Color Management of Digital Presses

ddbray

Member
For those of you that are in a shop where you have both Digital Presses (is NexPress, Indigo...) and sheet fed or web presses, do you color manage your digital press to match your sheetfed or web press or not.

If you do color manage your digital press to match your sheetfed or web press how did you accomplish this?
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

We have a Xerox Docucolor 250 that is profiled to our sheet feed presses(40" 6/C, 2 40" 4/C, 1 29" 5/C) that are profiled to our epson printers as well, We paid a color tech from fuji to set up all of our profiling. The proceedure took about two days,
As each press ran a series of targets for setting up our ICC profiling system, this was well worth the
money as now with regular linearizing and calibrating we come very close to our sheetfeed presses
when printing digital, or proofing using our epsons.
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

Hi RobR,

Thanks for this info, glad to know its achievable. We have a Fuji Xerox 6060 that prints nothing like our offset presses and isn't matched to my Epson plotter at all either. I will talk to our Fuji techs next time they are up and see what they can do... would be great to have our whole shop colour synchronised at least a little bit better!!

Cheers, Tony
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

Rob on our Presstek 34 DI the desktop people say they can't get the Epson printer to match the digital press (I know better, but I think it's interesting watching "copy" folks trying to run a "quality" press shop that way). If you don't mind me asking, what'd it cost for the tech to set you up?

We had a tech in while I was away and he went over some calibration curves on the press, and I missed it. The boss says he's sending me to "School" at the Presstek lab for a formal education on the machine. I'm hoping I'll learn what I need there.

Sparky
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

1. Symantics perhaps, but lets start off by saying that a Press has imPRESSions.
2. ICC COMPLIANT versus ICC Compatible. Big Difference.

As for profiling a DI-Press, it is exactly like profiling a sheetfed wet-offset. A proper linearisation (I recommend a G7 NPDC), especially with a PDSE, you can get amazing results with a contemporary Epson and ICC COMPLIANT RIP (EFI, GMG, CSE, etc..)

If you find you need help with this, get in touch.

Peter
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

Just had to jump in here.
I do profiles for a living. Unfortunately there are situations that are beyond our control.
An example would be a shop that has three output devices. These are, a Offset press about 19"X25' sheet size, a DI Press with an output 0f 12"X18, and a copy machine, high end whiz-bang of course.
Here is the problem, you decide if I suggest the right solution:
The only one of these devices that is fully profilable is the Large output press. Why? Because there is a target that I can run on this press that has about 1780 color patches with which to make a good capture of that presses' "colorspace". With a profile made on that press I can then make a "proofing" software control an Epson to very closely (92-95%) match that press. The DI Press may be able to print a target that has 540 patches. Now in the scope of "colormanagement" more is better!
Next we approach the high-end copier. This is a Toner machine with "mystery" colormanagement provided by the mfg.
Here is the best I have found, as far as a suggestion for these types of shops:
1. Fully linearize and profile the Epson. Make the proofing software use the ICC profile from the large press and make proofs.
2. Make the DI Press match the Proofs.
3. Have the Mfg. rep for the super copy machine set his machine to match the Epson proofs too.

Remember, if the Large press is run with inks up to density and achieving a gray balance then that profile is the best in the house. All other processes should match this.
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

It's refreshing to read this thread and see that there are professionals out there that actually care about color management for digital presses.
As a designer, I can't tell you how many times I'm faced with blank looks and chirping crickets when I ask a print shop if they could supply me with an ICC profile for their digital press for a job I'm going to be bringing them.
Sadly, it's still largely a crap-shoot, color-wise, when you take a job to a digital press.
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

I'm also trying to colour manage a digital press. My general experience: frustration.

Process control isn't easy as there is about a delta 5 variance inherent in the electrophotographic process itself. That's how sensitive it is. From job to job, in fact sheet to sheet, you can't expect exact colour consistency. (Like I said, there's a sort of 'window' of about delta 5, I think, for one to work within.)

This has tought me that it's definitely useful (necessary) to be able to average your measurement files. (My PM5 doesn't do that so I'm trying to figure out a way with Excel.)

Another lesson I've learned from this (blasted) digital press is that colour management (and your opinion may differ) isn't so much about matching individual solid-colours exactly, but about getting a 'perceptual' match - an overall feeling of 'these prints look the same' rather than a meticulous comparison of your prints to a given swatch.
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

You said your PM5 did not let you average? I think you may not be using the right part of the application to average with. You need to read each target and save the information file. Then in "Measure Tool" about at the bottom of the column you will see "Averaging". Open this area, import all of your saved text files and Average, save a new text file and import this Averaged file into PM5 to make an ICC profile.
What Spectrophotometer and Print target are you using and what are you profiling?
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

Forgot to ask, How big a sheet can you run off of the DI Press? That has a lot to do with how well you can profile it. Target size for the ICC profile means lots.
 
Re: Color Management of Digital Presses

I'm profiling a NexPress (like I said - electrophotography, not a DI press) with an Eye1Pro, I get the ECI2002 target onto two sheets.

The averaging function: I just don't think this dongle unlocks it - this is the photographers version, I think. But, I'm trying to figure a way around that.
 
Best Color Profiler

Best Color Profiler

Had to jump in to
I print for a living and have to say just one name DON HUTCHINSON is the best profiler in the business hands down if anyone wants to know anything about profiles or color just google his name and on his page you will learn more then you can imagine the guy is amazing.


Just had to jump in here.
I do profiles for a living. Unfortunately there are situations that are beyond our control.
An example would be a shop that has three output devices. These are, a Offset press about 19"X25' sheet size, a DI Press with an output 0f 12"X18, and a copy machine, high end whiz-bang of course.
Here is the problem, you decide if I suggest the right solution:
The only one of these devices that is fully profilable is the Large output press. Why? Because there is a target that I can run on this press that has about 1780 color patches with which to make a good capture of that presses' "colorspace". With a profile made on that press I can then make a "proofing" software control an Epson to very closely (92-95%) match that press. The DI Press may be able to print a target that has 540 patches. Now in the scope of "colormanagement" more is better!
Next we approach the high-end copier. This is a Toner machine with "mystery" colormanagement provided by the mfg.
Here is the best I have found, as far as a suggestion for these types of shops:
1. Fully linearize and profile the Epson. Make the proofing software use the ICC profile from the large press and make proofs.
2. Make the DI Press match the Proofs.
3. Have the Mfg. rep for the super copy machine set his machine to match the Epson proofs too.

Remember, if the Large press is run with inks up to density and achieving a gray balance then that profile is the best in the house. All other processes should match this.
 
I'm profiling a NexPress (like I said - electrophotography, not a DI press) with an Eye1Pro, I get the ECI2002 target onto two sheets.

The averaging function: I just don't think this dongle unlocks it - this is the photographers version, I think. But, I'm trying to figure a way around that.

I think the i1Pro has an internal firmware that is locked. Unless you get one that is for your profiler software I do not believe it will work.

I am not totally certain of this but the one's I use to calibrate TVs and displays are locked to the software.
 

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