Colour banding in Brother multifunction scan

[timelapser]

Hi. We're attempting to scan a colour photograph with a Brother multifunction MFC-L2750dw which we just bought (mainly for documents). I know we can't expect great quality from a multifunction unit, but we're hoping to scan occasional photographic prints with decent results. We did get decent results with our very old Canon MP600 multifunction - see below.

The Brother scans show very obvious colour bands in smooth areas - notice the green colour at the top of the clouds and pink and blue banding near the bottom of the clouds in the attached scan brother.jpg. For comparison the pic canon.jpg shows the same 4x6 print scanned with the Canon MP600 - the result is totally usable and shows none of the colour weirdness.

It looks to me like a problem with too-low bit depth, leading to banding. But the Brother says it uses 30 bits internally, and I save as 24-bit colour (the only colour option) tiffs. Of course with 24-bit scans you might expect banding if you stretch or apply a serious curve to the original scan. But I haven't processed the images at all, just cropped and saved as high-quality jpeg to post here. We have installed the latest drivers and software and the machine has the latest firmware. We scan at 600x600 dpi (though the problem persists with other resolutions). We keep the brightness and contrast and all other settings at their defaults.

So my questions are: doesn't this seem ridiculous for 2023, even for a multifunction? It seems unlikely, but could this be a problem with our particular unit? If not, we'll replace it with another make. Anyone have experience scanning prints with multifunctions like the Canon imageCLASS MF269dw II or the HP LaserJet Pro 4101dw?

Thanks!

 

[Brad Deputy]

I own two Brother Multifunction's, an older Laser all-in-one from 2005 (DCP-7020), and an Inkjet all-in-one in 2010 (MFC-5890CN).

I don't have color banding issues with either scanner. However, the color quality is superior on the older Laser printer for some reason.

The subtle nature of those colorbands could be a manufacturing / stepper motor calibration defect. You could try swapping it out with another unit as a first step.

If you plan to more regularly scan photos, invest in an Epson flatbed.

 

[timelapser]

Thanks for the reply. We tried swapping the Brother with another unit of the same model and it had exactly the same problem. Help from Brother was pretty limited ("try fiddling with the contrast", eg) and nothing they suggested made any difference. So it looks like a problem with this model.

 

[koraks]

Not only is there banding, there's also a pretty nasty color crossover that manifests itself as a cyan band along the upper edge of the clouds and a narrower, complementary magenta band along the bottom edge where the clouds hit the trees. I've never seen anything quite like it in a scan.

Sorry, no experience here with the alternatives you mentioned, but I agree with @Brad Deputy above that it makes sense to invest in either an Epson or a Canon flatbed scanner. These are generally fine for photographic prints.

 

[Brad Deputy]

That's too bad; sorry to hear. You're probably better off with a different brand then.