Ok I didn't realize the render in Maya is 8-bit....Once I rendered a frame in Qmaster I was able to get a 16-bit image out....so Duh on my part and much thanks for the suggestion.... I still have banding but I will play with the quality settings now that I know how to get it out of Maya at a higher bit depth... I think the problem lies in the Water Light Decay setting of the Physical Fog (Water). Because if I set the Water Light Decay to zero...banding is not an issue... The problem is without using the Water Light Decay I am unable to create the same underwater effect. Here are my settings if anyone wants to see if they can get rid of banding with these settings https://dragonflystudioproductions.com/envwater.jpg