For a list of all tested papers, grouped by resistance to orange shift, be sure to see my proprietary, exclusive Clint Eastwood Ratings (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).
The very best papers I've found, so far, in terms of resisting orange shift and producing a decent quality image, come from Ilford and Red River. The Ilford Semi-Matte has become my favorite paper. Great color and saturation, a clear, smooth surface, and a moderate level of gloss. The Ilford Glossy resists orange shift as well as the semi-matte, but will require a bit more work to get software and driver settings dialed in. Neither paper, unfortunately, is as water resistant as the Epson PGPP, which may be a factor in some environments.
Caveat Emptor: I should mention one caveat. I've heard from a number of other users about the semi-matte paper. Some report great results, and are very happy with it. Others report a great deal of difficulty in dark areas of images, seeing blotchy results and having problems with reticulation. These problems seem to be even more prevalent with the Ilford Glossy. I've also gotten one report from a user who's seen "a very noticeable orange shift (almost streaking) in dark/black areas of the print." I've never seen the orange shift appear as "streaks," so I'm not sure if this is the same thing, or some other problem.
Take a look at my Ilford page for my thoughts on these questions. And let me reiterate that, before you spend a lot of money on any paper, you test a small sample yourself. And make sure those samples include some very dark areas.
Red River Premium Gloss is not quite as good as the Ilford papers at resisting the orange shift, but it's better than anything else I've tested so far. It also prints just fine using standard Epson driver settings, unlike the Ilford papers, which require some tweaking.
I've also had promising results with several Weber-Valentine papers, although perhaps image quality is a notch below some others.
If you're looking for the ultimate in permanence, you need to consider the Epson 2000P printer. My samples have withstood several months in my ozone chamber and outdoors, with no signs of color shift, fade, dot gain, ink bleeding, or anything else.
If you insist on using Epson papers with your 1270, Heavyweight Matte works better than anything else tested (but I have not tested the Archival Matte intended for the 2000P). Among Epson's glossy papers, the old Epson Photo Paper lasts better than anything else. Finally, Epson's Backlit Film seems to resist the orange shift due to it's unique display/mounting requirements.
You can follow the links to the left directly to my paper reviews, arranged by manufacturer. Or, see the papers listed according to my world famous, patented, Clint Eastwood scale (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly).
As of this writing (February 26th, 2001), there is a growing number of 3rd party inks available for the x70 printers, and there are a couple of solutions for resetting the chipped cartridge, too. Find out more by following the link to my 3rd Party Inks page.
As part of my search for a printing solution, however, I've evaluated prints made on several
other printers with Epson and 3rd party inks. The most promising of the alternatives
I've tested is the Epson 2000P. Other alternatives, including the Epson 900 with
OEM inks, and the Epson 1160 with inks and papers from Xtreme Gamut, or inks from MIS,
have enough disadvantages to eliminate any advantages they might have, for me. Take a look at
my Alternate Printers and Inks page.
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