Color test page. Printing a test page without a PC

Before switching to alternative inks or changing ink manufacturers, it's a good idea to run a color quality test to compare print results.

Today I want to introduce you to a simple test of the color quality of ink in CMYK mode for 4-color inkjet printers.

This test will quickly determine the quality of the ink being used and, if negative, will allow you to change the ink before performing critical printing jobs.

I decided to make a small reviewer, since quite often I receive questions about how to independently check the quality of the ink that is planned to fill the printer cartridges. This review will be useful to anyone who plans to make a choice.

A small theoretical introduction. There are several ways to mix colors CMYK and RGB . The simplest color blending mode and at the same time the most common is CMYK. Deciphered by the first letters, which determines the colors C yan (blue), M agenta (purple), Y ellow (yellow) and Blac k(black).

This blending mode has been used since the advent of printing equipment. Modern printers that have 4 ink cartridges use a group of colors for printing images and black for printing text. Therefore, it is quite common to find combined colors in one cartridge + a separate black ink cartridge ( most of Canon and HP home printers).

It is the users of these printer models that are quite often interested in the issue of high-quality color reproduction, and this review will probably be useful for them in the first place.

Knowing that images are not printed using a black cartridge, but only color ink, you can successfully use this to check the color quality of an individual ink color. What does this mean? Ideally, when sending a black square, which is a graphic file, for printing, the printer determines which colors and in what proportions to mix. More precisely graphics program sends this data to the printer's buffer. The printer, having received this data, must accurately maintain the mixing proportions and print a perfectly black square.

This is in theory, unfortunately even on the original ink it is not always possible to get a perfect black print (a headache for photographers who like to print b/w photos). As a rule, a slightly grayish tint is obtained. When using low-quality ink, color fade can occur in any direction. And not all colors may be to blame, but only one. For example, instead of bright purple, you use carrot, and all other colors (blue and yellow) have perfect color reproduction. In this case, your black square will have a burgundy tint.

When testing, you can quickly understand which of the colors is problematic, based on the photo in this review. As you can see from the photo, with a perfect combination of all three colors, you should get a perfectly black color. Using this knowledge, you can very quickly find out what quality of ink you have and whether it is worth using it in your work.

You also need to take this into account when printing. It's just that sometimes we hear that pigment ink is consumed little, although we print a lot of b/w documents. As it turns out later, documents are printed from PDF file as pictures. Therefore, the printer accepts the command to mix color ink. Naturally, the pigment in the black cartridge will not be consumed.

In Canon printers, this test is provided as standard with the printer management software. When you print a test sheet, on the left edge, opposite each color, black rectangles are placed, on which you can monitor the quality of color reproduction, as described above. You can immediately notice if the black rectangle turns blue or brown on the test. So something happened to the ink, or one color ended.

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Printer testing methodology

The testing methodology for different types of printers differs in several ways. But in the testing process, experts still adhere to certain common standards and a more or less unified approach. It can even be said that over several decades, which have become a period of rapid development of the print market, a list of rules for testing printer testing methods has been formed. True, each type of printing device has its own specific rules. For example, testing color laser and inkjet printers is somewhat different from testing dot matrix or sublimation printers.

Most great importance in the process of testing printers, it is given to the quality characteristics of printing and the performance of the printing device. After all, it is these indicators that concern potential buyer most. Of course, along with print quality and performance, the user is also interested in the cost of the printer itself and the costs associated with its maintenance. More recently, printer testing has attempted to characterize a printer in terms of whether the print quality it delivers is consistent with its advertised value.

No matter what type of printer is being tested, mandatory attention is paid to the following parameters:
1. specifications printer, its hardware capabilities;
2. used printing technology, its advantages and disadvantages;
3. the design of the body of the printing device, the quality of its execution;
4. software printer, availability useful programs and their effectiveness;
5. complete set of the printer upon delivery.

Checking Printer Print Quality

Print quality depends on many factors, and when testing a printer, it will be determined depending on the printing technology used by the printer, as well as depending on the weight of paper, ink, and printer software.

It is the connection of all these factors that makes it possible to make the final "verdict" on the quality characteristics of the printer, which is being tested.

When evaluating print quality Special attention should be drawn to the level of color reproduction, the ability to accurately convey the halftones of the original image. Very often, halftone reproduction depends on whether the printer is capable of high-quality and uniform filling. various areas, especially the bright areas of the image.

In many ways, the print quality also depends on the resolution of the printer, that is, the factor that affects the level of printing small parts Images. In this regard, it is worth noting that in most cases the print resolution declared by the manufacturer does not correspond to the real state of affairs, and real indicators can only be discovered during the testing of the printer.

