Review of the HP B9180 Printer.
This review is based on the need to print photo lab quality prints that can be sold to customers just as you would a Luster finish print from a photo lab.

After a lot of different paper testing and trying many different ways to mount prints to mount board here is what i have found.

Papers i have tested and the results

HP Advanced Photo Papers

Soft Gloss -- This paper works great it shows no bronzing on any prints so far even on photos that other papers showed bronzing on a lot.

Satin Matt -- This paper to me looks, Feels and prints just like the Soft Gloss I see no difference in the two except the Satin matt only comes in the 13x19 size and the soft gloss only comes in the 8 ½ x 11 size.

Glossy -- This paper works very well to showing no bronzing and its a nice gloss look.
One mild problem is after printing you must wait a long time like 8 hours or so to handle the prints in any professional use way or you can end up having your finger prints showing up stuck to the print. Also you must be careful when sliding a glossy print into a slide in album like a wedding album as the prints can scuff up a little on the top surface from robbing on the album when sliding in. Lab prints do not have this problem as much.

The HP paper is the best to use for this printer at this time for real photo lab looking and qualty prints.

But what HP has to offer is limited for it's papers

They offer no pre cut 8x10 paper at all and no pre cut 11x14 paper.

What they do have is 5x7 and 4x6 but only in the glossy paper not the better Soft gloss or Satin matt.

The soft gloss only comes in 8 ½x11 and the Satin matt only comes in the 13x19.

What a mess no consistency of paper sizes to use for different photo sizes.

Other Papers

Red River Papers

UltraPro Satin -- This paper showed bronzing in almost every print we made.

Polar Satin -- This paper also shows bronzing but not as bad as the Ultro pro.

Can you use Red River Photo feel papers? Yes if you go one more step.

You need to spray each print with PremierArt Print Shield and the Bronzing and the gloss differential is allmost all gone. It works very well.

What is almost gone?

Almost gone is if you turn the paper into the light at just the right angle with the light hitting it just the right way you can see a very small out lining of parts of the print its very mild and i do not think any customer would even see it at all. I would sell prints on the Red river UltraPro paper that have been sprayed with PremierArt Print Shield. The UltraPro Satin paper seems to take to the spray better then the Polar Satin so stay with that if you want to use the Red River paper.

The advantage to using the Red River Paper is lots of pre cut sizes ready to go for bourderless printing. 4X6, 5x7, 8X10, 11x14 and 13x19 every size you need for selling prints to customers. But the HP paper cost less to buy and dose work better and includes free over night shipping from HP if you can live with out the pre cut sizes.

Inkjet art paper

Micro Ceramic Luster -- This seems to be about the same as the Red River UltroPro Satin.

The Micro Ceramic Luster shows the same bronzing in the same places as the Red River paper on the same photos. But after spraying with the PremierArt Print Shield your good to go. But like the Red River paper it to cost more then the better HP paper so why bother. They do not have any pre cut 8x10, 5X7 or 11x14 size papers.

Fine art Papers

This i will get into over the next month or two as i move more in that direction.

One last note on the HP paper it all has the HP logo on the back.

Spraying your prints with PremierArt Print Shield

Ok now we know that spraying the prints can remove and fix any and all gloss differential and most all of the bronzing on non HP papers.

You should still spray all the HP papers to fix the gloss differential look.

My Mistake after spraying i made

I sprayed 20 HP 5x7 Glossy prints to get them ready to go into a 5x7 wedding album.

After two coats of spray i waited around 30 min to let them dry good and i stacked them on top of each other and took them inside to my office. Later I went back to start placing them into the album only to find that many of them are now stuck together and when pulling them apart it destroys the print by leaving a Print Shield pull off marking in the over coat. So i had to reprint a few of them over.

So you do need to wait a lot longer for them to dry then the Print Shield can says. I am going for over night for now on before any print will go into a album or be sent out.

The print Shield can says to use two coats or more if needed but i think if you are using the HP paper and do not have the bronzing problem other papers have then one good coat will be enough to wipe out the gloss differential look and give you a true photo lab looking print.

Spraying Matt paper to make it look like a gloss or Luster print

I have read that some people spray matt prints and they think it then looks like a Luster print from a lab. Well the people saying this must never buy photo lab prints because this looks nothing like a lab print at all. It looks like a Matt print with a spray coating on it. I guess if you spray it 10 or 20 times you will start to get the right look but you will use up half a can of $15 spray on one 8x10.

HP Print Quality

Looking at HP Inkjet prints next to photo lab prints.

Doing a side by side with photo lab prints and my now print Shield sprayed HP prints it is almost impossible to tell one from another except the HP prints are a bit sharper and show a little more detail. I love how the HP prints bring out the sharpness in the eyes and mouth of people photos and the colors pop a little more then the lab prints to. This is all from using the default HP print settings. I am not doing any extra color management at all i do not see a need to the photos look that good. But i have my monitor set for photo lab prints and the HP prints look even better.

