Premium Matte Double Sided – This 185 g/m², 9mil paper compares with Epson Double Sided Matte Paper (178 g/m² 9.7mil).It’s good for cardstock needed when printing on both sides. It is not a fine art paper, but it’s good for volume use where higher quality is needed. ![]() Premium Matte – This 176 g/m², 8.5mil paper reminds me of Epson Matte Heavyweight Paper (167 g/m² 9mil). I really like this paper and prefer its brightness to the 60lb. It’s a 229 g/m² 10mil paper that is perfectly smooth and super high quality. Polar Matte – This is a nice cool white paper that comes in a single and double-sided version. It has a wonderful luster-like performance with less texture and a pleasing bright white but warmer tone than the Arctic Polar. Polar Pearl Metallic as my most used Red River Paper. I love this paper and it’s second only to the 80lb. UltraPro Satin 2.0 – This is comparable to Epson Premium Semi-Gloss Photo Paper (251 g/m² 10.4mil) at 270 g/m² 10.4mil. This is my preferred Glossy paper from Red River Paper as it is closer to Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper. UltraPro Gloss 2.0 – This is an excellent 240 g/m² 10.4mil glossy paper with a warmer more natural tone and a slightly more substantial feel than the Arctic Polar Gloss. ![]() This paper is ideal for those who like Luster and want a superior presentation and feel, but who dislike the rigidity (and the price) of EFP. EFP is slightly warmer but it also has a more pure bright white appearance. This luster is definitely a superior to Epson Ultra Premium Luster (240 g/m² & 10mil) in terms of thickness and has a cooler bright white appearance. Arctic Polar Luster – Epson Exhibition Fiber (EFP) is 325 g/m² and 13mil and this paper is 300 g/m² & 11.8mil so it’s a bit lighter with a lot more flex than the very rigid Epson paper. This is great stuff, but I prefer the UltraPro Satin 2.0 listed below. At 255 g/m² and 10.5mil it compares very favorably to Epson Photo Semi-Gloss Paper (170 g/m² 7mil), and it’s my preference over both Luster and Glossy paper. Arctic Polar Satin – This is a great paper with less texture than Luster and less gloss than Glossy. Arctic Polar Gloss – This paper (255 g/m² 10.5mil) is just a great glossy paper comparable that is much more substantial than Epson Glossy Photo Paper (196 g/m² 9.4mil), but like all of the Arctic Polar papers, it has a cool tone to it. See my metallic comparison article to learn more. I’ve become very fond of the new 80lb version, but this will give you an idea if you will like metallic paper or not. Polar Pearl Metallic – This is my “money” paper when I want to wow clients. ![]() As a result, I highly recommend you try out Red River Paper’s Photographer's Choice Sample Kit because it includes two 8.5x11 sheets of the papers listed in this section. It’s tough to switch paper brands and it’s even harder to pour through all of the choices to know what to get. I feature notes about these papers and where applicable I list what Epson papers they offer that are comparable along with my two cents about what I think of both. ![]() In this article I focus on the papers Red River Paper makes that are best suited for photographers. As a result, I’ve enjoyed getting familiar with their paper lineup and experimenting with their wide variety of papers to see which paper suits a given print the best. In some cases though, they have the perfect paper that isn’t offered by Epson (like Polar Pearl Metallic or various double-sided paper choices). If I’m giving a print away to a friend or family member, or I’m just doing some print testing I’m often reaching for Red River Paper as a way to keep my costs down. Personally I’ve found Red River Papers to be excellent replacements for my Epson papers, so I use them quite often. What if you could have a paper that was very similar to do your test prints with and then you used the Epson paper for your final print? You’d have the same end result, but you’d save some money in the process! I will say up front that I really like Epson papers quite a bit, so if you fall into that camp consider this: How often do you find yourself making a few prints before you think “okay, that’s perfect”? Even the best of of the best print masters I’ve spoken with say that it usually takes them 3 or 4 prints (minimum) before they reach that point. I should note that this article not only applies to Epson printers, but Canon and some HP printers as well. As a result, I thought it would be useful to compare some of my favorite Epson papers to what I would call their “generic equivalents” at Red River Paper. Hobbyists are in the same boat since there’s no income involved. Paper costs add up and the better the paper the worse it gets! Times are tough so real working pros are looking for ways to lower their costs without lowering their quality. If you read my Printing 101 eBook then you know that the real cost of printing isn’t the ink, it’s the paper.
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