Konica Minolta Photo Inket Paper Review
Review Date: 29/05/05
Rating: Individual ratings below.
Manufacturer: Konica Minolta

Introduction: Konica Minolta sent me the full range of Konica Minolta Inkjet Paper QP to test - the range offers a wide variery of sizes, finishes, and thickness, and offers the following features: Photo Quality, Works with all inkjet printers, Suitable for Dye Ink and Pigment ink, and is Instant Dry. Konica Minolta also say that there is no ink blotching with QP papers.

You can find more information on their website.

Test Print Images:

Shops	Heather (cloudy white balance)

Shops, taken with the 4 megapixel Canon Powershot A520, printed at 360dpi. Heather cloudy white balance photo taken with the 4 megapixel Canon Powershot A520, printed onto 6x4" paper. Full size versions can be seen in the Canon Powershot A520 gallery. Photobox calibration print, printed at 180dpi, available at www.photobox.co.uk.

Images were printed using an Epson Stylus Colour 680, which is a fairly old low/mid-range printer, that uses a 3 colour cartridge and a black cartridge. The printer's highest resolution is 2880dpi, although this slows down printing quite drastically. Using the Premium Glossy Photo Paper setting, the printer defaults to 1440dpi printing.

The Paper and Results:

Professional Photo Paper Glossy	Rating: Recommended +
Glossy, 300gsm, A4, 6x4"	Epson setting: Premium Glossy Photo Paper
	This is the thickest / heaviest paper available, and appears to be the brightest / whitest paper on test. It produced good results.

Premium Plus Photo Paper Double-Sided Glossy	Rating: Good +
Glossy, 285gsm, A4, 6x4", A3	Epson setting: Premium Glossy Photo Paper
	This paper seems slightly cream coloured compared to the bright white colour of the other paper, apart from this print colours do look very good.

Premium Plus Photo Paper Glossy	Rating: Recommended
Glossy, 260gsm, A4, 6x4", A3, (A3+, A2 in bulk)	Epson setting: Premium Glossy Photo Paper
	This paper is very white, and produced good results.

Premium Plus Photo Paper Silky	Rating: Highly Recommended
Silky / Matt , 260gsm, A4, 6x4", (A3, A3+, A2 bulk)	Epson setting: Premium Glossy Photo Paper
	The silky paper has a very nice matt/silky texture to it, it looks very similar to the prints I used to get from 35mm film when printed on matt paper by a local processor.

Premium Photo Paper Glossy	Rating: Good
Glossy, 180gsm, A4	Epson setting: Premium Glossy Photo Paper
	This paper is the thinnest of all the papers on test, and this paper is also the least white - it has a noiticable cream colour to the paper, which is especially noticable when next to the other paper. This meant to photos / prints had a slightly more yellow look to them. For prints that appear like they have been done at a traditional photo printers, this paper is slightly too thin, but it should not matter if you were to frame the pictures behind glass.

Conclusion: Overall, all papers are capable of extremely good prints - with good colours. The silky / matt paper, in my opinion is the highlight paper, with an extremely nice texture and colour quality. The 300gsm, and 260gsm glossy photo papers are also very good, with a bright white colour. The 180gsm, and double-sided paper seemed slightly cream coloured and not as bright white as the other papers - I personally felt that the 180gsm paper was slightly too thin for photo printing. I compared the paper to Fujifilm Premium inkjet paper 270gsm Glossy and Satin, and the Konica Minolta Premium Plus and Professional papers were whiter than the Fuji paper.

What I like:

• Good range of papers, and thickness/weight
• Different papers are clearly marked with different colours for easy identification
• Same printer setting works for all papers (for Epson anyway)
• The packs of paper include a sheet of card which could be useful to support the paper in your printer.
• Prints dry instantly!
• Very nice silky / matt paper.

What I don't like:

• Some sizes only available in bulk packs.
• There is no "Print this side" label in the pack. (Some papers have a top sheet, or box label showing with side to print)
• Some papers cream coloured rather than bright white.

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