Re: Inkjet (2200) digital neg banding

Hi Clyde,
someone suggested printing a 16 bit rgb image at 1440 to overcome this
banding.

Hope this helps
David H

Clyde Rogers wrote:
> 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
>
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Received on Sat Dec 3 15:22:28 2005