Digital BW, The Print

I, too, had similar problems.  Don't know if it's the exact same 
thing, but it helped me to 1) align my printheads AND 2) use a paper 
profile rather than "same as source" in the print with preview page.

Here's my data:

With my brand new 2200, I thought I was following Clayton Jones' 
instructions and my BO printing initially looked very good (with mK 
on EEM).  However, I had accidentally deviated from his settings by 
selecting the Epson EEM profile in the "Print with Preview" page.  
When I reread Clayton's webpage and changed my selection to "Same as 
source" as he suggests, I noticed ugly banding/density variation in 
dark areas.  I thought perhaps my printheads were misaligned, so I 
checked, and they were, so I aligned them.  I tried again to make the 
prints (same as source) and they looked better, but the banding was 
still there.  I then switched back to the Epson EEM profile and the 
banding was totally gone.  These aligned, EEM-profiled prints looked 
much better than the "same as source" prints and subtly better than 
the pre-aligned EEM-profiled prints.  I went back and looked at the 
original (pre-alignment) EEM-profiled prints with a loupe and could 
see banding that wasn't there to the naked eye.  (The post-alignment 
EEM-profiled prints don't even have banding through a loupe.)

I don't understand why using the profile would get rid of the 
banding, but 
it seemed to.

It might be worth a try.

-Aaron

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Steve Kale 
<stevekale@b...> wrote:
> I am not sure the problem is BO per se.  When I do test prints on 
EEM (with
> QTR or BO) I find that solid black areas, eg sky, get corrugations 
in
> density about an inch or so apart. Not banding just undulations in 
darkness.
> I suspect it is more something to do with a lot of ink hitting a 
thin paper
> and the way it dries.  I have no such problems with HPR.
> 
> 
> From: "wifflebomb" <wifflebomb@y...>
> Reply-To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 01:44:29 -0000
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: BO prints w/ebony streaking
> 
> Definitely let me know if you find a solution.  For me it happens in
> the darkest areas too.  My prints have a lot of dark tones (see
> www.brashares.com if you're interested) and in other kinds of 
prints,
> with no solid blacks, it would be hard to see it-- I wonder if the
> problem is common but others don't notice...
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "neilsphoto"
> <neilsphoto@y...> wrote:
> > I just made a print minutes ago, tweaked it a bit and had just 
what
> was just 
> > described in a previous post.   It looks like a bad spray paint
> job.  Uneven 
> > spraying of ink.  The first print didn't have that look but the
> next did.  Weird.
> > 
> > This was a 6x9 image and it has alot of dark areas.  The paper was
> EEM and 
> > the ink Ebony.   FWIW I've had a similar look on large A3 prints.
> In that case a 
> > 6a9 was fine but the A3 prints had the streaking.
> > 
> > I've found no answer yet and I haven't found a pattern.   I need 
to
> see if it 
> > happens on Photo Rag too.
> > 
> > Neil