Executive Series 2426 Printer Family User’s Guide
Windows Me/98/95 Operation • 324
Factors that Affect Color Printing
Monitor Colors vs. Printer Colors
(Differences between the range of colors a monitor or
printer can reproduce)
• Neither a printer nor a monitor is capable of reproducing the full
range of colors visible to the human eye. Each device is
restricted to a certain range of colors. In addition to this, a
printer cannot reproduce all of the colors displayed on a monitor,
and vice versa.
• Both devices use very different technologies to represent color.
A monitor uses Red, Green and Blue (RGB) phosphors (or
LCDs), a printer uses Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black (CMYK)
toner or ink.
• A monitor can display very vivid colors such as intense reds and
blues. These cannot be easily produced on any printer using
toner or ink. Similarly, there are certain colors, (some yellows for
example), that can be printed, but cannot be displayed
accurately on a monitor. This disparity between monitors and
printers is often the main reason that printed colors do not
match the colors displayed on screen.