A system comprising: at least one physical memory device to store ink estimation logic; and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device, to execute the ink estimation logic to: receive a histogram for each of a plurality of color planes; receive uncalibrated ink deposition data for a printing system; perform a direct conversion of the uncalibrated ink deposition data to generate first calibrated ink deposition data; and generate estimated ink usage data for each of the plurality of color planes based on the histograms and the first calibrated ink deposition data; characterized in that: the direct conversion of the uncalibrated ink deposition data to generate the first calibrated ink deposition data comprises applying a first transfer function to the uncalibrated ink deposition data, wherein the ink estimation logic receives the first transfer function, wherein the first transfer function comprises a mapping of input digital count to output digital count of the printing system, wherein the uncalibrated ink deposition data is a mapping of the input digital count to an amount of ink deposition; wherein the ink deposition is defined as an average amount of ink deposited per printed device pel, wherein a pel is a picture element of a printer of the printing system, wherein the digital count is a grey level representing the pels in a bitmap. at least one physical memory device to store ink estimation logic; and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device, to execute the ink estimation logic to: receive a histogram for each of a plurality of color planes; receive uncalibrated ink deposition data for a printing system; perform a direct conversion of the uncalibrated ink deposition data to generate first calibrated ink deposition data; and generate estimated ink usage data for each of the plurality of color planes based on the histograms and the first calibrated ink deposition data; characterized in that: receive a histogram for each of a plurality of color planes; receive uncalibrated ink deposition data for a printing system; perform a direct conversion of the uncalibrated ink deposition data to generate first calibrated ink deposition data; and generate estimated ink usage data for each of the plurality of color planes based on the histograms and the first calibrated ink deposition data; characterized in that: the direct conversion of the uncalibrated ink deposition data to generate the first calibrated ink deposition data comprises applying a first transfer function to the uncalibrated ink deposition data, wherein the ink estimation logic receives the first transfer function, wherein the first transfer function comprises a mapping of input digital count to output digital count of the printing system, wherein the uncalibrated ink deposition data is a mapping of the input digital count to an amount of ink deposition; wherein the ink deposition is defined as an average amount of ink deposited per printed device pel, wherein a pel is a picture element of a printer of the printing system, wherein the digital count is a grey level representing the pels in a bitmap. wherein the ink deposition is defined as an average amount of ink deposited per printed device pel, wherein a pel is a picture element of a printer of the printing system, wherein the digital count is a grey level representing the pels in a bitmap.