What is "colour registration" and why is it important?
22/01/2001
The CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) printing process uses overlapping inks of cyan, magenta and yellow. To produce the best possible output, the colours must print in specific positions so that overlaps and dithering are accurate. If the colours are not aligned, the resulting print will have colour shifts (colours produced where incorrect colours overlap to produce an undesired colour) or appear blurred. Using black to print grey and also black in text eliminates the problem in these instances but not when colour is constructed from two or more of the process primaries. The print below shows how registration problems can cause undesired effects.
C7000 series printers have an automatic colour registration process which does not require manual adjustment of colour registration settings.
Using the printer's colour registration adjust menu option allows the user to print a colour registration chart and moves automatically to the first of nine adjustable settings for possible manual corrections. This procedure is documented in the printer's User Guide and should only be performed when absolutely necessary.
