For printers: With the printer turned off, press the “Sheet” button without releasing it, press the “on” button, release it, continuing to hold the “Sheet” button for 10 seconds.
For MFP without monitor: the same process, only instead of a “sheet” there is a “Stop” button (triangle in a circle)
For with monitor: in the tab “Installation” - “Maintenance” - “Checking the nozzle” - “start” - “print”.
Printing a test page without a PC
Have you purchased a brand new printer? In any case, you will need to print test pages to check print quality. It’s good if the printer is connected to a computer through which you can start this process. What if this is not possible? How to print a test page without a computer? Let's figure it out.
So, the following tips will be useful for many modern devices. Start by loading regular white sheets of paper of the appropriate size into the input tray.
The print test 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” button for about 10 seconds.
For Canon printers: hold both buttons (in in this case Resume button and ON button) until the power indicator lights up. After that, hold down the ON button, release and press the Resume button twice, release both buttons. After this, the readiness indicator will light up, which will signal the service mode. To print a test sheet, press Resume once, confirm the action with the ON button.
Printing a test sheet for a multifunction without a display: a similar process, only instead of the “Sheet” button there is a “Stop” button (triangle in a circle)
Test page for inkjet printing with multifunctional equipment equipped with a display: select the “Installation” tab, then “Maintenance” - the “Nozzle Check” menu - “Start” and “Print”.
Printer testing method
The testing methodology for different types of printers differs due to several factors. But during the testing process, experts still adhere to certain general standards and a more or less uniform approach. One could even say that over several decades, which became a period of rapid development of the printing market, a list of rules for conducting printer testing techniques was formed. True, each type of printing device has its own specific rules. For example, the testing process for color laser and inkjet printers is somewhat different from testing dot-matrix or dye-sublimation printers.
The most great importance In the process of testing printers, we pay attention to the quality characteristics of printing and the performance of the printing device. After all, these are the indicators that concern the potential buyer the 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. IN Lately When testing a printer, attempts are made to characterize the printing device in terms of whether the print quality provided corresponds to the stated cost.
Regardless of what type of printer is being tested, be sure to pay attention to the following parameters:
1. specifications printer, its hardware capabilities;
2. the printing technology used, its advantages and disadvantages;
3. design of the printing device body, quality of its execution;
4. software printer, availability of useful programs and their effectiveness;
5. Printer equipment upon delivery.
Checking the printer's print quality
Print quality depends on many factors, and when testing a printer, it will be determined by the printing technology used by the printer, as well as the paper weight, ink, and printer software.
It is the connection of all these factors that makes it possible to make a final “verdict” on the quality characteristics of the printer being tested.
When assessing print quality Special attention You should pay attention to the level of color rendering, the ability to accurately convey the halftones of the original image. Very often, the transmission of halftones depends on whether the printer is able to provide high-quality and uniform shading of various areas, especially light areas of the image.
In many ways, print quality also depends on the resolution of the printer, that is, the factor that affects the level of printing of small image details. 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 detected during printer testing.
Basic methods for assessing 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 assessment of a print involves visually examining the print to determine print defects that are visible to the naked eye.
An objective assessment of a print involves a number of more complex procedures aimed at identifying printing defects. In the process of objective assessment of the print test image first placed in a reference scanner, after which they are 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 record RGB indicators from special “dies”. When digitizing an image, a scanner may, of course, allow some error. To prevent this, the scanner is calibrated before testing.
In the case of testing black and white printers, the procedure for assessing print quality is greatly simplified, since the study of color characteristics is not required in this case.
Checking the Printer Print Speed
All manufacturing companies in the documentation included with the printer indicate such a printing characteristic as its speed. This “value” is measured in pages per minute, and it relates to various printer operating modes.
But you should not unconditionally trust the specified data on the printing speed of a 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 performance of printers from different brands in order to decide on 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 related to various brands. It is this data that will allow you to more or less objectively compare the speed characteristics of printers.
Printer printing speed is tested using electronic A4 format models of three various types. 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 1 page with a color photo, which is printed on high-quality photo paper in maximum print quality mode.
When printing all three types of test pages, the countdown time runs from the moment printing starts until the page is completely printed.
