Re: Inkjet (2200) digital neg banding

Clyde

I have had this same problem with my 2100. Are you using a colour fill which
involves black inks? If any black ink at all is involved then banding is
more pronounced.. Of course without using black you may struggle to achieve
sufficient UV density and may need a higher contrast mix, though I can get
away with a lower contrast mix than yours without needing black ink.

Even without using black ink I have had some banding on one particular image
which has been driving me nuts. I solved this by feeding the negative into
the printer in landscape format rather than portrait. For some reason it
didn't band that way. Don't ask me why!

Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Clyde Rogers" <xrogers@comcast.net>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 8:47 PM
Subject: 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 16:00:34 2005