Better quality paper for printing genealogy censuses?

Question

Does it matter what quality paper you use when printing out a census? Would a better quality or color of the paper make the print more clearer? Or is it just the quality of ink that matters?

Answer 1

it's the quality of the paper that matters. make sure the type of paper you choose is compatible with your printer.

Answer 2

Use white archival quality paper.

As for ink quality, I use the ink cartridge made especially for my printer, as the refill inks aren't always of good quality, depending on where you have them refilled.

Let the ink dry completely (I wait 24 hours), before placing them in archival quality protective (see-thru) sleeves.

The sleeves allows easy access to the document, without the fear of finger smudges or the mishaps of a coffee/beverage spill.

I always print a  2nd copy, to use as a working copy, so I can mark it with highlighter, showing my ancestors and all pertinent information. These are placed in the economy priced protective sleeves.

Ancestry.com always has a summary of the Census records, which I also print, for future reference.

The less you handle them the better.

Answer 3

when you are printing from a census image.. if it is the image from ancesty.. your ORIGINAL IS at least 100 yrs old, or more. And a high number of those originals are faded from time, sometimes water damaged.  We won't even discuss the handwriting issues.  

What we have today, is one thing I did not have when starting out.. the image is a jpeg file.  My prints were from microfilm. If I do save from ancestry now.. the option is to use photo enhancing software, which can work with contrast and brightness. Of course, be sure to save your original file with another name before playing.  You may find this helps. Of course, aside from printing itself.. you can blow up the file for better viewing.

From that point.. it is the same as any other image printing.. how good is the quality of your printer? mine is not so good, so I don't even try much for this type of print. Just for the heck of it.. you might slap the file on a cd, take to walmart and get them to try a print on 5x7, so you can compare if THEIR expensive machines do make a big difference. 8 x 10 would be even better, but you still have to weigh cost per print on that.. if you need prints.  It will tell for sure, how the different factors affect the final product.