Inkjet (2200) digital neg banding

Hi all.

I've been trying to get clean, artifact-free digital negatives from
an Epson 2200 (and earlier a 1270) for over a year now. I've got
results I'm happy with in general, but I have one nagging problem I
can't get past---fine horizontal banding visible in midtones (only
slightly dark on the neg, but more visibly light on the print). One
thin band for each advance of the OHP through the printer.

Note that for many images, it isn't an issue at all. But for images
with open skies or smooth skintones, there are regions where the
banding pattern is a noticeable distraction. The results are just as
detailed as imagesetter negs, and approach in-camera negs. But they
just aren't as smooth as either imagesetter or in-camera negs (and it
isn't the grainier look that's a problem, its the fine line pattern
that appears in some regions).

I'm printing pt/pd on cranes cover paper (platinotype), using a low
contrast mixture (8 drops of ferric oxalate #1, 1 drop of #2), coated
with a brush, air and blow dried, exposed in a vacuum easel using an
integrated lightsource.

I've done multiple head alignments, examining results by eye and with
a low-power microscope. I've adjusted paper thickness, used
different print settings (2880, 1440, superfine and not) and paper
settings, cleaned rollers, modified curves to use different colors,
and used different drivers (Epson, ImagePrint, QTR). I've used stock
and custom adjustment curves with the Epson driver and QTR. I can
get great calibration results, but can't defeat this midtone banding.

So, those of you getting great results from inkjet negs---do you see
this in any of your prints? If not, what are you doing different?
Do you have a better printer (7600, 4000, etc) where you can finely
adjust the paper feed? Or do you print on different materials that
are more forgiving? Or do you think I have a slightly bad printer?
Or have I made some other obvious mistake? Do you think I'm just too
damn picky to use an inkjet printer for negs?

Thanks for reading so much junk,

Clyde Rogers
Received on Sat Dec 3 14:48:02 2005