Digital BW, The Print

Hello all;

Has anyone had any experience and/or success with the various Epson 
service programs available online? I downloaded  the 1280 program, 
but I can't seem to find a way to get the adjustmennt I need, namely 
some way to fix that ##&^%(**!!@@ dither banding in the middle 
values. And this is on the replacement 1280 they just sent me no 
less. The new one is no better than the old one, which has me 
thinking about Canon printers...

Steve

> I can't seem to find a way to get the adjustmennt I need, namely 
> some way to fix that ##&^%(**!!@@ dither banding in the middle 
> values. 
> Steve

Steve,

I forgot what inks you are using? Are you using UT2 Inks? Curves or Epson Driver Settings?

John

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "John Vitollo" 
<jvlist@c...> wrote:
> > I can't seem to find a way to get the adjustmennt I need, namely 
> > some way to fix that ##&^%(**!!@@ dither banding in the middle 
> > values. 
> > Steve
> 
> Steve,
> 
> I forgot what inks you are using? Are you using UT2 Inks? Curves 
or Epson Driver Settings?
> 
> John
John,

This time around, since I have the 7500 for B&W, I've left the 1280 
with dye inks in the hopes of keeping a color proofing machine in 
good working order. It makes no difference if it's the OEM dyes or 
MIS, there's a mid-tone region that shows just enough dither-banding 
to make it useless for the digital negs I would like to be able to 
make. Most frustrating. Neither of my previous two 1280 or my $100 
780 had this problem, they printed perfectly. Any ideas?

Steve

> This time around, since I have the 7500 for B&W, I've left the 1280 
> with dye inks in the hopes of keeping a color proofing machine in 
> good working order. It makes no difference if it's the OEM dyes or 
> MIS, there's a mid-tone region that shows just enough dither-banding 
> to make it useless for the digital negs I would like to be able to 
> make. Most frustrating. Neither of my previous two 1280 or my $100 
> 780 had this problem, they printed perfectly. Any ideas?
> 
> Steve

Geez...this is a tough one! I'm sure you did head alignments and all. Are you seeing the 
coarse dithering on a ramp or real images?

Don't know if you are on a mac or not but QTR has an excellent dither.

Wish I could help you more.

John V.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "John Vitollo" 
<jvlist@c...> wrote:
> > This time around, since I have the 7500 for B&W, I've left the 
1280 
> > with dye inks in the hopes of keeping a color proofing machine 
in 
> > good working order. It makes no difference if it's the OEM dyes 
or 
> > MIS, there's a mid-tone region that shows just enough dither-
banding 
> > to make it useless for the digital negs I would like to be able 
to 
> > make. Most frustrating. Neither of my previous two 1280 or my 
$100 
> > 780 had this problem, they printed perfectly. Any ideas?
> > 
> > Steve
> 
> Geez...this is a tough one! I'm sure you did head alignments and 
all. Are you seeing the 
> coarse dithering on a ramp or real images?
> 
> Don't know if you are on a mac or not but QTR has an excellent 
dither.
> 
> Wish I could help you more.
> 
> John V.

I'm on a PC, and I did try head algnments, in fact that's why the 
machine had to be exhanged in the first place. This is the second 
time that "choose the smoothest grey patch" part of the alignment 
has screwed up a printer for me. By the time the grey patches look 
smooth, your image looks horible, with very bad fringing, lousy 
resolution, even double-exposed looking areas if you go far enough. 
In other words, that part of the Epson alignment utility is worse 
than useless, and I don't understand why they even have it in there.

But thanks for trying anyway, John

Steve

> This is the second 
> time that "choose the smoothest grey patch" part of the alignment 
> has screwed up a printer for me. By the time the grey patches look 
> smooth, your image looks horible, with very bad fringing, lousy 
> resolution, even double-exposed looking areas if you go far enough. 
> In other words, that part of the Epson alignment utility is worse 
> than useless, and I don't understand why they even have it in there.
> 
> But thanks for trying anyway, John
> 
> Steve

I know what you mean about Epson's new alignment program. It bites! I have an 890 and 
I'm always in doubt which patch is the best.

On my 1160s and 1200s I like the old Epson alignment program with lining up the dots. 
Works every time.

John V.