Hello,
I was able to resolve my issues, however I still think either the software should be optimized or there should be clearer instructions or both.
Here is my post from dpreview:
"I know that many of you tried everything, I thought I tried everything as well but point nr 2 was really something I didn't want to try, since "official" recommendation was different media type (I thought they know better).
3 Standard things:
- Unidirectional
- Print head alignment
- Feed adjustment
These help with quality when prints are without issues.
3 non-standard things from my side:
1) Color management
t's easy to corrupt/mess color management and for whatever reason this printer has a problem with that.
So from very start from RAW to print I maintain AdobeRGB:
2) Media type
My main paper of choice is Fotospeed Natural Smooth 310.
The recommendation on their site is to use Matt Photo Paper or Heavy Weight Art.
On this media type I experienced banding. I had a look on the spec:
Heavyweight Fine Art Paper (Approximately 0.1mm to less than 0.3mm)
however the paper is around 0.5mm thick.
I changed to: Extra Heavyweight Fine Art Paper (Approximately 0.3mm to less than 0.6mm) and the banding was gone.
3) Nozzle clean
Sometimes I experienced severe banding or color shifts but simple nozzle clean solved the problem
Right now I printed a lot between A4 and A2 even with 5mm margins on thick mat paper and all the prints are literally perfect.
As mentioned I also experienced banding on this printer but was able to solve with above points."
There is one more thing I noticed with some particular papers - black smudges at the end and only at the edges of the print. However this is related to some papers where they absorb a lot of ink and tend to "curl" at lift just the edges at the end, since it's weakest point of a sheet of paper and also transportation mechanism.
However if you straighten or even curl the opposite way you can print without this problem.
You can also lift print head but this will reduce print quality e.g. sharpness.
