The ISOLithO Report is aimed at corporate print buyers, colour separators and printers requiring a consistent and standardised colour appearance, which conforms to the ISO 12647 printing Specification.
The ISOLithO Report breaks with the traditional practice of matching the proof to the press or the press to the proof by independently comparing both to pre-defined ISO specified targets for a range of printing conditions.
This method of working is only now practical because ISOLithO displays print colour measurements and the complex targets and tolerances of the ISO Specification, in an uncomplicated and yet sophisticated way. The ISOLithO Report clearly shows when colour appearance is in or out of tolerance and provides vital information about the remedial action needed to ‘correct’ an out of tolerance print appearance.
Chris Bolton, Colour Quality Control Manager at Taylor Bloxham, Leicester, says, “If you need to verify that your printing is conforming to the ISO specification, then this tool is invaluable” .
Rob Beeton, Dupont Digital Imaging proofing specialist says, “ISOLithO has helped us to develop an ISO 12647 conforming proof appearance option. ISOLithO is a great colour analysis tool when matching proof to proof, print to proof or proof to a printing standard like ISO 12647.”
Mick Capon, prepress manager of APG Mitcham comments, “We recently moved one of our five colour Speedmasters and I ran off a quick ISOLithO Report, just to confirm everything was ok. The ISOLithO Report showed unusually heavy middle tones that indicated our paper transport mechanism needed attention following the move, and sure enough that turned out to be the case.”
ISOLithO generates a comprehensive and inclusive colour report from either the Mellow Colour ‘ISObar’, or a variety of commonly used colour control strips.
In practice, the user simply chooses the appropriate ISO specified Lab targets for paper type and ink colour, along with tone value increase (dot gain) targets from pull down menus in the ISOLithO set-up dialogue.
A spectrophotometer is used to quickly capture colour data from the print sample, and a comprehensive colour report is generated. This displays almost everything needed to know about colour appearance and how the colour measurements compare with the ISO 12647 Specification. A summary sheet is provided with pass/fail indication for all ISO tolerances along with a condensed label printing option, for proof and print appearance validation.
The ISOLithO report also provides grey balance and density information that allows the ‘pulse’ of the printing process to be monitored, flagging up subtle changes in the process, long before they become a problem.
An ISO 12647-2 curve B conforming reference print is shipped with each ISOLithO Report Software. This enables users to confirm that their ISOLithO and Spectrophotometer settings are correct, by generating their first report from the print. In addition it allows the user to see what an ISO 12647-2 curve B print actually looks like.
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