A professionally performed color calibration serves to optimize and measurably compare the image quality of a scanner.
The perception of colors by the human eye is extremely subjective and also dependent on the surrounding lighting conditions. In addition, every imaging device, whether digital camera, scanner, monitor or color printer, has device-specific color interpretations that are reflected in different color models, color spaces or color tones.
Therefore, a professional color calibration, individually adapted to the respective camera sensor, when installing a scanner guarantees accurate colors right from the start.
Color calibration is usually performed using a color target that contains standardized color patches. This is scanned and then the calibration software compares the colors determined by the scanner with the target colors (the actual colors of the individual color patches on the calibration slide are standardized). From the comparison of the actual colors with the target colors, a device-specific color profile (ICC profile) is created, which is now used for each subsequent scan. In this way, individual color errors of a scanner can be corrected. Such an ICC profile is always created for a specific scanner only and cannot be transferred to another device of the same construction.
The color calibration should always be done using professional color targets with color reference standards that correspond to the common digitizing standards.
In the professional digitizing sector, the creation of a color profile is part of the standard scope of delivery.