Horizontal Lines on Epson R200 Prints

[andreasg]

Hi !

 

 

I use my Epson R200 to do Black Only Prints. All in all, I like the results, but

in areas of the images without details, e.g. sky without clouds, horizontal

lines appear in the prints. Upon close examination, these lines can be seen

allover the image, but they are less visible in areas with details.

 

My problem is how to get rid of these horizontal lines ?!?

 

I already checked the alignment tool, but to my understanding, this is only to

correct vertical alignment. If I print the test pattern, arrays #1, #2 and #3

are fine, but #4 exhibits horizontal lines, obviously the ones that also appear

in my images.

I also checked whether there are clogged nozzles, but the test pattern is

complete, nothing missing.

 

I read what Jim Arnold says on R200 and Black Only printing:

http://www.jimarnold.org/black_only_printing/

As I am a Windows user, I was wondering if I can combine Photo RPM and Black

Only Printing. In my driver (US version), this seems to be impossible.

Can anybody with the same printer/driver combo confirm that ?!

 

I will try to add a photograph of a print to underline what my horizontal lines

are alike (the lines appear vertical in the photograph, but the lines are still

horiontal...). I hope this helps to explain my problem.

 

Maybe I should add this. Color prints do not exhibit the horizontal lines that I

see in Black Only prints. Color prints appear smooth and nice. The problem only

occurs in Black Only prints.

 

Thanks in advance for any hints,

 

Andreas<div></div>

[andreasg]

Sorry, this should look better.

 

Andreas<div></div>

[robert lee]

I print B&W in color mode on this printer. The results are very nice especially on heavy matte paper, and particularly because tonality and tinting matches the monitor preview.

 

The printer has only one black ink. I suspect this is the root of lots of issues, including the one you've come across. I find black-only prints with the default Epson inkset to be decidely substandard (so don't use it this way.)

 

Third party B&W specific ink sets are available. I don't have experience with them.

[www.whitemountainphoto.com]

Andreas, I'm not sure why, but sometimes this would happen when I printed at 1440, but would dissapear when I printed at a higher ink density, like 2880 on my Epson 4000. Photo vs. Superphoto on the R2400, I think?

 

Danaom</a>

[roger_smith4]

BO on matte papers looks better to me, have you tried different paper types? Try doing the alignment twice- after it prints one and you set the numbers, do a second realignment which should get you closer.

 

I heard the R220 (which I use) is somewhat better than the R220 on this, but I don't know. There are faint lines which lend it a rough look, but it generally looks pretty good. I usually just use the full inks which I converted to B&W with a MIS inkset.

[andreasg]

Robert:

I also tried to print B&W in color mode, but I do get heavy color casts/color shifts in some parts of the tonal range. The strength of the effect depends on the paper I use, but so far, it really looked nasty. Additionally, the tonality heavily depended on the light source under which I inspect the image. I really disliked that.

 

Dana:

Thanks for that, I will try the different possible settings as soon as possible.

 

Roger:

Yes, I tried different paper types. On some papers, the horizontal lines are stronger, on others, they are less, but they are always there.

 

Thanks to all so far !