Color Proofing All Jobs?

kdc415

Member
Currently we run hard proofs for every job. I'd like to eliminate that on at least all flat work to speed up the job and save a few bucks. Anyone doing that and/or using soft proofing at the press?

Ken
 
I know of a company that does not do injet proofs. they run everything through a calibrated digital production press. so you get laser proofs. I assume for posters and other large format they run inkjet but for small page size you get laser
 
We do both hard proofs and soft proofs. Depends on the timeline, if they're in a hurry to get on press, they get a soft proof, if we have time, we ship out a hard proof, usually a backed up inkjet for content and an Epson or an Approval proof (depending on the budget).
 
We currently do hard proofs on everything (including jobs that were approved via pdf) If color is involved, we run a G7 proof from our epsons for the presses to match (usually single pages) and an inkjet of the imposed job. We at bare minimum do a laser proof, but I guess it really boils down to the question "what do your customers require?" If they're happy with whatever you give them than no, a hard proof is not required.
 
Soft-Proofing at Press

Soft-Proofing at Press

It's become quite common in publication printing. The big guys (QUAD/RRD/WCP/BPC) all offer it. Time Inc. has not sent a proof to press in 3 years.
 
We're an ad agency and had some material printed by RRD last year (posters) and they sent us G7 Gracol inkjet proofs (guess we asked for them). I was able to compare their proof with my own G7 Gracol profiled Epson and color was almost identical. The bottom line is if a printer commits to print to a certain standard (not sure if G7 Gracol or SWOP 2007 can be officially called standards), it's not that hard for the customer to print his own proofs or softproof the job.
 
GRACoL and SWOP are specifications which reference a standard (ISO 12647); G7 is a process that allows you to meet one of those specifications, and if you follow all of the rules things should come out looking very much the same.
 
Lots of great feedback - thx. Is anyone soft proofing AT the press, like with firstProof or similar? I'm very interested in saving time to help the turnaround. Even for our online orders that get PDF approval, we do an internal dylux and epson. Those go up to customer service for approval, then back to production. Unless it's stitched work, I'd like to skip and go to plate.
 
Sorry if I was not clear. The four big web printers in the US have this installed on press at many locations, primarily where they are printing for Hearst / Hachette / Time Inc., etc. They are using either ICS, Kodak or in the case of QUAD an in-house solution. Commercial web and sheetfed printers have generally not made the investment yet - publishers have the most to gain and almost always go first with this type of thing.
 
Soft Proofing at the Press

Soft Proofing at the Press

We have a very nice tool for creating soft proof files that you can view anywhere - local network or internet as you please. These are full high res files with super color quality. The cost is only $1600 and it works with your existing one bit TIFF files. Here is where you can get more details:
TIFFPager The Everything Tool for all Flavors of TIFF files!

David Lewis
 
dlandon - you were clear, just clarifying for some other folks. Good info, thanks.

Wondering if there is a low cost solution for us commercial sheetfed guys that anyone has implemented. We PDF everything, so maybe it's as simple as throwing that up on a calibrated monitor. Since we got our color management under control I think I really just need something to cross check that the right plates were hung - lol
 
We use 2 kinds of proofs, colour proofs and imposition proofs. We allways make imposition proofs, ie 90g paper that costs 10% or less than proofing paper, this is run from the separated files and includes page area marks, crropframes and information about raster etc. We output a new imposition proof if there is the smallest change. The imposition is also checked off with others in production…*this is not a customer proof, but a tool for us to know that the journey to the finished product can be made.

For customers we will either maka a proof, or make proof of representative pages along with have them approve their PDF in writing. In Some cases, if it is more convenient than proofing on our epson, we will print a digital copy on an indigo, so that the customer getts a feel for the product.
 
You could use the soft proof preview in Acrobat for that; it's a hassle to set it up for every image / imposed flat but it's pretty good. You'd have to calibrate the monitor, of course (ColorEyes Display is the best thing to use for that) and you can still get a 30" Cinema Display on the Apple Refurb store one most days for $1300. So for a grand total of maybe $2000 you could be in business.


dlandon - you were clear, just clarifying for some other folks. Good info, thanks.

Wondering if there is a low cost solution for us commercial sheetfed guys that anyone has implemented. We PDF everything, so maybe it's as simple as throwing that up on a calibrated monitor. Since we got our color management under control I think I really just need something to cross check that the right plates were hung - lol
 

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