fotospeed
I recently purchased a roll of Gloss inkjet paper from Fotospeed, I comapny I hadn't tried before. I must say that I am very impressed. Once I had produced an ICC profile for the paper I was able to produce an excellent XPan print 34" long. In daylight the print takes on an almost 3D appearance and the detail and sharpness are excellent. If you are looking for a good value quality inkjet paper I recommend this highly. Someting else that impressed me was that the company offer a free, yes free ICC profiling service for your printer. They email you a calibration chart which you print and send off. They then use this to produce an ICC profile for your printer. Now that's what I call service.

theprintspace
It's not often that I will recommend a resource in two different categories but I am making an exception for theprintspace. In addition to a scanning bureau where you can rent time on top of the range scanners the company also offer a very comprehensive printing service. Take a look on the web site and you will see that you can select from an impressive range of papers. The range of print sizes on offer is also very impressive; this is true wide format printing using top of the range equipment. And once you have finished your print they offer a comprehensive mounting service to create that fine art masterpiece. I recommend you spend some time reviewing their web site as there are some good video tutorials and some very useful ICC profiles which allow you to soft proof your images before ordering prints. So that I don't do them an injustice, here is how theprintspace describe themselves:
"London’s top creative DIY photographic printing studio, based in Shoreditch. The studio has print terminals for simple & quick print ordering with easy drag-and-drop functions, as well as calibrated high-spec colour retouching and scanning booths, thereby catering to every requirement. Friendly, qualified experts are always within reach to assist and answer any and all questions. Professional mounting services are available for those who wish to showcase their work in an aesthetic and durable way. Theprintspace studio also houses a gallery which showcases photographers’ work, and contributes to the creative and relaxed in-house environment. Our client list contains many famous names, and in the past we have printed for top fashion, art, and commercial photographers."
An innovative company for the photographer who takes their work seriously.

Qimage
Qimage is a wonderfully simple solution to printing. When I first came across Qimage I couldn't understand why I would want a software package specifically for printing, after all I can print in Photoshop. However the more I tried it the more I became hooked. What I really like is its simplicity and the amazing results it produces. Did you know that to get the best out of your printer you should output at the "native print resolution". I use an HP printer where this resolution is 600dpi and I can see the difference. Qimage takes care of the resolution scaling in the background and also allows me to apply sharpening automatically after the resolution change. It also has great colour management and a host of other features. Download the evaluation copy and see for yourself.

Signal Inkjet
Recently I have been scanning a lot of XPan slides and wanting to print them out on true panoramic paper. This lead me to purchase the fotospeed roll paper mentioned above. This paper is however 13" wide and ideally I wanted to make some prints that were around the width of A4 paper. Epson did produce a paper this width but it was more expensive than the fotospeed paper. After a bit of searching on eBay I came across Signal Inkjet who were selling an 8m roll of 260gm Gloss paper for GBP13 including P&P. This is amazing value and I figured worth trying. Having ordered the paper in the evening it was shipped next day and received the day after that. When I remover the paper from the packaging I found it well wrapped in plastic and upon opening that the actual paper was sealed in a further protective cover - very impressive. When I opened and inspected the paper I found it to have a quality feel and appearance similar to Ilford Galerie but with a little less weight. The paper being light is however a bonus as it makes it easier to feed into the printer (I am using an HP8750 A3+ printer) as I don't have a roll paper fitment. My first two prints have come out to a very high standard. The results are a little lighter than the Fotospeed and have a little less depth however the detail is excellent. Colour reproduction is also first rate and there are no surface scuffs or marks from the printing. The print leaves the printer touch dry and I suspect (but have not tried) it is waterproof. Now I want to stress that due to time limitations I have not calibrated my printer for this paper but instead used the Ilford Galerie printer ICC profile (free on the Ilford site). This has produced a very good result but I suspect I will get a better, deeper and richer print when I take some time to calibrate my printer with this paper. Whilst I have no figures on the longevity of this paper nothing I have seen gives me any concern. An excellent product for a fantastic price. If you want to have a go at printing a panoramic I suggest you give this product a go.

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