Re: epson banding & systems

["Gordon J. Holtslander" <holtsg@duke.usask.ca>]

Hi:

It looks like the banding would be caused by a consistent pattern of
uneven ink depostion across each pass rather than a problem with the paper
advance.  I think the banding would be different if caused by the paper
transport.  The uneveness is in the same axis that the printer head
moves across the paper.  I think it would be the other way if the
transport caused the uneveness.

I'm printing on plain cheap 20 lb "multiuse paper". I think a thicker
paper may solve the problem but I would prefer to use a thin paper if I'm
going to make paper negs.  Do people have this problem with the various
tranparency or velums?

Time for some ascii art :)

This will only look right if this is viewed with a fixed width font - ie
courier on PC not sure what on a Mac

 ---
|   |
|   |  paper is aligned in portrait mode
|   |  image printed with upper edge pointing up ( ^ this way)
 ---

the printer head travels this way <->
while the paper travels this way \/

The banding pattern in like this:

 | | | |
 | | | |

where each | represents a band of darker ink.

There is a pattern of vertical bands of darker ink going  from
the top edge to the bottom edge spaced about 3/4 of a inch apart.

If the banding was caused by poor paper transport I would expect the
banding to be in the axis 90 degree to the path of the paper, like this:

 ___________

 ___________

 ___________

If the paper transport was uneven then there would be blanks or overlaps
in an axis 90 degrees to the paper transport.

If this ins't clear I can make a better diagram or even scan the prints
and put it on a web page.

Gord

On Fri, 10 Aug 2001, Nick Makris wrote:

> Gordon,  Try some other paper; heavier, lighter, glossy, matte, etc.  That
> kind of banding is usually associated with the paper advance mechanism.
>
> Nick
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gordon J. Holtslander" <holtsg@duke.usask.ca>
> >
> > I did some very preliminary testing of printing with different systems and
> > drivers on my humble epson stylus photo 700 & PC.
> >
> > I printed the same image file on the same printer in color on plain paper.
> > Its a low resolution scan saved as a jpg of a cyanotype intended for a web
> > page (120dpi)
> >
> > I just wanted to see if there was a difference between prints made using
> > different systems and drivers on the same equipment.
> >
> > >From windows I used the standard windows epson driver and got banding.
> > It looks like the printer consistently put too much ink at the same points
> > on each pass of the printer head. Printing the image with the paper in
> > portrait alignment the banding is vertical.  Printing with the paper in
> > landscape alignment produces horizontal banding.  The banda are along an
> > axis 90 degrees from the path of the printer head across the paper.
> >
> > I printed from both photoshop and netscape.
> >
> > Is this the typical kind of banding that people find with epsons?
> >
> > Using linux and the CUPS driver for this printer I got an image with
> > absolutely no banding. The image is not as dense or as contrasty as the
> > windows image. I printed both in both landscape and portrait alignments
> > and used linux netscape and GIMP.  Again no banding what so ever.
> >
> > I'm almost out of black ink, I'll try Keith Gerlings suggestions about
> > refilling and do this in black
> >
> > I'll try scanning something at a much higher resolution and see what
> > results I get.
> >
> > Gord
> >
> > On Fri, 10 Aug 2001, Katharine Thayer wrote:
> >
> > > Keith Gerling wrote:
> > > >
> > > .  I would really appreciate seeing
> > > > ANY comparisons of gum prints using:
> > > >
> > > > 1) Black vs. color demonstrating color is better
> > >
> > >
> > > I'm printing negatives today so tried to sneak in a black one for
> > > comparison, but no matter what options I choose I get banding with
> > > black, and am not interested in spending any more time with it. So I
> > > won't be providing any data on the question one way or the other. Keith
> > > says his negatives printed with black ink print gum just as good as the
> > > negatives printed with color inks; I'll take his word for it but I still
> > > have to print in color anyway, darn. Those black cartridges are so much
> > > cheaper.
> > >
> > > Judy said a while back that when she tries to print in color she gets
> > > blue midtones or something. Different machines, different media; I get a
> > > nice neutral black throughout. If black works for you, all the better.
> > > Katharine
> > >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------
> > Gordon J. Holtslander Dept. of Biology
> > holtsg@duke.usask.ca 112 Science Place
> > http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg University of Saskatchewan
> > Tel (306) 966-4433 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
> > Fax (306) 966-4461 Canada  S7N 5E2
> > ---------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
>

---------------------------------------------------------
Gordon J. Holtslander		Dept. of Biology
holtsg@duke.usask.ca		112 Science Place
http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg	University of Saskatchewan
Tel (306) 966-4433		Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Fax (306) 966-4461		Canada  S7N 5E2
---------------------------------------------------------