contrast in which you desire and the glossiness just makes for the better. After seeing the pics I had printed my whole class went out and bought this paper so it comes highly recommended.
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