Test page for epson printer. Printer testing

When testing computer components and related solutions, we, of course, could not ignore such a class of devices as office equipment. Today it has become an indispensable attribute of any office or company with a large document flow. And it is now difficult to imagine a modern home configuration without a printer or MFP, especially if its owner is a schoolboy or student. As you can see, the scope of devices of this kind is quite extensive, and it covers both the corporate and SOHO market segments. In this regard, store shelves are literally littered with a variety of office equipment: from compact photo printers to professional office “combines”.

Naturally, such diversity can confuse even knowing person, not to mention those who are faced with the purchase of a printer or MFP for the first time. We hope that this technique and a series of materials prepared on its basis will help you understand the variety of models in order to make the right choice in the future.

First, we will briefly describe the structure of the review of the printer or MFP, and then we will talk in more detail about the testing itself. As always, for better perception The material will be divided into several sections.

Introduction and specification

At the very beginning of the article, the relevance of the tested solution is described, its positioning in model range, as well as how the manufacturer himself sees its use. Here you can find the most complete specification of the device, compiled on the basis of information from official sources. In the future, during testing, we will definitely check whether the stated information is true.

Packing and scope of delivery

In this section Special attention pay attention to the packaging in which the printer is shipped. In particular, its dimensions, strength, design and information content. We will also take a closer look at the delivery set - did the manufacturer save on some components.

Appearance and features of operation

This section will be the most extensive. In addition to photos of the tested solution from different angles, it will include detailed description all its key nodes. We will pay special attention to the features of the operation of the printer and MFP. “What paper sizes are supported?”, “How does the printing process work?”, “How do the trays and automatic feeder work?”, “Is it difficult to change the cartridge or ink?”, “What interfaces does the device have?”, “Does it have any then additional functionality? - We will try to give the most complete and detailed answers to all these questions.

Expendable materials

Here information will be given about consumables for printers that are used during printing. Depending on the type of device, these can be toner cartridges, ink bottles or CISS. If possible, we will share information about their resource, the cost of refueling and the complexity of maintenance.

Offline work

Professional or claiming models can often function offline, that is, without being connected to a PC. If there is such an opportunity, we will definitely explore it in practice and describe our impressions in the "Autonomous work" section.

Software

At this point, the emphasis will be on software: driver capabilities, the number of settings and available functionality.

Testing

Finally, we got to the most interesting - the process of testing the capabilities of the device. The procedure itself will be divided into several series of experiments, so we decided to divide this section into several subparagraphs. By clicking on this link, you can download the original documents and images that are used in the testing process.

First page out time

The first page out time is primarily an indication of how fast the printer is processing a job. The experiment is carried out in two modes: on a warm (ready to print) and cold device. In the second case, part of the time is spent on preparing the printer for operation (exiting the power saving mode, warming up operation, etc.).

A page of plain text saved in DOC format will be sent for printing. In this case, the printer driver is set to the maximum print quality.

Mono print speed

To evaluate the print speed of a printer in monochrome, we prepared four scenarios:

"Text" − A 20-page document saved in DOC format with text in 10-point Times New Roman font, and different types formatting.

"Text + pictures" − A 10-page document saved in DOC format with half-page drawings and text in 10-point Times New Roman font.

"Text in vector format" - a file in vector format (CDR), which consists of one page of text typed in Times New Roman and Arial fonts in different sizes.

"Photo" − black and white photography high resolution saved in PDF format.

These scripts run for each print mode available in the driver menu. In all cases, the printer is preheated. If the device has duplex printing capability (on both sides of the paper), then similar tests will be carried out for this mode. For the purity of the experiment, ordinary office paper with a density of 80 g / m 2 is used, which can be bought at any stationery store.

Then the data is entered into a table, the estimated print speed for each mode is determined, and certain conclusions are drawn based on the information received.