Main types of printer tests
Basic printer tests include tests that subsequently make it possible to compare the print quality and speed of different printer models.
To make it more convenient to compare the characteristics of printers with different print formats (for example, A4 and A3), paper of the same size is used during testing for such printers.
There are only seven main 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 to determine the speed characteristics of mixed printing, which consists of 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. Ink test to determine its resistance to moisture. Testing is carried out using damp cotton wool 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 printing device of its basic functions, there are additional methods for testing printers that are focused on the study and analysis of operating 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;
- checking the quality and speed of printing on thick media.
Additional testing for the printer is determined, first of all, by the presence of a particular function in the printing device.
How the printer is tested
The printer testing procedure begins with calibrating the device's print heads. This is necessary in order to ensure the highest level of print quality, color rendition, and detail printing available to the printer.
Some models of printing devices 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 print settings. However, quite often, especially if the printer supports a large number of printing modes, during testing, printing is carried out in all valid modes and its results are analyzed.
The process of testing a printer is largely determined by the characteristics of the printing device being tested, its capabilities and functions.
Test template files for the printer
Five types of test pattern files are used to test the printer's print performance.
| The TF1 file is used when testing the quality and speed characteristics of color printers, as well as when analyzing the printer’s ability to produce high-quality color reproduction and the transmission of halftones and shades. Test printing of the TF1 file is carried out on office paper and high quality photo paper. File TF1 is a sheet of A4 paper on which a special target is depicted. This target contains several color drawings, as well as one black and white image. They help make a subjective assessment of the printer's print quality. In addition, this target contains a black triangle with a gradient fill from 0% to 100% and a plate consisting of multi-colored sections. The 7 colors on a solid have different intensities and specific values in the RGB color space. This die serves to objectively assess the color rendering provided by a specific printer model. |
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 | To check the printer's black-and-white and color resolution, use the TF2 test file. When checking black and white print resolution, use office paper standard size A4. When checking color printing resolution, A4 photo paper is used. The TF2 test PDF file is an image consisting 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 in size than the previous one. A separate group element of the TF2 test file is a triangle. Half of the triangles in each group are vertical and the other half are vertical. In accordance with the quality of printing of each triangle by the printer, the resolution of the printer is determined. |
 | The TF3 test template file is used to determine the quality of black and white text printing. To check the print quality using the TF3 file, standard A4 size office paper is used. The TF3 test file is a doc format document. This document consists of lines of various sizes, typed in various types of fonts using in various ways styles. After printing this file, it becomes possible to determine the print level. The readability of small fonts also indicates the printer's resolution. The printer's black and white print speed is measured using the TF4 test file. During the testing process, standard A4 size office paper is used. |
The TF4 test file is a doc format document consisting of 1 page with text in 10 point font New Roman with single line spacing and standard style.
The period of time during which the printer is able to print a given page is an indicator of the speed of monochrome printing.
The start of the time count in this case is the beginning of the printer's job execution. The countdown ends when the printed sheet leaves the printer and enters the tray.
The printer's mixed print speed is measured using the 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 graphic content. The text in the TF5 test file is printed in Times New Roman font, 10 point. 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 the color quality of the printer
To measure the quality of a printer's color reproduction, methods similar to the principles of testing scanners are used.
The color quality testing process begins with digitizing a scanned TF1 test file. Digitization is carried out in color mode with the maximum resolution of the scanner. The resulting file is used to define RGB components in certain areas. This is done using a graphical Adobe editor Photoshop as follows: in all areas of different brightness, the results of seven colors (red, green, blue, yellow, black, magenta, cyan) are recorded.
After this, all received data is entered into a color table, and using this data, the correctness of the printer’s reproduction of various colors and shades 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 – data of control color points on the reference image;
Red2, Green2, Blue2 – data of control color points in the scanned image.
As a result, the smaller the calculation result, the more accurate color rendering the printer provides.
