Digital BW, The Print

Hi

Still working with my 1430 and EB6 and the Epson driver.

I scanned a 4x5" neg (black & white), retouched it and scaled the picture to 11x14 720 dpi.

When I print through Photoshop CS3, I let the printer manage color (perceptual color), use my Red River presets (Paper Ultra Premium presentation, untick the "fast print" button and use the Photo quality). The print is well balanced but I have some kind of soft horizontal banding in the middle of this vertical picture.

When I reopen the file with Photoshop CS5, I keep the "printer manage color" and the perceptual intent. Same preset for the Red River Paper but the print is getting out much lighter and this time I have vertical and very soft banding.

I printed a lot of tests before (more than 50 prints) without seeing any banding. Moreover, I tried a color picture, printed it and this time, it look like soft migration near the very light parts into the darkest one.

I'll try to scan (photograph) these prints and find a way so you can see them.

Thanks if someone has an idea.