Print speed in color mode

Five different types of photos are started for printing one by one (for more details about the principle of their selection, see the subsection "Assessing the quality of printing photos and vector elements"), and the time of page exit from the tray is measured. We will carry out the test by preheating the printer and selecting the maximum print quality in the driver menu. During the experiment, again, ordinary office paper with a density of 80 g / m 2 is used, and for professional devices, special photographic paper is also used (its properties will be discussed separately in each case).

Text print quality rating

A document saved in vector CDR format is launched for printing, with a set of control fonts (Times New Roman and Arial), typed in different sizes. Based on the finished print, it will be possible to find out the presence of graininess, the degree of filling of characters, the accuracy of drawing serifs on letters, as well as the minimum size of a readable font. Again, the experiment is run for all modes available in the driver menu.

Evaluate the print quality of photos and vector elements

This group of tests is more relevant for photo printers. However, they will also run on regular monochrome devices. So we will be able to comprehensively evaluate the capabilities of all solutions that will come to us for testing, and in the future to draw more objective conclusions when comparing models from different price ranges.

Please note that the process of selecting photos did not occur spontaneously. Pictures contain a variety of effects, so if the printer distorts the gamut somewhere, conveys colors incorrectly, “soaps” the picture or makes it fuzzy, this will immediately appear on the prints. Images #1 - #6 are in PDF format, and #7 are in vector CDR format.

Image #1. Checking the accuracy of grayscale reproduction and hairline rendering. “Sharp” transitions between white and black backgrounds will help to reveal how much the printer “clutters up” the image at the borders of objects.

Image #2. Checking the accuracy of the reproduction of dark shades. If the printer makes the image too contrasty (increases the gamma), the details of the scene in the shadows will be poorly visible or will not be drawn at all.

Image #3. Checks the accuracy of highlights and bright objects. At the output, the picture should not turn out dull, and the sky, sand and water should merge into one.

Image #4. Checking the quality of drawing metal and shiny surfaces.

Image #5 . Checking the print quality of HDR photos. Ideally, the output colors should be just as saturated, without blockage in warm or cold shades. Also, using this image, it will be possible to check how accurately the printer is able to convey the reflection of objects on the car body and the texture of asphalt chips (the road should look voluminous, not a piece of gray plywood).

Image #6. Testing the accuracy of human skin tones. From the print, it will immediately be clear whether the photo printer corresponds to its status or whether it wears the “photo” prefix only for advertising purposes.

Image #7. Checking the accuracy of the output of gradient fills, thin lines and the quality of green synthesis. The four gradient stripes correspond to the primary colors of the CMYK gamut. They are formed by using a 512-step vector fill. Availability here vertical stripes will indicate printer problems with the accuracy of the transfer of gradients. The radial stripes and the "star" with a spiral in the center are drawn with a one-pixel thick line. Printing these elements is a rather difficult task for printers. Note that some of the lines are drawn in green. Thus, we get the opportunity to evaluate the accuracy of the formation of this shade by mixing yellow (Yellow) and turquoise (Cyan) paint. The group of lines located in the lower corner is designed to check the quality of color synthesis at the intersection of these lines.

Operation of the device in scanner mode (if available)

Scans pre-printed professional equipment photographs discussed in the previous section (images #1 - #6). This procedure is repeated for each type of resolution available in the driver menu. After the experiment is completed, the resulting prints are compared with the originals and the appropriate conclusions are drawn.

Operation of the device in copier mode (if such an option is available)

One page of text and the same photographs (images No. 1 - No. 6) are copied with different quality settings. In each case, the page exit speed is measured after pressing the "Copy" button, and the resulting prints are compared with the originals.

Energy consumption

Energy consumption will be measured both while the device is running (printing, scanning, copying) and in idle mode (sleep).

Additional features

Sometimes manufacturers equip printers and MFPs with additional modules, such as network interfaces or memory card slots. In principle, this does not apply to the main functionality of office equipment, but for sure, potential buyers will be interested in how these nodes perform in practice.

