Spectral readings, part 1

• Decrease Increase

Most printers and prepress companies use spectrophotometers and colorimeters daily in modern colour management, as a natural part of general quality management. But the data is mostly used internally,and tolerances for the data and variations in the measurements are seldom passed on outside the company. When managing quality issues in an ISO 12647-compliant workflow, or aiming for an ISO 12647 certified process, the issue of tolerances, repeatability and variations becomes crucial. In which way, and how often do you calibrate your measuring device? How do your measured values correlate to measurements made with another brand of spectrophotometer, or another model of the same make?

According to a report from the Dutch graphic arts laboratory VIGC last year, the variations between different spectrophotometers could be very large. So, is the pursuit of excellence in print in vain, if we can’t trust the spectrophotometers? Digital Dots has looked into this before, when, for example, testing high end proofing systems, and not found any great variation between measurements from different models or makes of spectrophotometers. But we decided to have a closer look again, alarmed by the VIGC report and a recently released white paper from X-Rite called Using the Right Tool for the Right Job. ...cont´d

• Decrease Increase