1400 two bandings in one picture

[jtoolman]

I own two Epson 1400s so let me run a few tests and I'll get back to you.

 

[wlachan]

Thanks in advance.

 

[Big_Al]

It looks like a printer design flaw.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=34119670

 

[qwertydude]

What kind of ink are you using? Sometimes the ink can have an effect. I know on Artisan 50, which uses the same head as the 1400, I got a slight bit of banding with a CISS, but only visible under magnification. It was pretty much perfect with OEM. Yours is clearly visible. I think something is wrong. It shouldn't be that obvious.

 

[wlachan]

I am using IS dye ink. What I have found is that my 1400 could never achieve perfect alignment on row #3 (finest resolution?) using the "Print Head Alignment". The user manual says I should keep realign until they are perfect but I have been staying with 5/5/5 for a dozen times and the print outs remain the same (using the Canon Matte paper). Maybe I am too picky but I have limited experience with inkjets so not sure what to expect.

I just did some printing using Canon Matte Photo Paper which seems more forgiving for banding, though can still be detected if inspected closely. Originally, I wish to print glossy but looks like I will have to settle with matte papers and spray them with Krylon Preserve IT to combat fading until I switch to pigment later. Cannot wait to see jtoolman's result.

 

[jtoolman]

Are you printing in the bidirectional mode or High Speed? Try just for fun, un-ticking the high speed box.

 

[jtoolman]

Ok I printer several 4x6 prints and only in the images with large even areas of color, specially Cyan, such as skies, I did see banding. I used simple settings,
Ultra Premium Glossy
Color controls Gamma 2.2
Photo
Borderless
High Speed

I then printed just a 4x6 will a medium cyan fill - That's the image I noticed most of the banding on.
I did not do one using PHOTO RPM but I really don't thing it would have improved.
I will do one using unidirectional printing.
Borderless general image with borderless and with about 1/8" border.

Just so you know, I do tons of borderless prints on my Artisan and on my R380 and they are perfect.
Looks, maybe like the 1400 is just not made for that sort of printing.

 

[wlachan]

Thanks for your effort jtoolman.

My usual settings are:
- Ultra Premium (Glossy or Matte depends on the paper)
- Photo RPM
- ICM off (Photoshop color manage using Spyder3Print generated profile)
- Off - High Speed, Edge Smoothing

I just finish profiling the Canon MP-101 matte paper and a few 8x10" prints show the same bandings too, but less obviously due to the nature of matte paper I guess. Looks like it's a design shortcoming and I am surprised Epson has not addressed it after 4 years of production, or maybe I am looking too closely.

Tomorrow I will spray them with Krylon Preserve It and see how well it works.

 

[jtoolman]

I first experienced this artifact when I was printing out a group shot containing a nice blue/cyan sky.

Why I do not see much banding of any kind in other colors is truly baffling. My nozzle checks are all 100% and I also have as good a head alignment as I can possibly get.

So it does appear that is is a built in problem which they DO warn you about. The problem is the warning is only addressed to borderless printing .

 

[wlachan]

The thing is it happens to non-borderness printing too, and they actually mentioned it in repair manual only. The banding toward both ends of the paper actual exist on any prints, but not apparent because they blend into the details. Guess I will just rotate out the blue sky for printing to minimize the banding whenever possible. Now I will have to figure out how to print acceptable B&W w/o using greyscale. The Spyder3Print test image prints out fine so there must be a way, I think.