Ilford Galerie Classic Pearl Reviews

Rating
Reviewed by:

Dakemist
( Intermediate)

Review Date
June 16, 2004

Overall Rating
2 of 5

Value Rating
2 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5,
1 votes

Review 1 of 7

Price Paid: $19.00 from Montreal

Summary:

In contrast to the rave reviews posted below, I would strongly caution anyone using this product in conjunction with Canon inks, especially the 6-tank ink system for the Canon i860. Even upon extended drying for a period of two weeks, a photo printed on this paper will not withstand the most minute amount of water, and you will find that the once sharp, brilliant image has been reduced to a dull, lifeless smudge. The inital print is indeed vibrant, and the paper is heavy, sporting a beautiful finish, but the first time you watch a photo spoiled by a chance bit of water, you will turn your back on this paper forever. TO BE AVOIDED!

Strengths:

Definitely startling colour reproduction and texture.

Weaknesses:

Canon ink will not properly bond to the paper, resulting in horrible resistance to water.

Similar Products Used:

Kodak Ultima Photo Paper

Customer Service:

Not used

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Rating
Reviewed by: Autographic Photography
(Professional)

Review Date
October 30, 2003

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Review 2 of 7

Price Paid: $25.00 from Camera Company in No

Summary:

I have the classic pearl and smooth pearl as well as the smooth gloss in 3 sizes. I buy it in 8.5x11, 11x17 and 13x19. I scanned 20 pictures I sell regularly and printed them out on my S9000 Canon and fell in love with color reproducibility and ease. If you have digital images over 700 kb you will be satisfied on 8x10. If you have images over 2meg you will be thrilled and in the 4-6 meg range you will swear its a photograph. This provided your using a decent printer Canon s9000 or 9000i or Epson 2000. Enjoy it. If you know a reasonable place to buy it let me know. Amazon.com is 43.95 for 100 sheets or 8x10

Strengths:

sizes, saturation, paper thickness and grade

Weaknesses:

sorry I can not think of any

Similar Products Used:

Kodak PhotoPaper Pro gloss and matt. Canon Photopaper pro

Customer Service:

havnt needed any

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Rating
Reviewed by: chrismartin
(Expert)

Review Date
August 12, 2003

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Review 3 of 7

Price Paid: $17.00 from www.7dayshop.com

Summary:

I use Ilford Gallerie classic Pearl on my Canon s9000, on the recommendation of profesional photographers. Superb colour and finish - much better than glossy paper (Canon propaper is also good, but not as good as Ilford Gallerie Classic Pearl). I switch the intensity on my printer to -1 (ie slightly darker) but this is personal preference. Cheapest supplier I've found so far is www.7dayshop.com in Guernsey, delivery to UK in 7 days, but I'm always on the lookout for special offers as I get through so much of this paper. To sum up, since I've started using Ilford's classic Pearl I've not even been tempted to use anything else. Great stuff!

Strengths:

nice heavyweight, good picture quality and colour. Excellent finish.

Weaknesses:

its not double sided, so make sure you load the correct side (I've not had any problems).

Similar Products Used:

Canon pro paper glossy

Customer Service:

no complaints

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Rating
Reviewed by: crinklechip
(Intermediate)

Review Date
July 3, 2003

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Review 4 of 7

Price Paid: $0.00 from 7dayshop.com

Summary:

I got 25 sheets of A3+ for £17.99. I use an Epson 1270 printer and after tweaking the colour a little (as instructed in the documentation) I found the colour to be spot on, and nicely saturated. It doesn't lose any saturation when dried either, unlike some papers. I have yet to get any bronzing either, which I have had with Epson's own colourlife paper. The finish is a lovely semi-matt.

Strengths:

Good depth of colour, nice finish.

Weaknesses:

tweaking of colour is an ongoing 'art', but once you get it close enough it's fine.

Similar Products Used:

Epson ColourLife, Epson Premium Glossy

Customer Service:

none needed so far.

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Rating
Reviewed by: Nick R
(Intermediate)

Review Date
April 1, 2003

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Review 5 of 7

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:

I own a Canon S9000 printer, and I think this is possibly the best paper I've used in it. Excellent quality print, great colours and a lovely finish. I was wary of trying non-Canon papers, but in truth the Canon works fine with everything except Epson papers, and this particular version of Gallerie is a star. The Glossy isn't quite as nice, and it's not as good as the Canon paper, but the pearl is the business.

Strengths:

An excellent quality paper that works very well with the S9000. The finish is beautiful.

Weaknesses:

None.

Similar Products Used:

Loads, but Canon Photo Paper Pro is the main rival

Customer Service:

N/A

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