Printer, Camera, and Scanner Color Gamut Comparisons

These pages contain comparative color gamuts for a selection of the digital cameras, scanners, and printers and papers we have measured through our custom ICC printer profiling service. The plots display the color gamut of each printer, digital camera, or scanner in relation to Adobe RGB and sRGB.

The gamut plots are 3-D VRML models, allowing you to examine the color range from any perspective. You can twist and turn the plots using your mouse. This allows you to see where the strengths and weaknesses of any particular printer's color reproduction lie. You can select the color spaces you wish to compare, or view any of the pre-built models that compare a single color space to Adobe RGB and sRGB. The print contrast ratio associated with each combination appears on the pre-built plots.

Additional printer/paper combinations will be added as time permits. There are a number of two dimensional plots in the miscellaneous section, comparing a larger number of papers than would be legible in three dimensions.

A VRML browser plug-in is required to view the plots. If you do not see an animation in the area above, you need to download a plug-in.

Sources for free VRML plug-ins include:

Note for Internet Explorer 7 users: Among the features Microsoft broke with IE7, particularly on Vista, was VRML compatibility. The only VRML packages we have verified to work consistently with IE7 are Octaga 2.2 and BS Contact. Use the "offline" or "manual setup" options for these products. The Cosmo player works in most instances, although you will need to manually select "Direct3D" rendering mode if an error dialog appears. Cortona 3D can usually be coaxed to work by installing the manual setup option, although it can require multiple install-uninstall-install cycles to properly load the plug-in.

Note for Firefox 3 users: Mozilla broke most VRML compatibility with Firefox 3. The only VRML plug–in that functions properly with Firefox version 3.0 as of mid-June 2008 is NIST's Cosmo Player. We will update the status if and when either the plug-in vendors or Mozilla fixes matters. Firefox version 2 works flawlessly with all plug–ins.

Key: X Works on all major browsers for platform. * IE7 setup problematic (Windows only)

Use the Interactive Gamuts tool to choose from all color spaces

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