Summary
If you recently purchased an Epson ET-8550 and bands appear in your prints, things to consider that reduces or eliminates the bands are described in this post.
Background
I took advantage of a December 2025 holiday sale for the Epson ET-8550 printer so that I could print larger than my Canon Pixma G620.
My initial test prints had vertical bands that I could not eliminate before I had to leave for the month of January. Since I returned in early February, I have resolved the appearance of vertical bands.
The Internet pointed me in the right direction, but I did not find a detailed explanation that eliminated the need for me to experiment by printing many photos to what works. I suspect that part of the reason Internet resources were of limited use is because the explanations in the source were not fully relevant to the available options in TurboPrint.
What is Banding?
A visible thin dark vertical (or horizontal) line. Typically is appears in solid color areas (e.g., black background or blue sky) of the image.
Note: When there is a combination of several colors in a photo with texture, banding is likely to be not noticeable.
Root Causes
- Image Resolution (DPI) is very low (controlled by the camera or photo editing software)
- Print Quality setting is too low (available from within TurboPrint oftware)
- Microweave setting is too low (available from within TurboPrint software)
- Bidirectional print option is enabled (available from the printer LCD screen Control Panel)
Image Resolution: The image resolution (i.e., dots per inch, or dpi) is too low for the print size. For example, 200-300 dpi may be sufficient for a 4x6 inch print, but might be too low for a 11x17 inch or larger print. If this is the root cause of the banding, then the considerations mentioned below will probably not be sufficient to reduce/eliminate the banding. The best solution is to increase the image resolution (e.g., when exporting the image from editing software prior to printing).
Note: If the image pixel dimension is very low (e.g., 1000 x 1000 pixels or less), then it may not be possible to increase the image resolution adequate for a large print.
Print Quality Setting: A low Print Quality setting (e.g., 360dpi) is a significant root cause for visible banding for a brand new Epson ET-8550 with factor default settings. For small prints, a Print Quality setting of 1440 dpi in combination with one or more of the changes described below can reduce/eliminate the appearance of bands. For large prints, a higher Print Quality setting may be needed.
Microweave: Microweave is an Epson developed printing process that specifically reduces banding. I have found that the default setting of Regular is too low to eliminate banding when the default Print Quality setting (360 dpi) is used, even for small size prints (4x6 inch). For me, increasing Microweave to Super in combination with 1440 dpi Print Quality setting eliminates visible bands for small size prints.
Bidirectional Printing: Factory default setting is enabled. When enabled, this setting speeds up the printing process. Epson advises to disable this setting from the Printer Control Panel to reduce banding. I have disabled this option because I prefer no bands even if it means that I wait a little long for the print process to finish. However, I have found that disabling bidirectional printing alone will not eliminate banding in my software workflow (i.e., Debian Linux --> darktable --> Gimp/TurboPrint).
Conclusion
After I received and initially tested the Epson ET-8550, I was disappointed by the appearance of bands in my prints. With some effort, I have managed to eliminate bands from my small size prints; however, there are multiple factors to consider to reduce/eliminate the appearance of bands.
If the above does not resolve the banding, then maintenance of nozzles or print head might be needed.
Note: I will update this post if there is factually incorrect information or I discover relevant new information. If you have a different experience that has led to you to a different solution, please share by replying to this post.
My System Environment:
- Operating System: Debian (Trixie)
- TurboPrint: 2.55-1
- Gimp: 3.0.4
Internet Resources
- Blurry Prints, Vertical Banding, or Misalignment, URL: https://download4.epson.biz/sec_pubs/et-8550_series/useg/en/GUID-6E364E52-C588-4DCA-9555-0AA0E610DF1A.htm
- White or Dark Lines in Printout, URL: https://files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd5/cpd56774/source/printers/source/troubleshooting/reference/problem_banding.html
- Weird banding issue with ET-8550, URL: https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/weird-banding-issue-with-et-8550.16699/
- MicroWeave Technology, URL: https://corporate.epson/en/technology/overview/printer-inkjet/micro-weave.html