Factors that Affect Color Printing
Monitor Colors vs. Printer Colors
(Differences between the range of colors a monitor or printer can reproduce)
•Neither a printer nor a monitor is capable of reproducing the full range of colors visible to the human eye. Each device is restricted to a certain range of colors. In addition to this, a printer cannot reproduce all of the colors displayed on a monitor, and vice versa.
•Both devices use very different technologies to represent color. A monitor uses Red, Green and Blue (RGB) phosphors (or LCDs), a printer uses Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black (CMYK) toner or ink.
•A monitor can display very vivid colors such as intense reds and blues. These cannot be easily produced on any printer using toner or ink. Similarly, there are certain colors, (some yellows for example), that can be printed, but cannot be displayed accurately on a monitor. This disparity between monitors and printers is often the main reason that printed colors do not match the colors displayed on screen.
Viewing Conditions
A document can look very different under various lighting conditions. For example, the colors may look different when viewed standing next to a sunlit window, compared to how they look under standard office fluorescent lighting.
Printer Driver Color Settings
The driver settings for Manual color can change the appearance of a document. There are several options available to help match the printed colors with those displayed on screen. These options are explained in subsequent sections of this User Manual.
Executive Series 2426 Printer Family User’s Guide
Windows XP Operation • 141