Checking the color balance and halftone quality of the printer
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When in inkjet printer Ink runs out, the user needs to refill the cartridge or purchase a new print cassette. Some users purchase only original consumables, others prefer compatible inks, but both the former and the latter are interested in obtaining high-quality prints and extending the life of their printing equipment.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to check the quality of ink in a store, so the user has to rely only on the integrity of the manufacturers and personal experience in the selection of consumables. But testing the quality of purchased ink at home is not difficult. To do this, you will need a printer, high-quality paper, and, in fact, purchased ink. The essence of testing inkjet inks at home is to print out specific test pages or test tasks and carefully analyze them in order to identify the advantages and disadvantages of this ink. Test page to check the quality of inkjet ink can be found on the Internet.
Test page elements for testing inkjet ink quality
If you plan to use the ink for printing home photos, then the first two elements of the test page will be enough for you, but if you are using the ink for professional commercial photo printing, then the test page should contain all the elements listed in the figure above.
An example of a test page with the designation of its main elements is presented below.
Legend:
1, 1a – gradient transition from white to black; 2 – portrait of a person with a natural skin tone;
3 – image fragments containing light elements on a dark background and vice versa;
4 – dies filled with different colors.
A sample test page with the designation of its elements
When examining the resulting test page, you should pay attention not to the exact match of the shades of the resulting image with the original, but to the balance of the selected ink set. The main criterion here is the fill. gray, which the inkjet printer generates during printing. The gray color should be pure, without any foreign tint. If such a shade is present on the print, then the selected ink is far from ideal.
An example of color distortion when printing in gray is shown in the following figure. Here is a comparison of several scans obtained when testing inkjet inks. The same printer was used in testing, the same settings were set when printing, and printing was done on the same paper.
Ink A
Ink B
Ink B
Scans obtained from inkjet ink testing
Ink B And IN when printing they form foreign shades: on the print B– blue, on print IN- lilac. This is especially noticeable in the gray shading of the picture located in the lower right corner. Ink A demonstrated accurate color reproduction, which indicates their quality and balance.
An extraneous tint may appear both on the entire image and in its individual areas. Also, poor ink quality may be indicated by excessive paleness of the print, distortion or mixing of colors, insufficient image clarity and poor rendering of small details. Only ink cartridges can be to blame for the appearance of the listed symptoms. Most likely, the manufacturer did not test their ink sufficiently and released it to the market ahead of time. Pay attention to the fine details in the darkest and lightest areas of the image. Good printer ink renders fine details better than bad ones. As an example, consider two scans of photographs printed with different inks on the same inkjet printer using the same paper.
Ink A
Ink B
Photos printed using the same photo paper
on the same inkjet printer, but with different inks
Ink A demonstrate more realistic color rendition and better depict the smallest details of the image. Ink B They do not convey halftones and small details clearly enough, their colors are not as natural and deep as on the first print. Light halftones in the picture B look garish, there is no smooth transition between light and dark areas of the image.
If you get insufficient quality test prints and are about to run to the supplies store for new ink, stop! Practice shows that you can achieve quite satisfactory print quality by experimenting with the settings in the “printer-ink-paper” system. If you do everything correctly, you can increase the realism and colorfulness of your photos and improve the color rendition of midtones and shades. If you plan to use inkjet ink for professional photo printing, then you will have to spend a little more time finding a balance in the printer-ink-paper system. You may need to print more than one test page before you are satisfied with the image. As an example, consider the figure.
Basic test page
The basic test page has a pale yellow tint. The children's faces shown at the bottom of the test page look faded, the shades are not vibrant and natural enough.
Open the color rendering settings window on your computer and find the halftone curve. Turn it down in the settings yellow, increase and adjust the brightness and clarity of the image. We print a second test page with the new settings.
Test page after additional color settings
After adjusting the color rendering, the test page looks more natural: the milky yellow tint has disappeared, the images have become more realistic, clearer, and brighter.
If the color rendering adjustment does not give the expected results, then most likely you are using photo paper that is not suitable for these inks. In this case, you will not get satisfactory print quality without color distortion even using original inks, not to mention cheaper compatible inks.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the correct selection of ink for inkjet printing is a rather labor-intensive and complex process for the average buyer. Therefore, if you are not confident in your knowledge and abilities in the field of inkjet printing and printer maintenance, it is better to seek advice from professionals.
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A printer for home use, unless, of course, it is used for reproducing photographs, is rarely required to do anything other than legibility and durability. 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 inspection 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 purchasing 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 appropriate tests and finding out how true the playback quality is.
