The repeatable quality of color image reproduction is a growing challenge for producers of digital printing devices as well as for paper producers. The complex nature of the problem is due to the large number of factors that influence the quality. The properties of the printing substrate such as whiteness, gloss and surface roughness, the colorants and the printing procedure in different combinations together with the properties of the capturing device are all factors that make objective evaluation of print quality very difficult. It is therefore imperative to develop precise methods and routines for color measurement and characterization. In this presentation, the influence of substrate properties on the final printed result will be studied by means of a flatbed digital scanner. The presentation will describe the problems associated with the influence of substrate properties on scanner calibration and will give guidelines for the use of scanners, where largescale color management control is required. The work reported here is part of an ongoing development of a set of characterization procedures that can be applied to printing situations, consisting of a variety of different printing engines and papers.