Using one of the most powerful color features in the Canon PRO series
Several factors contribute to ensuring accurate colors when printing. Most people are familiar with using ICC profiles, but their effectiveness is optimized when your printer is calibrated to the same standard as the one used during the creation of those ICC profiles.
As the seasons change, differences in humidity levels and temperature affect how the ink interacts with the paper, creating subtle variations in the appearance of printed materials during the winter and summer months.
As the printer ages, it can also change how it handles mixing colors, as the pumps may require more force to pump ink through the print head, and this varies in amount for each color.
These problems are overcome through a process known as “Calibration” or “Linearization”.
Calibration is a low-level process that alters how the printer operates at the hardware level, whereas ICC profiles adjust colors at the software level. Calibration does not replace ICC profiles. Rather, they work together - keeping your printer properly calibrated ensures your ICC profile stays accurate even as environmental conditions change.
Thanks to the printer’s built-in sensors, the calibration process on the Canon Pro-1000 and above (i.e., Pro-1100, Pro-2000, Pro-4100, Pro-2600, etc.) is straightforward.
To do this, you will need an 8.5x11 sheet of Canon Pro Luster. Note: For this process, only Canon brand papers will work.
Simply load the sheet like normal and select Pro Luster as the media type on the printer’s panel when loading the paper.
Next, on the printer’s panel, select Maintenance -> Color Calibration -> Auto Adjust
The printer will print out a series of color patches for each of the inks and will automatically scan back in information about the density of the printed patches - and will do its own internal adjustments to the hardware to make sure that each ink channel is functioning to standard.
For most people, we recommend doing this about once a quarter, as this will help account for changes caused by seasonal environmental shifts. Professional print shops may want to do this more often (ie, once a month or even once every two weeks) to ensure everything stays as consistent as possible.
It's a good idea to keep a pack of Canon Pro Luster around for use specifically in calibrations. We carry it just for this reason. Buy 50 sheets of Canon Pro Luster now.
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Last updated: April 06, 2025
