Printing photos on colour laser printer

krishna

Do I need to buy laser photo paper for printing colour photos onto a colour laser printer? Or will any photo paper give decent print quality?

krishna

Somebody please help. I got an HP colour laser printer (free). There seems to be much less choice on photo papers that are specifically for laser printers. Is there much difference? Can I use any photo paper?

gizmoleeds

Dunno - you could just try. I'm sure there are scientists over at the paper companies who will tell you that the materials used are very different and designed for maximum performance on a particular printer type etc.... but TBH I don't think most people take any notice of whether or not their paper says "copier", "laser" or "inkjet" on it and photo paper should be the same.

Get a cheap packet of inkjet photo paper and see what the quality is like....

jjames_3

First thing to note is that glossy paper won't work with lasers because the "ink" is fused to the paper over the top of what was there, rather than seeping into the paper as is the case with an inkjet. The print will come out matt on glossy pictures, and will probably look odd because there'll be little bits of the glossy paper underneath not directly printed on which will shine underneath the image.

Generally lasers print the same quality regardless of the paper type, although obviously you may want some paper with a decent thickness if you're printing photos.

krishna

jjames wrote:

First thing to note is that glossy paper won't work with lasers because the "ink" is fused to the paper over the top of what was there, rather than seeping into the paper as is the case with an inkjet. The print will come out matt on glossy pictures, and will probably look odd because there'll be little bits of the glossy paper underneath not directly printed on which will shine underneath the image.

Generally lasers print the same quality regardless of the paper type, although obviously you may want some paper with a decent thickness if you're printing photos.

Thanks for that.

So I could just buy a packet of cheap white card then and get much the same quality?

HP do a photo laser paper that is glossy. I wonder how that looks. I might try a pack anyway and compare it then with bog standard card.

chilli_dog

laser printers bond the toner (not ink) to the paper using heat and pressure.
using any other form of medium (paper) needs to be thought off.
specific glossy ink jet paper may well melt inside the fusing unit causing a nice mess.
(average temp of a laser fuser unit 170 c)

jjames_3

> (not ink)

Hence the quotes on my post above.

You're right that there is a (small) chance of the inkjet glossy coat melting in the fuser. Therefore not recommended.