ACTIVITY REPORT DIVISION 1 - cie

The comments on the ISO 3664 (Viewing Conditions) Edition 3 CD ballot have all been
resolved and the DIS is being prepared. Significant changes include tighter UV tolerances for
print viewing and display viewing tolerances that are linked to display brightness.
L1-6 ISO/TC130: Graphic Technology: D C Rich
ISO TC 130 has been very active in the past year.
Working Group 1 has been documenting terms used in the graphic arts industry, including
terms relating to the use of color in graphic reproduction. These terms are being standardized
in a series of standards, numbered as ISO 12637 Graphic Technology — Terminology. There
are five parts to this series of standards. Part 1: General Terms, Part 2: Prepress Terms, Part
3: Printing Terms, Part 4: Postpress Terms, and Part 5: Screen Printing Terms.
Working Group 2 is responsible for a number of standards related to electronic files used to
communicate colored images. But it has also been working on and releasing as FDIS the
standard, ISO 12646, Graphic technology — Displays for colour proofing — Characteristics
and viewing conditions which documents the methodologies for creating colored images on a
visual display unit. It references CIE Publication 15 as normative and the following CIE
Publications as informative, CIE Publication 116, CIE Publication 122 and CIE Publication
159.
Working Group 3 is responsible for process control in the production of graphic images. Here
there has been a great deal of activity together with ISO TC 42. There are three joint working
groups and they are busy revising standards on densitometry (ISO 5 series), on the
measurement of color (ISO 13655) and on the viewing conditions for graphic technology and
photography. The main concern in the latter two standards is the move in the graphic
reproduction industry to substrates that contain significant amounts of fluorescent additives
that make the substrate brighter and whiter. Current CIE standards on visually assessing the
color and brightness of prints and inks on theses substrates are considered inadequate. The use
of CIE standard illuminants, like D50, is proving to be problematic as practical realizations do
not include enough ultraviolet content to evoke the correct visual appearance. Commercial
implementation of CIE recommendations on assessing the quality of a viewing source
approximating D50 are not consistent from vendor to vendor or from prediction to
experience. The introduction of new light sources, such as white LED sources, is impacting
the graphic arts in much the same way as it is the commercial retailing and lighting industries.
Better methods for describing the effect of a given lamp light on the perceived color of an
image or a distribution of colors is being sought. The paper industry is also rallying to make
changes to the ways in which they characterize their products so that high accuracy brightness
values can be assessed and communicated between supplier and user without the need for very
specific and unique instrumentation. There are general anecdotal reports that the CIE
recommended scale of whiteness, derived in the late 1970s, does not correlate well with visual
experiences on modern photo papers.
Working Group 4 is responsible for a number of standards on the materials used in graphic
reproduction, including the colors of process printing inks used with various print technologies
(offset, gravure, screen, flexo, digital). The primary interest in the work of CIE Division 1 by
this Group is in the area of color differences and color tolerances. Revisions of several
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