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Home Page Digital Imaging Custom Printer Profiles Printer Profiles FAQ

Custom printer profiles - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are the advantages of a custom printer profile?

A custom profile will help with:

Consistent colours - using a correctly profiled monitor and an accurate printer profile means that colours are consistent across multiple images. No more tweaking the printer output between different pictures. Using a 'soft proof' the colour you see on screen will be reproduced on the print (within the limitations of your printer/paper/ink combination).
Reduced costs - less wasted ink and paper trying to get that 'perfect' print. Knowing what the final print will look like means no more trial-and-error printing.

Do I need a custom printer profile?
Probably. If you are already happy with the output from the printer then you don't need one. For the rest of us custom printer profiles provide a way to help visualise the final output from your printer on any given paper.

Why do printers vary so much?

Printers are complex electro-mechanical devices. Manufacturing tolerances of individual parts and differences in calibration of the printer as a whole are enough to cause each printer to be different from another printer of the same type. Some printers are better than others in this respect. For instance the Epson R2400 is reported to be quite good using the generic Epson supplied profiles. However the generic profiles (for all printers) are designed to work with an idealised printer that is in the middle of the range of variations within a model. If you are lucky then you will have a printer that closely matches this idealised printer. For most of us there will be some difference from the 'norm'.

Newer printers, such as the HP B9180, have in-built calibration. This is not the same as a profile. By calibrating themselves these printers ensure that they are all consistent with a defined (HP) standard. These printers are generally good with HP supplied profiles. However using 3rd party papers means an accurate profile is required to get the best output.

Does one profile cover all my printing?

A separate profile is required for every combination of printer/paper/ink that you use, for example if you use gloss and matte papers then you will require individual profiles for both these papers. This is because each paper type will absorb different amounts of ink and will reflect light differently, hence the same colour will display (slightly) differently on both papers.

Are profiles affected by paper/ink batches?

Short answer = Yes.

Long answer = each paper or ink batch will be slightly different to other batches of the same paper/ink. These variations are usually very small for the more reputable manufacturers (Epson, HP, Canon, Lexmark, Lyson, Permajet, Ilford etc., not an exhaustive list). However unless you want absolute accuracy then a single profile will usually be enough to cover all batch variations for a given paper/ink combination. If you find that a paper or ink varies wildly between batches then you have to question if it is worth using that material. If you do want the ultimate control then we suggest that you invest in your own profiling equipment and generate your own profiles for every change in paper or ink batch.

Does a custom profile increase gamut?

In general, yes. The generic profiles supplied with a printer are usually quite conservative and don't use the full gamut of your inks. Using a custom profile for your printer/paper/ink combination you will usually find better shadow rendering and a more neutral output. However a profile cannot perform miracles, you are still limited to the gamut provided by the ink that you are using. For example inks are generally poor at rendering some intense colours, noteably blues or greens.

What is 'softproofing'?

Softproofing is a method of simulating printed output on your monitor. Supported by programs such as Adobe Photoshop or QImage from DDI Software, this is a powerful tool as it allows you to see (almost) exactly what the final print will look like - provided of course that your monitor and printer/paper/ink combination have been profiled. There are limitations even in a properly profiled and colour managed setup. Your monitor will be able to show colours that a print cannot show and vice versa (they have different gamuts). Having your devices profiled does take most of the guesswork out of printing.

Can BAT Systems profile my RIP?

No (for our standard profiles). RIPs are CMYK devices, we normally only profile for RGB devices. We can offer a bespoke service for CMYK or Hexachrome profiles, for details.