So, hopefully we've convinced you that if you want the best out of your printer, then a paper profile is the way to go. However you've probably noticed that for some of the most popular papers, you can often get pre-made profiles off the internet. Some printer drivers such as Epson even install profiles for their own brand of paper. Why not use them, instead of paying for a profile? They will certainly be an improvement on the standard printer driver, but they are based on profiling one or more printers, and that means that they are a compromise.

You might expect that the printer that you buy would print exactly like another printer of the same make and model - if you print a colour with an exact mix of inks, you would expect it to look the same for every printer of the same type. However, that rarely happens. Printers are built to certain printing tolerance standards - you will expect a mix of inks to print roughly the same colour, but it will not always be exactly the same. Take into account all the colours that your printer can print, and all those subtle changes can make quite a difference.

The pre-made profile can be created from one printer, or averaged out from a number of printers. If the profile is from one printer, then the gamut and the colour shifts are based for that one printer.