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Color calibration

The following steps provide the complete procedure for this topic.

Color calibration enables your printer to produce consistent colors with the particular printheads, inks and paper type that you are using, and under your particular environmental conditions. After color calibration, you can expect to get similar prints from any two different printers situated in different geographical locations.

Some paper types cannot be calibrated. For all other paper types, calibration should be done in any of the following circumstances:

  • Whenever a printhead is replaced

  • Whenever a new paper type is introduced that has not yet been calibrated with the current set of printheads

  • Whenever the environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) change significantly

You can check the color calibration status of the currently loaded paper at any time by going to the front panel and tapping , then , then Color calibration status. The status may be one of the following:

  • Recommended: The paper has not been calibrated.

    Note:

    Whenever you update the printer's firmware, the color calibration status of all papers is reset to Recommended.

  • Obsolete: The paper has been calibrated, but the calibration is now out of date because a printhead has been replaced, and should be repeated.

  • Done: The paper has been calibrated, and the calibration is up to date.

  • Disabled: This paper cannot be calibrated.

    Note:

    Color calibration cannot be performed on plain paper, nor on any kind of transparent material.

You can start color calibration in the following ways:

  • From the HP DesignJet Utility for Windows: Click Color Center > Calibrate paper, and choose the paper to be calibrated.

  • From the HP Utility for macOS: Click Paper Preset Management, choose the paper to be calibrated, press the button, and click Calibrate paper.

  • From the front panel: Tap , then Color calibration.

The calibration process is fully automatic and can be performed unattended after you have loaded paper of the type you wish to calibrate—which should be wider than 355 mm14 in. If you have more than one roll loaded, the printer will ask which roll you want to use for the calibration.

The process takes about 10 minutes and consists of the following steps.

  1. A calibration chart is printed, which contains patches of each ink used in your printer.

    Z6 example chart

    Color calibration chart Z6

    Z9+ example chart

    Color calibration chart Z9+

  2. The chart is allowed to dry for a period of time that depends on the paper type, so that the colors have time to stabilize.

  3. The chart is scanned and measured.

  4. From the measurements, the printer calculates the necessary correction factors to apply for consistent color printing on that paper type. It also calculates the maximum amount of each ink that can be applied to the paper.

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