Canon i950 Banding

[Gary Eickmeier]

I got some banding on my i950, so I did some careful print head
alignment, and it was still banding. Anyone experience this before? I'll
try cleaning the heads next, but I don't understand why the alignment
check comes out good but the prints have the banding.

More later.

However, I have CompUSA's Carry In Replacement policy, so I can get a
free replacement, perhaps even an i960.

Gary Eickmeier

 

[Gary Eickmeier]

I got some banding on my i950, so I did some careful print head
alignment, and it was still banding. Anyone experience this before? I'll
try cleaning the heads next, but I don't understand why the alignment
check comes out good but the prints have the banding.

More later.

However, I have CompUSA's Carry In Replacement policy, so I can get a
free replacement, perhaps even an i960.

Gary Eickmeier

I did a cleaning or two, and a nozzle check, and a re-alignment. It
seems to have helped a lot.

One curious thing on the cleaning function - I expected it to use a
sheet of plain paper, to shoot some ink at. But it didn't use any paper,
just sat there doing something, God knows what. Anyone have a clue how
the cleaning function works on a Canon printer?

Gary Eickmeier

 

[Gary Tait]

I did a cleaning or two, and a nozzle check, and a re-alignment. It
seems to have helped a lot.

One curious thing on the cleaning function - I expected it to use a
sheet of plain paper, to shoot some ink at. But it didn't use any paper,
just sat there doing something, God knows what. Anyone have a clue how
the cleaning function works on a Canon printer?

Gary Eickmeier

It squirts (maybe even sucks) ink at/from the cleaning station into a
waste ink collection pad (that Canon and other manufacturers call a
tank for some reason).

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?BenOne=A9?=]

I got some banding on my i950, so I did some careful print head
alignment, and it was still banding. Anyone experience this before? I'll
try cleaning the heads next, but I don't understand why the alignment
check comes out good but the prints have the banding.

More later.

However, I have CompUSA's Carry In Replacement policy, so I can get a
free replacement, perhaps even an i960.

Gary Eickmeier

I have a different printer, but I find I get banding if I choose the wrong paper
type. For example, if I use Ilford Smooth Pearl, and choose Photo Glossy Film in
the printer driver, I get banding, but if I choose Photo Glossy Paper then I get
no banding.

 

[PhilK]

Yes, paper makes a big difference. Depending on what paper you are using,
you can actually check the paper manufacturers website for any details on
driver settings depending on the type of paper being used and the printer
you have. For example, Kodak's website has a printer settings section for
each of their inkjet printer paper types and tells you what you have to set
your driver settings depending on what printer you have in order to get the
best quality. However for the Canon i950 the best type of paper to use is
Canon photo paper since that's what that printer was designed for, and with
Canon paper, you don't have to change any driver settings. Same thing goes
with HP printers, best paper for them is HP photo paper as that was what it
was designed for. Not to say you can't use HP paper on a Canon printer, you
just have to change some driver settings to get good prints.

 

[Gary Eickmeier]

Yes, paper makes a big difference. Depending on what paper you are using,
you can actually check the paper manufacturers website for any details on
driver settings depending on the type of paper being used and the printer
you have. For example, Kodak's website has a printer settings section for
each of their inkjet printer paper types and tells you what you have to set
your driver settings depending on what printer you have in order to get the
best quality. However for the Canon i950 the best type of paper to use is
Canon photo paper since that's what that printer was designed for, and with
Canon paper, you don't have to change any driver settings. Same thing goes
with HP printers, best paper for them is HP photo paper as that was what it
was designed for. Not to say you can't use HP paper on a Canon printer, you
just have to change some driver settings to get good prints.

Well, that's all very interesting, but I am talking about using Canon
PPP with the proper setting in the driver. I even did the alignment with
the good paper (PPP), got good results in the test, but still got some
banding in the prints. But the cleaning helped, and this is my first
experience with head clogging with a printer that does not have the
heads in the ink cartridge. The Canons have replaceable heads, so I
wonder if you can take the head out and clean it better manually. Anyone
try it?

Gary Eickmeier

 

[Larry]

Well, that's all very interesting, but I am talking about using Canon
PPP with the proper setting in the driver. I even did the alignment with
the good paper (PPP), got good results in the test, but still got some
banding in the prints. But the cleaning helped, and this is my first
experience with head clogging with a printer that does not have the
heads in the ink cartridge. The Canons have replaceable heads, so I
wonder if you can take the head out and clean it better manually. Anyone
try it?

Gary Eickmeier

Gary:

I have had the same problem with prints from the i950 from time to time
with good paper and PPP setting.

I set out to fix it and what I found was:

1. The banding was only in the dark areas of my photos

2. It "Magically" went away after about 25 minutes of "dry time" for the
prints.

Are you checking them as they come out of the printer or later?

Even though my prints SEEMED to be dry coming out of the printer,
SOMETHING was happening in the intervening 20 minutes between "first
look" at the print, and the time it took me to get off my butt and
investigate the problem.

After 20 minutes, the "banding" that had CLEARLY been in the print could
not be found on close examination of the print.


Larry
Mystic

 

[Gary Eickmeier]

Gary:

I have had the same problem with prints from the i950 from time to time
with good paper and PPP setting.

I set out to fix it and what I found was:

1. The banding was only in the dark areas of my photos

2. It "Magically" went away after about 25 minutes of "dry time" for the
prints.

Are you checking them as they come out of the printer or later?

Even though my prints SEEMED to be dry coming out of the printer,
SOMETHING was happening in the intervening 20 minutes between "first
look" at the print, and the time it took me to get off my butt and
investigate the problem.

After 20 minutes, the "banding" that had CLEARLY been in the print could
not be found on close examination of the print.

Well, yes, it is still there today. But I solved the problem with the
cleaning. So, my introduction to integral heads and head cleaning. We
(former) HP weenies don't have that problem.

Just tried my new HP 5150 with the photo cartridge, by the way, and also
with Canon PPP paper, and it works out pretty well! These printers are
really getting good. The Canon is faster and quieter, and more neutral
in the color rendition, but probably nothing that can't be adjusted out
of the HP. VERY comparable results. I just like the Canon paper better.
But I think both printers can print on many different papers. Must check
it out.

Gary Eickmeier

 

[Sylvain]

I saw an article about what may be the same problem but it was with the
860/865:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/20031124/printer_heavyweights-13.html

S.