An Investigation of Color Tolerance.

A colorimetric estimate of color tolerance was obtained by determining the CIE L*a*b E* a,b color differences between desired colors and their acceptable limits. This was achieved by obtaining the E* a,b values for 1010 colors from a large number of Allen tolerance charts. These charts provide standard colors and their light and dark limits for package printers. Although the limits are stated as light and dark, they varied in hue and saturation as well as lightness. The average allowable tolerance found was six E*a,b units and no single dimension of color (hue, saturation or lightness) contributed to this value more than any other.