Canon 2768B022 Photo Paper Pro Platinum, 8.5 x 11 Inches, 20 Sheets

I am not a professional, but I have been into photography for about 25 years. I now print through Lightroom 3 or PS5 using a calibrated IPS monitor with a Canon 9000 MkII and use only Canon ink. What I don’t print myself I print through Bay Photo, who usually do a fantastic job, so I tend to compare my prints to those from Bay Photo.I was not happy with Canon’s Glossy II or the Photo Pro II because I felt colors were a bit washed out and the blacks were unimpressive, so I tried the Platinum Pro. To compare the Platinum Pro to the Photo Pro II, I printed a series of 10 photos at 4×6 that ranged in color content from starry night skies, sunrises, reef fish, amusement park rides, wedding shots, macro bug shots, landscapes, and B&W covering many of the color matching problems I’ve ran into. YMMV, but here’s my observations:First off these two papers are very different. Physically, The Platinum Pro paper achieves final color after only a few hours while the Photo Paper Pro II takes about 48 hours to fully set. Also, the Platinum Pro paper feels stiffer, but this may be due to a resin coating on the paper, and it definitely lies flatter after it is dried. Color wise, the difference in “most” of the photos is amazing and very evident – the Platinum Pro is nothing less than impressive. As Canon claims, the Platinum Pro displays a noticeably expanded red gamut and much deeper blacks. The difference is significant and can be amazing with some prints (e.g. sunrise over Mt. Haleakala – simply spectacular on the Platinum Pro, nice but unimpressive on the Photo Pro II). All pics with blacks or dark shadows, such as tuxedos in wedding shots, were noticeably darker and more saturated in these areas. Shots with lots of red are where the color differences are most noticeable, as Canon would have one expect, but blue skies (e.g. a carousel shot against a bright sky with the saturation bumped up in PS5), also were noticeably more saturated.For some photos, the increased red gamut and saturation and the deeper blacks makes the shots “pop” in a way I have not seen with other Canon papers, and usually only see on metallic or other commercial prints. The concern I have with the Platinum Pro is the expanded red ends up being a bit over saturated on people shots, particularly with pale skinned people with a hint of red tone. Some wedding prints were clearly over saturated in this area. Also, the deep blacks do seem to cause some loss of detail (those tuxedos again), though IMO this is offset by the richness of the blacks. The overall reservation I have with the Platinum Pro paper, and the reason I give it only 4 stars, is the overall affect on a lot of shots is over saturation. Some people argue that Canon favors the “Disney” look in colors and there is a bit of this with the Platinum Pro paper. This is definitely not the case with the Photo Paper Pro II, but that paper has a slight under saturation problem in my hands. I like the “pop” on many of the shots and know, now, what to expect, so it is an easy task to tone down the red (or blue) saturation, particularly in flesh toned shots if I need to.Where the Platinum completely fell apart in my tests was with B&W prints. The good part is the paper produced B&Ws with an amazingly neutral bright white, whereas the Photo Pro II looks much closer to the Glossy II paper, and both have a noticeable tint. Unfortunately, there is a noticeable loss of detail in the Platinum Pro paper with B&W. The loss of detail was, for me, very unexpected and completely unacceptable. I did not see this loss of detail in the color shots. I’ve only printed two B&W on this paper and will print more to further test this, but detail was clearly lost in both prints. The Photo Pro II and the Glossy II produced much better B&W prints.Overall, the types of photos I print look better on the Platinum Pro, so it will be my new [Canon] paper of choice for color prints, but I will have to adjust the saturation for flesh toned prints. For B&W? Well, so far, I have not tried any Canon product that impresses me, at least not on this printer. There are lots of other choices out there that are favored for B&W printing, and the PIXMA 9000 MKII is not noted for it’s B&W capabilities anyway, so for this review I was more interested in color prints, and the Platinum Pro is without a doubt an impressive paper.