# RGB vs CMYK colors



## FatboyGraphics (Sep 20, 2009)

What do you use?
is there a right or wrong?


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## amdivoff (Jun 6, 2012)

What are you printing to? Unless it's a commercial press I use RBG. One Adobe professional told me last month that home computer drivers for printers send info to printer using rgb values even if the printer supports CMYK (I've been trying to see if that's true). Adding to that, do you have something like Spider color correction for your screen? 

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## FatboyGraphics (Sep 20, 2009)

Wastach RIP and Mutoh RJ900x.
I've always used CMYK, but i'm working on setting up new colors for my apparel, and just pondering this.


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## shirtnoob (Jun 8, 2012)

amdivoff said:


> Unless it's a commercial press I use RBG.


Unless the printer is using "Pantone" CMYKs, then RGB will always give you a larger gamut.



amdivoff said:


> One Adobe professional told me last month that home computer drivers for printers send info to printer using rgb values even if the printer supports CMYK (I've been trying to see if that's true).



Digital printer ink has a larger gamut than "Pantone" CMYK and can take advantage of some RGB color space. Printer ink wont have the gamut of an RGB color space, but it will have one larger than the CMYK color space.

More here:

CMYK vs. RGB - CreativePro.com


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## amdivoff (Jun 6, 2012)

"Photographic printers are true RGB devices—they expose photosensitive paper using red, green, and blue lasers or LEDs—so the CMYK color mode simply doesn't apply. Inkjet printers use cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks (plus additional inks to extend gamut and detail), which in theory at least makes them CMYK devices. But in practice, unless you're printing through a PostScript raster image processor (RIP), desktop inkjet printer drivers are built to receive only RGB data. This is because traditionally, operating system-level graphics languages have not been able to send CMYK to printers. Photoshop itself can send CMYK to these printers, but the printer driver will immediately convert it to RGB before doing anything else with it."

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## SunState (Mar 5, 2014)

I use both. Some colors I need I can only get in CMYK and other colors come out better in RGB, So for me it depends on the design I am creating and what colors in what color space will look best for it.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

amdivoff said:


> "Photographic printers are true RGB devices—they expose photosensitive paper using red, green, and blue lasers or LEDs—so the CMYK color mode simply doesn't apply. Inkjet printers use cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks (plus additional inks to extend gamut and detail), which in theory at least makes them CMYK devices. But in practice, unless you're printing through a PostScript raster image processor (RIP), desktop inkjet printer drivers are built to receive only RGB data. This is because traditionally, operating system-level graphics languages have not been able to send CMYK to printers. Photoshop itself can send CMYK to these printers, but the printer driver will immediately convert it to RGB before doing anything else with it."
> 
> Sent from my ONE A2005 using Tapatalk


Dead on. 

Here is what the companies I deem the ultimate authority's on these issues state. Epson Adobe and Corel, the experts speak.

If one is _only_ using the "swatch method" to color manage then won't matter much. In these cases you pick your color like you do at the paint store. Your software is not color managing.

If you actually color manage thru your software and not rely on printed swatches or trial and error ....

Support & Downloads - Epson Stylus Photo PX710W - Epson

"Epson inkjet printers are RGB devices, designed to process and print RGB data from other RGB devices and applications.You will require a Postscript printer driver or 'RIP' in order to print CMYK data or have access to all printing features when using Postscript-heavy applications such as InDesign and QuarkXPress. Even printing basic files from such applications can result in print quality issues, so for documents that don't contain Postscript data we recommend printing from a standard office suite or word processing software"

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/printing-photoshop1.html

"If your image is in RGB mode, do not convert the document to CMYK mode when printing to a desktop printer. Work entirely in RGB mode. As a rule, desktop printers are configured to accept RGB data and use internal software to convert to CMYK. If you send CMYK data, most desktop printers apply a conversion anyway, with unpredictable results."

http://www.corel.com/content/pdf/cdgsx5/Color_Management_Guide.pdf

P11

"As a rule, you should choose RGB as the primary color mode unless your documents are to be printed on CMYK presses in a Postscript workflow.


P21

"Not everyone one realizes that non-Postscript (GDI) Windows printers can only accept RGB data. When you send CMYK or Grayscale colors to the GDI printer, these colors must be converted to RGB by the application, there is no other way and CorelDraw Graphics Suite is not unique here.


P31

On the other hand, choosing the Adobe RGB (1998) color space and the RGB color mode for workflows where digital photos are printed on an inkjet printer is the right move.

GDI (non-PostScript) printer drivers used by most inkjet printers accept only RGB color data, and even low-end inkjet printers can reproduce some colors that fall well outside of the sRGB gamut buy are within the gamut of the Adobe RGB color space.


p37

GDI (non-PostScript) printing

GDI printers expect RGB color data, so all non-RGB colors in a document, such as CMYK or Grayscale, must be converted to the printers RGB color profile. It's a good idea to design your document entirely in RGB if all you plan to do is print to a GDI printer.


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## yatzeeink (Jun 25, 2019)

I do sublimation on a small scale with a Epson 7110 with a CIS system and I use RGB colors! I have taken the pantone colors from all the professional and collegiate sports teams and used their RGB equivalent and had amazing results

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NzFPVzwo1fVafke58


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