topic Re: Which Media Type to select for heavy playing cardstock? 330gsm in Professional Photo Printers

Which Media Type to select for heavy playing cardstock? 330gsm

matt23nyc — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 19:01:59 GMT

Which Media Type should I select to print playing cards? I'm using a heavy 330gsm black core paper. Canon Pixmia 100.

Already wasted a test print selecting "Matte Photo Paper". It came out blurry. Photo paper however, looks great. But doesn't have the right feel for playing cards.

And what effect does changing "Media Type" have exactly?

With options like "Other Fine Art Paper 2", hoping someone can help solve this guessing game.

Re: Which Media Type to select for heavy playing cardstock? 330gsm

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 20:36:22 GMT

Selecting Fine Art paper option will result in the printer imposinga 30mm margin; you probably don't want that.

Media Type selects how the printer lays down ink and , depending on your software setting, slects either a Canon or a third party ICC color matching profile.

Images on matte paper are generally less sharp than glossy papers because of the fact tat the ink spreads a little - called dot gain. I would never classify my images a "blurry" however.

what software are you printing from; what settings are you using?

Re: Which Media Type to select for heavy playing cardstock? 330gsm

matt23nyc — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 22:45:33 GMT

Thanks for reply. Can you explain the difference in how the same printer can lay down ink? Settings I've tried so far;

media type; glossy photo paper, or matte photo paper
paper source: rear tray, and manual feed
print quality: standard

It's printing very blurry on any sort of cardstock. Any photo paper and it looks very sharp.

Re: Which Media Type to select for heavy playing cardstock? 330gsm

jrhoffman75 — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 23:00:10 GMT

The printer driver is the controller. It is programed to know how to lay down the ink in different paper types.

Matte photo paper has a coating on the surface that controls ink absorption. If you wet a finger tip and touch both sides of photo paper you will feel that one side is tacky; thats the printing side.

Does the card stock supplier make any recommendations? A dye ink printer like the Pro-100 may not be the best option for that kind of paper.

Do a little tets on some scrap paper - put a little drop of water on a glossy photo paper and your card stock. I predict the glossy paper will probably just bead up and the card stock absorbs it right in. That's what its doing to the ink.