Photo paper for Laser printers?

[Sonic007]

Hi,

 

Can anyone recommend some photo paper but for laser printers?

 

What have you had success with?

 

 

Thankyou.

[dhicks]

What have you had success with?

 

If I understand correctly, laser printers work by putting a layer of ground-up plastic on to the surface of the paper, then heating it to fuse it with the paper. Thinner paper tends to work best for this (less to heat) - we've used 75GSM in our printers with no issues. A few months ago we switched to 100% recycled paper which we found difficult to get in bright white for a reasonable price (Image Recycled 100% Recycled, 80GSM). We now use the cheaper slightly-off-white (Steinbeis No.1 100% Recycled, 80GSM) instead. Our art department, who we thought might be the main one with issues, seem to prefer it anyway, so that's worked quite well.

 

For certificates and similar to be handed out in assemblies (we're a prep / primary school, there's weekly well-done-in-this-subject certificates to be done) we use 160GSM paper / card - thick enough that people can tell it's fancier than the daily use stuff, but still (just about) thin enough to go through the printers okay. Heavier than that (250GSM) can be put through the printers but with care / attention to which paper tray you are using, which our staff find too fiddly. At one point we did try Ricoh's printable plastic "paper" - it made for a nice-looking printed sheet, and was tough (difficult to tear) and waterproof. We didn't have a way of keeping it separate from standard paper, though, so it tended to get mixed up with everything else and lost, but it might be worth a try.

 

If you don't do photos / certificates that often, you could look at online printing services which will do your high-quality printing for you. I noticed at BETT that Canva are pushing their print shop - design stuff in Canva, possibly using a template (handy for certificates), then hit "print" and it arrives a few days later in the post.

[Sonic007]

Thankyou. I will have a look into those options. It is mostly for certificates and some artwork we want to make look a bit more fancy for putting up on the walls.

[msi_school]

I have always found that for art work the best option is to send it out, the quality is far better than you can get from a laser printer and cheaper than an ink jet plus you can get fancy paper, mounting and large sizes that are not possible in a school.

[MatthewL]

I never use photo papers in laser printers just a higher stock paper such as 120 or 160 gram paper, you get a nice result on that.

[HarryMonkey]

If you decide to outsource your artwork printing, many of the members of our local camera club use https://dscolourlabs.co.uk/

 

Excellent quality and not too expensive. A wide range of print papers etc. Fast online upload and very quick turn-round too.

Edited February 15, 2024 by HarryMonkey