HP Latex printers: A simple guide to color accuracy and consistency

Wide format printing requires high-quality results that can only be delivered by a good printer and high-quality inks. HP is one of the most widely known brands of latex printers lauded for delivering accurate colors. However, these printers require the right HP latex ink for best results.

Differentiating color accuracy and consistency

Color ‘accuracy’ pertains to achieving the right color, or making sure that the colors on the print is a match with what was intended by the content creator. On the other hand, color ‘consistency’ involves achieving the ‘same’ color—which may refer to the same color on the last and first copy of a multicopy print job, the same color on the right- and left-hand sides of one print, or the same color when a certain printed material has been reprinted.

ICC profiles or color management is essential to color accuracy, and color calibration will ensure color consistency. Both factors must be considered when planning to purchase an HP ink replacement for your latex printer.

Understanding color profile or ICC profiles

An ICC profile refers to the standard set of data for characterizing how colors are reproduced by the printer on a substrate under a certain print mode. Software RIPs use it to translate the ideal color into a matching printed color. That makes it the key to ensuring accurate color reproduction or achieving the right colors.

To obtain ICC profiles for your printer and substrate, HP recommends using authentic HP latex ink and material that is certified for it. That way, you can apply substrate presets by installing them through the front panel of the printer or by downloading them from PrintOS Media Locator.

Every substrate preset comes with all the information the printer needs to correctly print on a substrate type. It also has an ICC profile stored in a printer and copied to and utilized by the software RIP to attain accurate color on a substrate.

Some HP Latex printer models—particularly HP Latex 570, 560, 365, and 375—can automatically create ICC profiles when editing or adding a substrate using their built-in color sensor. If you want more control over the ICC profile creation, you can make one using a supported software RIP solution. In that case, you can use the built-in or an external spectrophotometer.

The importance of color calibration

Colors will have small variations in inkjet printing systems because of the same variations in the printing system’s components. Everything from the substrate to the printheads and environmental conditions can have an effect. To compensate for those variations, HP Latex printers come with their own color calibration process to measure a resulting variation in printed color and compensate for that by printing a test pattern, which will be scanned by a color sensor and the volume of ink fired by ever printhead.

Color calibration must only be done under certain circumstances:

• When you install a new printhead
• When you use a new substrate type and it has not been calibrated yet
• Periodically perform color calibration to correct changes in the behavior of the printhead.

Color calibration may be unavailable when the substrate is less than 24 inches or 61cm wide and when the color sensor of the printer is unable to make a reliable measure of the color, which typically occurs on a non-white, non-opaque, perforated, or highly textured substrate.

Get your inks from Bink Inks

Make sure you have the right HP ink replacement for your HP latex printer. Shop at Bink Inks for reasonably priced HP latex inks in yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. We also carry HP latex ink in light magenta and light cyan, so you can produce more accurate wide format prints every time. We guarantee a secure payment system and accept free returns within 365 days. Free delivery applies when you spend at least $50.