Hello all,
I was wondering if you could offer some advice. I have been struggling to print a job which is quite demanding. It is basically a solid color with text over it, but it is for a fine art gallery and the pieces are being sold for several thousand dollars, so there is no room for any flexibility in the quality. I have been struggling to fully tune out some slight banding. I am using Fuji Photo Paper Satin 270 (which the client wanted), and I also trying with Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta. In both, I have made custom media settings based off of a caliper reading for their thickness, so it should be correct. I did a paper feed adjustment and bi-directional alignment with the Fuji paper. All the nozzles are clear, the platen gap is set to auto (I have not been getting headstrikes) and the platen gap offset is at standard.
In terms of the printing settings, I am printing at 2400dpi with high speed unchecked on both, and no BEO. I tried changing the print feed offset for both to be .5 and -.5 for the fuji, and both settings were worse than the standard. With the Fuji I also tried printing with 15% more ink density. The banding is barely there, but it is there. I have not been able to fully tune it out. I am very near the point of returning the printer (it is still fairly new), as it just does not seem to be as precise as the P9000. I would certainly have issues with banding on the P9000, but I could eventually get them to go away.
Are there any other things you all can think of? I will ask the technician, but we tried his 9500 at his offices, and it was even worse than mine. This is a new printer for the tech as well, so I don't think I am going to get much more help from him. He is escalating the issue, but I was wondering if anyone had any other thoughts. Based on the performance of the printer so far, it just seems to not be particularly well-suited for the most demanding fine art printing...at least with photo black papers. It seems to do well with matte.