Why doesn a densitometer always vouch for the quality of colors?
A densitometer determines the density from the difference in lightness between absorbed and reflected light. It thus differentiates only between light and dark and is only applicable for determining the density of black. In order for the technique to function for the standardized process colors cyan, magenta and yellow as well, densitometers have color filters for the complementary colors. Red filters for cyan measurements, green filters for magenta and blue filters for yellow. Since the densities behave essentially the same as thickness of ink layers, the printer can use these values to initiate a change in the color. However, the same density value doesn’t mean that the color impression is the same for the viewer. Because of the diversity of special colors, there are no defined filters for them. In this case, you make do by choosing the color filter that is the furthest away from the test sample – for example, a blue filter for measuring light green or orange. In so doing, it sometim
