To answer the original question, I have no idea what is wrong with the thinking of most of the photo paper suppliers. I compose in camera and rarely do much cropping afterwards. I want to print at 12x18 on 13x19 paper or 16x24 on 17x25 paper.
Agreed. Personally, I prefer the 2x3 format for the reasons you mentioned though the legacy of 4x5 still haunts us. Slowly, some of the frame manufactures are catching up, though I am printing large and need to go custom.
As mentioned there is a great solution. I am happy with Red River papers and they provide every paper type in both 13x19 and 17x25 sheets. RR has good pricing, a wide selection to cover every type and quality of paper I need. They ship quickly with well protected and well wrapped packages and I got great customer support the few times I had concerns or questions.
Yes they do and RR recognizes the market for 17x25. Their customer service is pretty solid as are their profiles.
Many people seem to obsess over paper types and brands. I know I did when I first started to print. I did numerous studies of the same images printed on different papers. I shuffled the papers and my wife and I both looked at them days later. All the prints on different microporous coated papers were virtually identical. Behind glazing means no differences! Hence I use cheap RR UltraPro Satin for routine printing. This is not archival but my tests and experience show it will last for decades. For archival luster prints I use either Palo Duro Satin or Palo Duro SG rag. I do have matte Aurora white and natural but rarely use either.
I still obsess over paper, after all it is our craft. Hahne's and Canson are top flight in my book though the pricing makes them fairly unapproachable in many circumstances. I've settled primarily on RR because they are a US company and for the reasons you mentioned. PDSGR (cotton) is my go to archival for color and PDBF is my preferred archival media for B&W though it handles color extremely well too.
Do I understand correctly that SG is no longer on RR’s paper menu? If so, do you have another source or did you manage to get some before they dropped it?
PDSGR - Palo Duro SoftGloss Rag (cotton, lustre)
PDBF - Palo Duro Baryta Fiber (alpha cellulose, stippled soft gloss)
PDSG - Palo Duro Smooth Rag (cotton, matte)
All are in stock. PDSGR was out of stock for a while and has recently been replenished. None of these have OBA's. Here's a link to their FA papers,
Fine Art Paper & Inkjet Photographic Papers at Redriverpaper (redrivercatalog.com).
Many people like their Ultra Pro Satin though it is not archival. They still have a small stock of the San Gabriel 2.0 in large roll only with no ETA, if ever of it returning.