Basic methods for evaluating print quality

The procedure for checking the quality of a print involves a subjective and objective assessment of the image made by the printer.

Subjective evaluation of a print involves visually examining the print to determine if there are imperfections in the print that are visible to the naked eye.

An objective assessment of a print involves a number of more complex procedures aimed at identifying print defects. In the process of objective evaluation of the print, the test image is first placed in a reference scanner, after which it is converted into an electronic version. Then the difference between the original and the digital version of the photo is determined. This is done using special software that allows you to capture RGB indicators from special "dice". The scanner, when digitizing the image, of course, can make some error. To prevent this, the scanner is calibrated before testing.

In the case of testing black-and-white printers, the procedure for evaluating print quality is greatly simplified, since the study of color characteristics in this case is not required.

Checking Printer Speed

All manufacturing companies in the documentation supplied with the printer indicate such a characteristic of printing as its speed. This "value" is measured in pages per minute, and it refers to different regimes printer operation.

But you still should not unconditionally trust the indicated data on the print speed of the printer, since you cannot be sure that when measuring the speed indicators of their printer models, all manufacturers use the same reference documents.

Therefore, if you need to compare the speed indicators of different brands of printers in order to determine the choice of the device you need, it is best to trust the results of independent testing conducted in good laboratories. Independent testing involves using the same templates to test the print speed of printers from different brands. It is these data that will allow a more or less objective comparison of the speed characteristics of printers.

Testing the print speed of the printer takes place using electronic layouts of the A4 format of three various kinds. The first layout is 1 black and white page with text. The second layout is 1 page with text and graphic elements. The third layout is a 1-page color photo that is printed on high-quality photo paper in the maximum print quality mode.

When printing all three types of test pages, the countdown time is from the moment you start printing until the moment the page is completely printed.

The main types of tests for the printer

Basic printer tests include tests that later allow you to compare the quality and print speed of various printer models.

To make it easier to compare the performance of printers with different print sizes (for example, A4 and A3), the paper of the same size is used in the testing process for such printers.

There are only seven basic printer tests:

1. Test to determine the quality and speed characteristics of color printers. Test printing is carried out on office paper and high quality photo paper.
2. Test to determine the quality characteristics of black and white printing. Test printing is carried out on A4 office paper.
3. Test to determine the speed characteristics of black and white printing. Test printing is carried out on A4 office paper.
4. Test for determining the speed characteristics of mixed printing, which is the elements of text, color and black and white graphics. Test printing is carried out on A4 office paper.
5. Test to determine the resolution of black and white printing. Test printing is carried out on A4 office paper.
6. Test to determine the resolution of color printing. Test printing is carried out on A4 office paper.
7. Test inks to determine their resistance to moisture. Testing is carried out using damp cotton and only after the print has dried.

Additional Printer Tests

In addition to the seven basic tests for printers, which allow you to analyze the level of performance of the main functions of a printing device, there are additional methods for testing printers that are focused on studying and analyzing performance characteristics. additional features printing device.

Additional tests for printers include the following:
- checking the quality and speed of printing on the surface of CDs;
- checking the quality and speed of printing on roll paper;
- check of quality and speed of the press on carriers of the increased thickness.

Conducting additional testing for the printer is determined, first of all, by the presence of a particular function in the printing device.

How is the printer tested?

The printer test procedure begins with the calibration of the printheads of the device. This is necessary in order to ensure the highest level of print quality, color reproduction, and detail printing available for the printer.

Some printer models require the installation of additional cartridges to ensure high quality printing. When testing in such cases, these cartridges are installed. This allows you to get more accurate results when testing.

Printing during testing is carried out with automatic settings print. However, quite often, especially if the printer supports a large number of printing modes, in the process of testing, printing is performed in all admissible modes and its results are analyzed.

The process of testing the printer is largely determined by the characteristics of the tested printing device, its capabilities and functions.

Test template files for the printer

Five types of test pattern files are used to test the print performance of the printer.