Looking at the prints the extra step of spraying gives the prints the same look as a Kodak luster or fuji Crystal archive lab print i have both here to compare to.
This dose not include plan matt paper only the HP Soft gloss and the Satin Matt.

The down sides of spraying

Well the most notable one is the extra time it takes to spray the prints. Plus you have to account for the extra space you need outside or in a large well ventilated garage. Then all the extra time (many hours) of time till the prints are ready to be packed up and sent out or used in a album. And then what i feel right now a head ache from the spray. After taking the prints into my office area the smell of the spray fills the room like a bad fart but worse its a chemical smell and its giving me a head ache. I am still not sure how long this smell will stay around but when printing and spraying almost every day it may never go away.

Mounting the prints for a professional look.

We give all our customers all mounted prints from 8x10 and up and sometimes 5x7s as well.

Some people may ask why spend the extra money to mount a print?.

It's very simple we offer professional photography services and we want all our prints to look and be the best they can. By mounting the prints you are telling your customers you have a quality product and that your product (your prints) are professional prepared just for them.

Not just a stack of 8x10s and here you go. We go one more step just like a good photo lab we place each 5x7, 8x10, 11x14 and soon every 13x19 in a sealed photo sleeve. They are as clear as glass and will not ripple, dimple or pucker over time. When a customer opens up a box of prints we have sent them they know right away they have a quality product worth what they paid for it and we stand behind it. We even buy cutom boxes to ship prints in and next year will have our own packing tape made with our name on it.
You prints can make a good impression for you and generate more business at the same time.

Mounting boards

We have looked at many and have for now decided to go with Coda Brand Styrene mountboards. Styrene is a kind of plastic and it will not warp over time or have problems like most paper product mount boards. The styrene boards are nice and hard. We are using the .040 for our 5x7s and 8x10s and the .080 thickness for our 11x14s. Right now if we want it in a 13x19 size we have to pay the price for a 16x20 and then they will cut them to the 13x19 size but that way it cost a lot more. Also the Styrene is heavy to ship when you order a lot so expect to pay a good amount for the shipping cost. Add that to your end print cost.

All the mount boards we use are Adhesive Coated so you just have to pull back the Adhesive release paper and then stick down your print and you all set.

Mounting and cutting your prints

Mounting the prints onto the mount boards if done wrong can mess up a lot of prints and waste a lot of mount boards costing you money.

First off we are using the HP Soft Gloss paper to make 8x10s but the paper is not 8x10 its 8 ½ by11 but we have found a quick and easy way to deal with this with out pre cutting the paper to 8x10 first. I will get to this after we mount the print.

The best way to mount prints to the mount board.

I was fortunate enough to read a posting in the DWF on-line forum from a photographer named Rolland Elliott. His method of mounting prints is by far the best we have ever come across and it works fantastically. Thanks Rolland for the information the credit goes to him for this better way to mount.

Most mount board companies tell you to peel back the top of the release paper about two inches and then push your photo down as you pull out the rest of the release paper. This all sounds easy but nine times out of ten as you start pressing down the print you then see you are just a small amount off and your print is over the edge on one side to much.

The better (Rolland) way

Use a exato knife or box cutter and in the center of the mountboard cut a section in the center from side to side out of the release paper that is around a inch or two wide.

So you have your mountboard with a one to two inch section of the release backing paper cut out from side to side in the center.

Now peel out just the center peace of the release paper then just lay your print on top of the mountboard (softly) do not push it down. You then can move the print around till it is in just the right spot and when it is you then press down only in the center over the spot you removed the area of release backing. Now your print is locked down to the board in the right spot. Next you lift up one side of the print and pull off the rest of the release backing paper and press your print down then do the same to the other side and when your done you should have a perfectly mounted print.

Mounting 8x10 prints that are on on 8 1/2x11 paper

In place of cutting down the 81/2 x11 paper to 8x10 what we do is print the 8x10 so it is at the top edge of the page. To do this with the HP B9180 when you pick the paper size pick bourderless 8x10 not 8 1/2x11 and then set it to 100%. When it prints out your 8x10 will be edge to edge on two sides of the paper.

Now using the mounting method we just did above we will do all the same things but this time we line up the paper using the two edges that are flush printed to the edge of the paper so the rest of the not used paper is hanging off the mount board edge.

After you press it all down in place you can then turn it up side down and use a box cutter or sharp blade and very easily use the side of the mountboard as you guide to cut off the extra paper. If done right you will end up with a very exact cut making your print be a perfect fit for the mountboard.

I do all my Print Shield spraying after the print is mounted to the mount board it makes it easy to work with that way.

More to come

Well for now this is my review of the HP B9180 Inkjet printer and how I use it for making photo lab quality prints.

I will be adding more to this review as i work with more papers and other items. I will also work on taking photos to show the prints and showing how to mount and spray the prints. Will also get into framing the prints at some point to.

I hope this was of some help to anyone who is looking at using the HP B9180 printer for making photo prints.

If you have any comments or questions you can contact me by clicking here

Ed Morgan

Owner of Grand Photography