Digital BW, The Print

From: "JMWoo" <wooismyid@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 7:11 PM
Subject: [Digital BW] Epson Driver = Banding, a way of life?


> Thanks to everyone for the responses I've received to
> my various questions.
>
> I'm ramping up to make the switch over to MIS VM +
> 1280 (both are in the mail on their way to me). For
> the past couple of months I've been making do with a
> 980 and standard Epson color inks. The driver does a
> good job overall (esp. considering the fac that I'm
> using the regular 4 colors), but I still get small
> microbanding in all of my prints on Epson AHW Matter
> and Legion Somerset Velvet papers. It's visible from
> about 8 inches away.
>
> With a proper workflow can I expect this microbanding
> to disapper once I move to the MIS inks? Or do I have
> to move to a Piezo system to get rid of banding
> altogether?
> John

John,

Linear artifacts in the direction of print head travel are an underlying
fact of inkjet printing. If everything is going well they will only be
visible under magnification or at very close distances. (Inkjet is better
big!<G>)

Since the Epson driver uses microweave I find it's linear artifacts less
noticeable than with the Piezo driver. Some of this is printer model
related. I have had much less trouble with my 1280's than with the 1200 I
started with. The 1200 had light micro banded in the upper 3/4 tones which
was very noticeable. The 1280's seem to be more likely to have dark banding
in the lower 3/4 tones which seems to be less objectionable.

Banding will always be most noticeable in smooth areas such as skies and
with any image pattern, even grain, will not be visible. If you cannot see
it at a normal viewing distance, then do not worry about it and get on with
your printing.

I think that the 1280 with the Epson driver is one of the best printers in
this regard so you have made a good choice.

Martin