Competes well with even fine art paper
In recent testing with various papers, that were primarily fine art papers, my final selection was RR Polar Matte. At least in comparison to Breathing Color's fine art paper and Ilford Gallerie Silk Fibre, it came out a virtual tie with color rendition, gamut, and sharpness. If you have to consider a budget, then that's where RR shines. So much less cost. However, I will say it is not directly comparable to those papers just because it weight and thickness is less. So, yeh, if you hold a print in your hand, the thicker papers just feel better. But since one ends up mounting the photo anyway, that difference goes away. Another factor in my decision was that the 10 mil thickness let me feed the paper easily in my Epson 3880. Thicker papers are definitely difficult to load. Yet another compelling reason for me to go with RR Matte, was the lovely velvety texture. Since I am flush mounting my prints and not covering them with glass, the surface texture is important. And if that is not enough reason for purchasing this paper, it comes in so many sizes. I appreciated the fact I could purchase 17" rolls, so I could cut the sizes I needed and save more $$ in the process. For those who don't have the capability to create your own ICC profile, the one RR provides was dead on for my Epson printer.\r\nThe ONLY reason I did not give this paper 5 stars was that the first roll had some slight damage. That said, RR sent out another roll that was at my door in 2 days. If this is the kinds of support is common, they should expect me to be a customer a very long time.
Verified Buyer
KFH - Feb 03, 2012