- Cartridges become depleted 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 you have to spend a long time looking for special ones for HP equipment. However, it’s not just a matter of discrepancies in the characteristics of the liquid for different printing devices – it’s also a matter of different colors.
When purchasing a cartridge or refill kit from a licensed store, the likelihood that the ink shade will exactly match the machine is much higher. However, not all users have a physical or financial opportunity 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 understand 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-based, for example. In this case, you should ensure that the device operates adequately.
Test pictures will also be needed to determine the condition of the print head. Over time, it becomes 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's operation
To find out how high-quality the ink was purchased, tests are carried out on the purchased Epson line printer. For them you will need high-quality paper - white matte, since any shade of the sheet will ruin the test, the printing device itself and the cartridge with new ink.
The test consists of colorful pictures with certain specified parameters, which allow you to evaluate gradient, hue matching, reproduction capabilities and other printing parameters. Sami test tasks easy to find on the Internet and load into the memory of HP devices.
Printer test pictures should include:
- gradient transition from black to white, including a specified number of shades of gray;
- a portrait, or, more precisely, a photograph, with natural skin color and unmasked pores;
- 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 black test page to clean the nozzles or analyze the condition. If its shade is not saturated and uniform, a cleaning procedure should be carried out. In the same Epson, for this purpose, select “Check nozzles” in the window and assign cleaning 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 plan to print photos for commercial use, you should pay attention to all factors. At the same time, when analyzing the resulting image, you should pay attention not to the exact reproduction of color in comparison with the original, but to the balance of the selected set of inks.
The color image for checking the printer is analyzed as follows:
- First of all, they evaluate the fill with gray color. If all of 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 tint that makes it possible to identify unsuitable ink. 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 determining the realistic shade of human skin is much easier.
You can correct color reproduction to some extent using the settings of the device itself. If your Epson printer test results are unsatisfactory, you can try using software settings. To do this, select “Printer Settings” in the appropriate tab and adjust the halftone curve.
Before switching to alternative inks or changing ink manufacturers, it is a good idea to conduct a color rendering test to compare print results.
Today I would like to introduce you to a simple test of ink color rendering quality in CMYK mode for 4-color inkjet printers.
This test will allow you to quickly determine the quality of the ink used and, if the result is negative, will allow you to change the ink before performing critical printing work.
I decided to make a small review, since quite often I receive questions about how to independently check the quality of the ink that you plan to refill printer cartridges with. This review will be useful to everyone who is planning to make a choice.
A short theoretical introduction. There are several ways to mix colors CMYK And RGB . The simplest color mixing 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 mixing mode has been in use since the advent of printing equipment. Modern printers with 4 cartridges use a group of colors to print images and black to print text. Therefore, it is quite common to find combined colors in one cartridge + a separate cartridge with black ink (most of Canon and HP home printers).
It is the users of these printer models who are quite often interested in the issue of high-quality color rendering; this review will probably be primarily useful for them.
Knowing that images are not printed using a black cartridge, but only color ink, can be used successfully to test the color quality of a particular 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 need to be mixed. More precisely, the graphics program sends this data to the printer 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 with original ink it is not always possible to get a perfectly black print (a headache for photographers who like to print black and white photographs). As a rule, the result is a slightly grayish tint. When using low-quality ink, color loss can occur in any direction. Moreover, 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 rendition. In this case, your black square will have a burgundy tint.
When testing, you can quickly understand which color is problematic, based on the photo in this review. As you can see from the photo, with the perfect combination of all three colors you should get a perfectly black color. Using this knowledge, you can very quickly find out what quality your ink is and whether it is worth using it in your work.
This must also be taken into account when printing. It’s just that sometimes you hear that pigment ink is used little, even though we print a lot of black and white documents. As it turns out later, documents are printed from a PDF file as images. 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 included as standard in the printer control program. When you print a test sheet, on the left edge, opposite each color, there are black rectangles, which can be used to monitor the quality of color rendering in the manner described above. You will immediately be able to notice if the black rectangle on the test has turned blue or brown. This means something happened to the ink, or one color has run out.
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