banding in graphics

pierre1111

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When printing graphics with larger areas of the same color (such as http://www.wallpaperjoo.com/3173-cute-wallpapers-7-computer-backgrounds.html), especially if it has a gradient in color, is it normal to get bands going across the page? I've included an attachment of the actual print out.

This is on a HP M251dw. Originally I got a brother 2740 which did the same thing but each band was much narrower and closer together, but definitely still evident. I've tried different paper and settings (plain, heavy, cardstock, etc) but all lead to similar results. On lighter shades it's not nearly as evident and on dark / completely black areas you can't see it at all.

I'm starting to think this is just inherent to laser printers. I tried it on a larger lexmark at school (don't know model off hand) and had similar results. Or is this just because I've been testing poor printers?

Thanks for your time guys and gals. Totally frustrated with this. Would hate to return yet another printer.
 

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fotofreek

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just happened to me as well today. My trusty ip5000. I did a fast plain paper print and was appalled to see banding on the entire page. Printed then on gloss photo paper and on matte photo paper (with corect paper settings, of course) and the prints were excellent with no banding. Try it to see if the banding disappears.
 

Ink stained Fingers

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I have seen this type of banding with Canon printers, when printing grayscale with copy paper setting, it should go away when you select inkjet/matt paper. I can see this banding effect as well with Epson printers, but less prominent, with the copy paper setting, it should as well got away with a inkjet/matt paper setting, of with any photo paper settings. The effect is not visible when printing text, that's what the printer manufacturers apparently expect you to do on copy paper.
 

pierre1111

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I have the following paper type options:

Unspecified, Plain, HP EcoSMART Lite, Lite 60-74 Gram, Intermediate (85-95 Gram), Midweight (96-110), Heavy (111-130), Extra Heavy 131-175, Monochrome Laser Transparency, Labels, Letterhead, Envelope, Preprinted, Prepunched, Colored, Bond, Recycled, Rough, Vellum

No mention of matte, photo, or gloss anywhere. And of course I wouldn't expect an inkjet paper setting on a laser printer driver.

I must have tried all the settings with my current paper. Xerox 24lb laser/inkjet b&w or color. I don't think I have the wrapping anymore to get the exact model but it was a 700count package from Costco. I also tried a few of the settings with some random unknown colored paper I had and the banding results persisted. I've tried various resolutions too and that didn't make a difference either.
 

Ink stained Fingers

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o.k., I messed up inkjet printers with laser printers - inkjet printers show banding as well, with laser printing it's something mechanical causing such effects as I remember. Laser printers are not good in printing uniform color areas anyway, you probably get other effects of shading etc
 

pierre1111

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No worries.

I've used this same paper with an HP CP1515n - 4 cartridge cmyk laser. I've printed full page pictures with no issue. It needs new cartridges so instead of spending money on 4 separate ones that's what started this quest for a mono laser. Maybe this is some kind of side effect of single cartridge grayscale printing.
 

The Hat

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This may help you with the banding problem and it may not but it’s still worth mentioning it.

Normally when outputting photos and graphics on a laser printer that’s set to 1200 dpi you will get banding every time, it’s the nature of the beast.

But opening up the dot by 50% and reducing the dpi to 600 this is the way to cure that problem, but if it’s a hardware related issue then your stuck with it, sorry..
 

pierre1111

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Good thought on the dpi, but alas yes it happens on 600 or 1200.

Since this has happened to me on 3 different unique printers, I'm trying to figure out whether it's just bum hardware / setting / paper issue I'm dealing with, or is it just some inherent trait of all mono laser printers that will happen no matter what combination of bits one would use.

Anyone want to take a gander at printing out this pic on their mono single cart laser and see if they get banding? Here's the direct link to the pic.
http://www.wallpaperjoo.com/wp-cont...allpapers-7-Computer-Backgrounds-1024x640.jpg
http://www.wallpaperjoo.com/wp-cont...allpapers-7-Computer-Backgrounds-1024x640.jpg
 

The Hat

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Another problem that can effect some photo is the format there’re saved in, have you tried the Tiff format, also convert it to greyscale before outputting.

Anyway to get back to reality here is my attempts at the photo on my laser @300 dpi, it too has some banding in it, but on the inkjet it is free of banding.

It was cropped from the original link, saved as a PNG @119 ppi and converted to greyscale before committing to print. (Newer link not working)

Untitled-2.jpg Click to enlarge scan.
Untitled-2.jpg Camera shot..
 

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pierre1111

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Awesome, thank you very much for your efforts! So the long and short of it is that this is indeed just inherent to mono lasers.

I just closely scrutinized a color photo (people in an orchard of trees) I printed on my cp1515n color laser and there was 0 banding. I guess the content of the picture (not much color gradients) combined with the multiple layers of toner destroyed any banding. I haven't owned a mono laser in years and years so when I saw this banding I was pretty disgusted, but now I know its normal.
 
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