Hi Martin and Matthew No, I don't think it's 8 bit issue or a dithering issue or black point compensation. I did the following test 1: I created a new document - Adobe RGB1998, 2000x500 pixels, 16 bit, In photoshopCC 2: Filled the document with a gray ramp, with no dithering, black to white, from from one end to other. 2: Duplicated the document 3: Converted the Duplicated document to Gray Gamma 2.2 4: Soft-proofed both Gray ramps : Hahnemuhle308 profile (profiled as cmyk), RelCol, BPC = on, Simulate paper white = on Result: RGB gray ramp show posterizing in shadows. Gray Gamma 2.2 Gray Ramp shows smooth shadow transition Viewing on EizoCC241 Monitor And... While I see the banding in the soft-proof of the RGB file, the banding disappears when I actually do a Profile To Profile conversion into the printer colorspace. Further, the soft-proof* of the converted file now matches the soft-proof of the Gray Gamma 2.2 gray ramp file. *[Hahnemuhle308, Rel Col, BPC = on, Simulate paper white = on] Regards Peter Miles