	The TF1 file is used in testing the quality and speed characteristics of color printers, as well as in analyzing the printer's ability to produce high-quality color reproduction and reproduction of halftones and shades. The test print of the TF1 file is carried out on office paper and high quality photo paper. A TF1 file is an A4 sheet of paper with a special target on it. There are several color drawings on this target, as well as one black and white image. They help to make a subjective assessment of the print quality of the printer. In addition, this target contains a black triangle with a gradient fill from 0% to 100% and a plate consisting of multi-colored areas. 7 colors on a plate have different intensities and certain values ​​of the RGB color space. This plate is used to objectively evaluate the color reproduction that a particular printer model provides.
	A TF2 test file is used to check the printer's black and white and color print resolution. Office paper is used when checking the black and white print resolution standard size A4. The color print resolution test uses A4 size photo paper. The TF2 test PDF file is an image that consists of several groups of elements. Each group of elements, in turn, is also divided into six separate parts. The elements of each group are numbered, and each subsequent element is slightly smaller than the previous one in size. A separate element of the TF2 test file group is a triangle. Half of the triangles in each group are vertical, while the other half are vertical. In accordance with the quality of printing by the printer of each triangle, the resolution of the printer is determined.
	The TF3 test template file is used to determine the quality of black and white printed text. To check print quality with a TF3 file, standard A4 size office paper is used. The TF3 test file is a doc format document. This document consists of the lines various sizes, dialed various types fonts using various ways styles. After printing this file, it becomes possible to determine the print level. The readability of small fonts also indicates the resolution of the printer. The printer's black and white print speed is measured using a TF4 test file. In the testing process, standard A4 office paper is used.

The TF4 test file is a doc format document consisting of 1 page with text in 10 pt New Roman font with single line spacing and standard font.
The amount of time the printer is able to print this page, and is a measure of the speed of monochrome printing.
The start of counting time in this case is the start of the printer job. The countdown ends when the printed sheet exits the printer into the tray.

The printer's mixed print speed is measured using a TF5 test file.
Mixed printing involves printing black and white and color text, as well as black and white and color graphics.
The TF5 test file is printed on a standard sheet of A4 office paper.
The TF5 test file is a doc format document with text and graphics. The text in the TF5 test file is printed in 10 point Times New Roman. The text style is standard, the spacing between lines is single.
The graphics in the TF5 test file are represented by 2 images in the form of diagrams.

Checking Printer Color Quality

To measure the quality of a printer's color reproduction, methods are used similar to the principles of testing scanners.
The color quality testing process begins with the digitization of a scanned TF1 test file. Digitization is done in color mode with the maximum resolution of the scanner. The resulting file is used to determine the RGB components in certain areas. This is done with a graphical editor. Adobe Photoshop as follows: in all areas of different brightness, the results of the transmission of seven colors (red, green, blue, yellow, black, magenta, cyan) are recorded.

After that, all the received data are entered into the color table, and with the help of this data, the coefficient of correct reproduction of various colors and shades by the printer is determined. This coefficient is determined using the formula

K= ((Red1-Red2) + (Green1-Green2) + (Blue1+Blue2)) / 77 where
K - coefficient of correctness of color reproduction by the printer;
Red1, Green1, Blue1 - control data color dots on the reference image;
Red2,Green2,Blue2 are color dot data in the scanned image.
As a result, the smaller the result of the calculations, the more accurate color reproduction the printer provides.

Checking the printer's color balance and halftone quality

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For quality assessment inkjet ink are used three types of test pages: TF1, TF2 and TF3.

TF1 test page used to test the quality of color inks. It allows you to analyze the ability of ink to produce accurate color reproduction of shades and midtones.

Sample TF1 Test Files

The TF1 test page is printed on standard A4 paper. It is a combination of monochrome and color images, multi-colored square "dice" and areas with a gradient fill from zero to one hundred percent.

By using test page TF1 can objectively evaluate the color rendering of any one inkjet ink, as well as organize comparative testing of several types of ink.

To determine the color quality of the inkjet inks, the resulting TF1 test pages are digitized using a color scanner. The resulting files are used to determine the RGB components in certain areas of the page. To do this, using the graphics editor Adobe Photoshop, the result of the transfer of the primary colors of the ink is recorded, and the resulting data is entered into the color table. The resulting table allows you to determine the coefficient of correct reproduction of ink of various colors and shades. This coefficient is calculated by the formula:

The formula for determining the coefficient of correctness

The lower the correctness factor for the reproduction of colors and shades, the more accurate color reproduction will be provided by inkjet ink for the printer.

The data from the inkjet color quality test allows us to plot a graph where we plot distance on the x-axis and pixel values ​​on the y-axis. We connect the dots and get a single line, the dips and peaks on which indicate an unbalanced color reproduction. If dips and peaks are absent, then the color reproduction is balanced. The recommended range of deviations for RGB values ​​should not exceed 255.

The next test page that is used to evaluate the quality of inkjet ink is the TF2 page.

TF2 test page

TF2 test page is a PDF file consisting of several groups of elements, which, in turn, include six independent parts, located vertically and horizontally. The groups of elements of the TF2 test page are numbered, with each previous element slightly larger than the next. The print quality of the smallest elements of the test page determines the resolution of the ink jet.

The TF2 test pages are used to test monochrome and color inkjet inks. TF2 pages are printed on A4 paper. In this case, when testing monochrome inks, standard office paper is used, and when testing color inks, photographic paper is used.

