Guide to Achieving Accurate Color Prints

"Help! Why the ink color ain’t never right?"

We’ve received some messages questioning this issue. The truth is, no printer manufacturers can guarantee 100% exact color reproduction. Why? Because colors are inherently variable and can change significantly. Scroll down to learn more!

Written by Procolored - Published on Oct 21, 2024

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8 minutes read

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Written by Procolored - Published on Oct 21, 2024

PASSAGE SUMMARY

1. Why There’s Always Color Deviation?
2. How Do Ink and Printer Conform with Each Other?
3. How to Alleviate Color Deviation?

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1. Why there’s always color deviation?

We’ve heard people saying, “This isn’t the right color” all the time. But which one should be defined as the right or correct one? The one on your mobile phone screen, or on your computer monitor? The one on your MacBook, or on your Dell?

In 1996, HP and Microsoft created the standard RGB (red, green, blue) color space, which was subsequently standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). This sRGB color space has been widely used for defining web and image color spaces ever since.

However, with advancements in display technology and computer configurations, color spaces have evolved significantly. sRGB is no longer the only standard; other color spaces like Adobe RGB and ProPhoto RGB have emerged to meet more professional needs. As a result, colors have become even more variable.

The complexity increases when these colors need to be printed accurately. The colors presented can be greatly affected by the printer's color space, the quality of the printing ink, and even the substrate being printed on.

To be more specific, the following factors might cause color deviations in your printed images:

Incompatible Color Spaces: When a printer receives a printing task, it performs calibrations and profiling within its capabilities to match the image’s color space. If the image has a wider color gamut than the printer can reproduce, the printer will only print the closest approximation, which may appear color-deviated to us.

Malfunctioning Machine: Clogged or partially blocked print heads can cause uneven ink distribution, leading to color inconsistencies.

Improper Printed Substrates: Different substrates absorb ink differently, and using improper substrates can lead to color shifts and significant color deviation.

Improper Temperature and Humidity: The ink absorption and thickness can be significantly affected by the working temperature and humidity.

Ink Issues: Expired or improperly stored ink can cause changes in color properties; low ink levels affect ink saturation and especially the performance of gradient colors; improper ink may degrade the printing output and cause nozzle clogging or blockage.

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2. How Do Ink and Printer Conform with Each Other?

Among all the factors provided above, ink issues might be the most common reason for color-deviation complaints. During the mediation process, we’ve noticed that some customers had replaced Procolored inks with cheaper DTF inks due to budget concerns, and this did ultimately cause conformance problems. While this may not be the ordinary situation, it is crucial to understand how ink and printer work together.

Let’s first take a closer look at printing ink. Printing ink, in many ways, is similar to other inks: they are all made of colorants and liquid carriers, possess viscosity and adhesion, and require drying and curing. However, for printing ink, working with a printer involves a lot of additional tests, including but not limited to:

Chemical Compatibility: As mentioned above, printing ink is a chemical combination that can react with specific materials. Therefore, a series of professional tests must be conducted to avoid any accidental reactions between the ink and printer components.

Ink Level Sensing: The working principle of ink level sensing can vary among different printers, but it generally involves forecasting based on the performance of the matched printing ink, including drying speed and usage per print. Improper inks can provide incompatible performances, leading to false low-ink warnings or failing to recognize when a cartridge is full.

Drying Time: This includes two major dimensions: the ink drying speed on paper, film, or fabric, to which the printing speed of a printer is programmed to align; and the ink drying speed on printer components, where if the ink dries too quickly inside the print head, the risk of clogging may increase.

Adhesion to Media: Printing inks are designed to perfectly meet their target carriers like paper, film, fabric, or even plastic. However, even though they are suitable for the same material, their viscosity can vary significantly. Especially for printing methods like DTF printing, there is already a customized interaction among the matched printing ink, film, and adhesive powder. Changing any one of these components might result in printings with poorer adhesion and bonding.

It’s clear that, apart from their unchangeable nature, printing ink and printer are specially configured to better fit each other. Some cheaper inks may seem like perfect substitutes, but they often only share the same basic chemical components as the original inks. When it comes to factors such as drying speed, degree of adhesion, or compatibility with other consumables like film or adhesive powder, these cheaper inks can bring you significant trouble.

3. How to Alleviate Color Deviation?

So in what ways can we effectively alleviate the color-deviation situation? The following measures might be helpful:

Use Original or Genuine Ink: Think twice before inserting substitute ink into your printer. Improper ink can cause irreversible damage to your printer components and lead to inaccurate color presentation.

Degrade the Color Space of Your Image: Generally speaking, most printers today still struggle to reproduce highly elaborate color ranges. By degrading the color spaces and profiles in your design software, your image or graphic will be more easily and accurately reproduced by the printer.

Periodic Printer Maintenance: Regular print head cleaning can help you detect any nozzle clogging or malfunctions early, thus reducing color-deviation issues.

Regular Calibration: Use LCC (Linearization, Characterization, Calibration) profiles to calibrate your monitor, printer, and RIP (Raster Image Processor) software. This helps avoid color inconsistencies caused by printer aging, environmental changes, or variations in ink and paper.

Tips especially for Procolored users:

Curve Setting: Incorrect curve settings in RIP software can lead to significant color deviation. To avoid this, Procolored provides tutorial videos for all products, which are stored on a white USB flash drive included with your machine. Remember that each curve is specific to one particular printer, so be sure to follow the corresponding videos to set the correct curve.

Find Curve Setting Here:RIP Software > Printer Management

RIP color setting: Improper color settings in RIP software may also incur color inconsistency. Every time when we import the graphic and click RIP to proceed the printing, there’s a window popping up like this:

These color settings are default values set by the Procolored tech team. Once changed, they cannot be reset to default automatically. If you have changed the values by mistake and are experiencing color deviation, please contact our customer service to restore the settings.

About the Author - Joyce

Joyce has worked with Procolored since the first day she joined inkjet printing career. Through continual training courses and years of working experiences, Joyce has formed a comprehensive understanding over Procolored products and a thorough knowledge of printing technologies.

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