Strange colour anomaly.

[#1]

I saved some installation instructions to PDF, but I came to print them I saw the coloured parts had come out wrong. See Image

I am using compatible inks, that have never let me down before, and I found another image, which contained a deal of info close to what you see above the text "TRUE COLOUR" the image attached.

I'm bemused why the colour shift came about. I can't believe it's anything to do with the ink. Printer is Canon with separate ink cartridges.

Ideas friends?

[#2]

Dirty nozzle possibly @Luzern? If you have some Isopropyl alcohol then it might be worth giving them a clean.

[#3]

Yep I see what @Anonymous means.

I suppose one test is to create a small square in a paint package with an RGB colour of 0, 0, 255 and try to print that. That means it shoudn't be mixed with anything else.

If nothing comes out that would point to a blocked nozzle.

[#4]

@Alex - That would be more obvious assuming that the printer was RGB and not CMYK. So @Luzern, what ink cartridges does the printer take, my monies on the latter looking at the above.

[#5]

Okay sorry forgot about the difference.

I haven't used inkjets for years, as I use laser (inkjets did my head in years ago, for reasons I won't go into here as it will derail the thread).

[#6]

@Alex  The cartridges are CMYK, but then why did the comparison I made later come out nearer to "true"?

[#7]

I have a Canon printer and use compatible inks. If you dig into the Canon settings you should find a 'print test pattern option'.  I recently had a compatible cartridge that reported that it had plenty of ink but failed to print. On removing the cartridge I could see through the clear plastic body that it was empty

[#8]

@Baldrick1 Thanks for tip. I did look and all are at least half full. The mystery, however, is why something else with a very similar blue element came out so differently. 

[#9]

Have you tried downloading (or however you got the image) and printing it again in case it was one of those 'things that go bump in the night' events?

[#10]

Have you tried reprinting the original again to see if the use of the printer has changed anything? i.e. Cleaned the nozzles.

[#11]

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@Luzern wrote:

@Alex  The cartridges are CMYK, but then why did the comparison I made later come out nearer to "true"?

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Just noticed my attribution is wrong; should be @Anonymous

[#12]

@Luzern - See my message above.

[#13]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Have you tried reprinting the original again to see if the use of the printer has changed anything? i.e. Cleaned the nozzles.

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I think I may have cracked it, but it seems odd how it'd have happened.

I looked at the printer settings; they were set to grayscale, and a print of p 1 was again discoloured as in OP. Second try with settings reset produced correctly.

I thought grayscale just represented colours as shades from black to white. I'm still confused, why the incorrect colour could be produced.

[#14]

"Ordinary" printers just use varying quantities of black for greyscale (not spelt grayscale!) output.

CMYK is able to produce a dull black from a combination of Cyan, Magenta & Yellow - but for a true black it should use the black cartridge. Doesn't explain why you got colours on greyscale, though.

[#15]

Just in case it helps, the RGB value for that Blue you posted is: 35, 102, 185.
(Didn't know there is Mac app which did this - pretty cool though).

Not talking about the printer colours of course, just what is in the image.

Seems as if you have it sorted anyway - though I would try a test print with those values above.