Results

In our opinion, the set of tests presented in this methodology is quite enough to fully unlock the potential of a printer or MFP and draw certain conclusions. In each review, we plan to publish links to scanned prints that were obtained during testing. So you can not only from our words, but also personally, according to some of your own criteria, evaluate the quality of printing (scanning, copying). In other words, with the help of this technique, we will try to give readers as much information as possible to draw up an objective picture of the possibilities of office equipment that will fall into our test laboratory.

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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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It is difficult to focus on an uncalibrated monitor, since the similarity of the print with the monitor screen will be partial.

There are three options for checking a color profile. The first way to print black and white photos - they must be black and white, without color impurities. You need to look after the ink is fully stabilized and at the source for which the color profile is ordered. The second way is to print photos and compare them with a calibrated monitor. It is possible that you will have to compare in paper simulation mode. Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, CorelDraw can do this. The third way is to print our test images and visually analyze their quality. The fact is that sometimes the printed image itself has a color shift, especially when shooting indoors. We tried to collect images without obvious color deviations.

Two blocks of images are presented:

• Checking RGB drivers. Printing from Windows native printer drivers. RGB color profile.
• Checking photo labs (wet printing). RGB pictures.

COLORED TEST PATTERNS FOR PHOTOLABORATORY CHECK (WET PRINT).

Test photo. Test photo for printing. Test image for printing. Test photo to check the RGB color profile. Image for tests.

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. printer software, 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 software printer.

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 paid to the level of color reproduction, the ability to accurately reproduce 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

Each user after purchase new technology, seeks to test it in action as soon as possible. Of course, this also applies to printers. The only sure way to test a printer is to print a solid page. This procedure will make sure that all the basic device settings have been set correctly, in addition, you can make sure that the color is transmitted in full accordance with the desired result.

In addition to the information listed, printing a test page on an HP printer will let you know the exact version of the drivers and the model of the device you are using. All the information provided may well be useful in case there are any problems or additional questions.

Test print on an HP printer

Press the left mouse button on the “Start” button in the taskbar and from the list of services select “Control Panel.

Move the mouse cursor over the selected printer and press the right button. The printer context menu will appear. From the context menu, select the "properties" command and click on it with the left mouse button.

In the Properties menu, open the General tab and left-click on the Test Print command. If the printer is being used for the first time or has not been used long time, you will need to wait a few seconds (15 to 30) before printing starts. It's just that the printer driver needs time to collect all the information about the system. In the future, the print processing speed will be faster. The test page parameters of any printer are defined by default and absolutely all printer parameters are tested during printing. The test page on different models may differ.

When printing is finished, rate test page. It should contain graphics, text, samples of absolutely all colors. There should be no distortion or unevenness. If the print was made with an inkjet printer, then there should be no ink streaks.

When the printer finishes printing the page, you will be prompted to save the print settings. If all the test page settings suit you, you can simply click on the command “save print settings by default.

How to print an HP test page without a computer?

To begin, load plain white paper of the appropriate size into the input tray.

A test print page for inkjet printers is printed as follows: turn off the device with the button, press the Sheet button without releasing it, press the ON button, release it, continue to hold the Sheet for about 10 seconds.

What problems can arise?

But sometimes the following problem occurs: the test page did not print correctly. In this regard, the question arises of what to do in this case and how to still print this page? So, if the test page does not print correctly, then one of the possible problems lies in old or “broken drivers.

To solve it, you need to download and install their updated version. But what if this action did not help and the problem associated with the fact that the printer does not print is still relevant? In this case, give full rights to "Everyone for" C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS, then delete the desired printing device in the registry branch "HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Printers.

In addition, give the normal user the rights that the administrator has and install a new driver under his name. After that, you can withdraw the previously granted rights from him. You should also disable UAC. If the steps taken do not help, then you should run the Process Explorer utility and, during printing, pay attention to what rights are missing.