The third type of test pages are TF3 files used to determine the quality of monochrome black ink.

A large selection of test sheets for testing the print quality of various printing office equipment: from monochrome laser printers to color inkjet photo printers. The set of test lists is extensive and everyone will find something interesting for themselves here - from the most ordinary "malevich" to complex colored mosaics. Also, the article will tell you how to install some printing defects using test lists.

1. This archive contains 12 sheets for testing monochrome laser printers:

2. Two sheets that were used for the following illustrations:

3. One test sheet for checking monochrome printing:

4. One color print test sheet:

5. Test sheet for checking the printing of large and small fonts:

6. Test sheet for checking photo printing:

7. A very successful test sheet for color printing:

8. Actually "Malevich" for checking laser monochrome cartridges and cleaning inkjet black cartridges:

9. Six color test sheet:

10. Quality test sheet for inkjet photo printers:

11. Three-color test list for checking / cleaning color inkjet cartridges:

And now let's move on to practice.

From a printer for home use, unless, of course, it is used to reproduce photographs, it is rarely required anything other than the clarity of letters and a long service life. But if the machine is used to print color products, the requirements for it immediately increase. And here it becomes important not only the number of dots per inch or image clarity, but also color.

Printer printing is checked using special test pages.

When is the check carried out

The quality of printouts is important for any document - both monochrome and color. Accordingly, the testing procedure is carried out in several cases.

• When buying a new device, it is often not possible to check the operation of the device in the store. However, at home, nothing prevents the user from downloading the relevant tests and finding out how much the playback quality corresponds to the true one.
• Cartridges are exhausted over time and you need to either charge the device by purchasing the appropriate set, or buy a new cartridge. However, not all inks are compatible, and sometimes it takes a long time to look for special ones for HP equipment. However, it is not only a matter of the mismatch between the characteristics of the liquid for different printing devices - it is also a matter of different colors.

When you purchase a cartridge or refill kit from a licensed retailer, there is a much greater chance that the ink color will match the machine exactly. However, not all users have the physical or financial ability to purchase special ink. Accordingly, the user has to select all compatible options.

Of course, after installing a new cartridge, it is necessary to conduct a test to find out to what extent the shades match the previous ones.

• They also check a color printer during a planned transfer of the device to other inks - from pigment to water, for example. In this case, you should make sure that the device works adequately.

Test pictures will also be required to determine the condition of the print head. Over time, it gets dirty and printing the corresponding image allows you to both determine the level of contamination and clean the nozzles. This procedure is standard and included in the printer software.

Analysis of the device

To find out how high-quality ink is purchased, the purchased printer of the Epson line is tested. They will need high-quality paper - white matte, since any shade of the sheet will ruin the test, the actual printing device and the cartridge with new ink.

The test is colorful pictures with certain given parameters, which allow you to evaluate the gradient, shade matching, playback capabilities and other print parameters. The test tasks themselves are easy to find on the Internet and download to the memory of an HP device.

Printer test pictures should include:

• gradient transition from black to white, with the inclusion of a given number of shades of gray;
• a portrait, or rather a photograph, with natural skin color and unmasked pores;
• the image of light details on a dark background, as well as dark elements on a light one;
• test strips with different colors.

In addition, the printheads use a test black page to clean the nozzles or analyze the condition. If its shade is not saturated and not uniform, a cleaning procedure should be carried out. In the same Epson, for this, “Check nozzles” are selected in the window and cleaning is assigned based on the test result.

Each such element serves to check one of the playback parameters. If the device will be used only for home printing, you can limit yourself to the first two parameters.

But if you intend to print photos for commercial use, you should pay attention to all factors. At the same time, when analyzing the resulting image, one should pay attention not to the exact reproduction of color in comparison with the original, but to the balance of the selected ink set.

The color picture for checking the printer is analyzed as follows:

• filling is evaluated first in gray. If all its shades exactly match the reference image, the ink can be used. If the color is distorted in at least one position, alas, the cartridge is far from ideal. It is the very presence of an extraneous shade that allows you to identify unsuitable inks. This is relevant for analyzing the operation of any HP devices - Epson, Canon;
• drawing the smallest details, both light and dark, also indicates the quality of the ink. With high-quality materials, the drawing will be as detailed as possible;
• color distortion - best determined by a human portrait or an image of living objects. The color scheme of inanimate objects - a still life is not so informative, while it is much easier to determine the realism of the shade of human skin.

To some extent, you can correct the color reproduction using the settings of the device itself. If check Epson printer led to unsatisfactory results, you can try using the software settings. To do this, in the appropriate tab, select "Printer Settings" and adjust the halftone curve.