Ricoh Auto Color Adjuster (RACA)

[CaliPrintGuy]

Hello, does anyone have experience with this device?

TIA!!

 

[phapp]

I do. I've put in multiple of these. I work for Ricoh, and those are my coworkers in the video. I'll be glad to answer any questions you have.

 

[CaliPrintGuy]

Ah, thanks @phapp — I was actually hoping to hear from a print shop owner who’s actively using the gear.


I just returned from your Boulder, Colorado facility, and the equipment made a strong impression. It looks like a powerful solution — especially considering we spend countless hours chasing color in our shop..

 

[LeGerbs]

This is an old post but we're getting ours in January i'll save this post and update you as soon as we can get our hands on it!

 

[Ozkan Hangisi]

I didn't get how it works without a source ICC profile. Let's say a customer brought a printed sample. How will the machine print the same image without knowing in which conditions the sample was printed? Is there a kind of special scanner that scans the sample and gets the lab values of the image pixel by pixel?

 

[phapp]

Great question! The Auto Color Adjuster does actually work with a source ICC profile. In the scenario you described, where a customer brings a printed sample, the Auto Color Adjuster uses a function called Color Sample Matching. Here’s how it works:

You scan the provided sample using the Auto Color Adjuster hardware. The software then creates a simulation profile based on that scan, which becomes your source profile.

This approach ensures the output closely matches the original sample, even when the original ICC profile isn’t available.

 

[bill kahny]

Can you quote a price?

 

[phapp]

Can you quote a price?

I'll DM you.

 

[LeGerbs]

We had just gotten in our RACA in middle January and I figured i'd give you all an update on our experience so far.

Let's start with the pros:

1. Extremely accurate Golden Sample Matching
2. Profiling Ricoh machines is quick and usually painless provided the machine is in a good functioning state. (No banding/Spotting etc etc.
3. Very few sheets needed to print out a test sheet.
4. Very fast feeding and profile uploading to Fiery so you have less down-time while trying to get your machine Profiled.
5. Color consistency lasts for a significant amount of time so long as you're running the machine with all 4 colors during long runs. (Every machine is different we run KM 6100's and Ricoh C9210's in house)

Cons:

1. It will not profile your machine if even a few patches show noticeable banding. In other words unless your machine is very well upkept and your service provider is willing to replace components that go bad rather than apply a bandaid fix you're screwed when it comes to profiling that machine. (This can be a good or a bad thing depending on your use case)
2. The software isn't easy to explain to anyone who isn't familiar with the fundamentals of Fiery Command Workstation. Organization in the archived folder is key to keep your profiling templates in order.
3. You have to pay for mandatory training. Can be worth it or not worth it depending on your experience level with color in general.
4. There is a hidden license/subscription that they don't tell you upfront. Usually starts at 5 years and only covers 3 machines. You have to pay more for each individual machine.
5. Uncoated paper requires a lot of extra due diligence to make sure it doesn't error out and actually profile the machine. (To be expected uncoated stock is always a problem child)
6. There is a noticeable color drift on jobs that aren't using a significant amount of toner. Again this is entirely machine based this is referencing the C9210 machine specifically.

Overall:

I think it's an amazing product if you have a color critical shop. It's way faster than creating individual profiles on Fiery Color Suite which is what most people are using if they have a Fiery based system. Screwing with color curves has been the bane of my existence for a couple of years now and the golden sample matching really does help create a more efficient method of printing jobs.