Imaging 12 - Fujifilm Graphic Systems

COLOUR MANAGEMENT case study – GBM Group
RGB suits GBM
Manchester’s leading visual communications company is meeting exacting
quality demands with a Fujifilm Lanovia Quattro scanner and ColourKit.
“ColourKit Profile
Maker is an excellent
piece of software.
We are amazed at its
low cost.”
Steve Wilks, imaging services manager,
GBM Group
B
ecause of increasing workload at visual
communication services company GBM, a
new high quality scanner was needed to
ensure that production for a range of clients
could continue smoothly, but it was also
necessary to have one that would fit into the
RGB workflow that GBM uses.
“We work in RGB because so many of the
output routes that we support are RGB,” explains
imaging services manager Steve Wilks.
“Broadcast video, transparency, movies, Web
sites and on-screen presentations all use RGB; it’s
only print that needs CMYK.”
The GBM workflow involves scanning to
colour profiled RGB for output to a variety of
devices that use different colour spaces –
transparency film recorders (RGB), a large format
Raster Graphics inkjet printer (CMYK), a Durst
Lambda large format photographic printer (RGB,
but not the same as for transparency output) and
of course normal print repro (CMYK). It was
important to get the best possible colour match
across all these, so robust colour management
was a key factor when looking at a new scanner.
Fast and accurate
The scanner that best fitted the bill was the
Fujifilm Lanovia Quattro, offering the image
24 Imaging 12 autumn 2002
quality and productivity needed to meet GBM’s
needs, together with the sophisticated
capabilities of Fujifilm ColourKit for ICC profile
creation, editing and colour space conversion.
“Fujifilm’s ColourKit software was a key
factor in our decision,” confirms Wilks. “We liked
the technology, the way it worked. ColourKit
Profile Maker is an excellent piece of software.
We use it to create about 90 per cent of our
profiles and are amazed at its low cost compared
to the software we were using previously.”
All the major in-house output devices listed
above are profiled using ColourKit, as well as the
Lanovia Quattro scanner. Colour-calibrated
monitors and controlled colour temperature
lighting are used in the creative and imaging
studios to ensure consistency of results between
output media. Staff at GBM scan originals to
produce profiled RGB images; these are then
converted in ColourKit or Adobe Photoshop
using the appropriate output profiles to produce
colour-managed files for output on each device.
Any further tweaks required for a particular
output instance will be done in that device’s
colour space. This way the original master scan is
preserved untouched so that any number of
subsequent versions may be produced for output
on any of the profiled devices.
self, especially as profiling proofers is even
more complex (see below). There are
specialist consultants who can perform the
profile creation task for you, leaving you
with the profiles you will need. If you’re a
small design firm or repro house with only
a few monitors or proofers this might be
the better route. For bigger agencies or
repro facilities it may be more cost effective
and convenient to buy the equipment
and do the profile generation in-house;
the ability to offer your customers ICC
profiles for your output devices, whether
proofers or presses, will increasingly be an
advantage in winning new business. Offering
profile-making services could even be
an interesting new business opportunity.
Another issue with monitor profiling is
that to get any kind of accurate softproofing
the monitor’s colour temperature
needs to be set to 5500 K which makes
‘white’ look like a dingy yellow. Although
we’re used to the idea that the brilliant
images we see on computer screens lose
something by the time they make it into
print, it’s still a bit of a shock to see that
effect on screen.
You don’t absolutely have to do this.
Provided that you have a profiled proofer
available on which to base accurate colour
decisions you can choose to set your
monitor as you prefer it; providing you
don’t keep changing it, you’ll get used to
the difference between screen and proof
and be able to make allowances while
working on screen, in much the same way
that we all got used to the difference
between Cromalins and the final print.
There is also the view that screen-based
soft proofing can’t be completely reliable
because screens emit light while proofs
and printed pages reflect it (and of course,
viewing conditions affect both, though not
necessarily in the same way).
Proofers and presses
This is where profile generation gets quite
a bit more difficult. From a supplied file
you have to print out a test sheet on your
proofer. For press profiling, the plates
have to be made via film output or CTP,
whichever you intend to use. Your film- or
platesetter will need to be properly
calibrated (and kept that way) and your
processing needs to be within proper
tolerances as well. Then you print the job
on the machine you want to profile.
Once you’ve made your test prints
you’ll need a spectrophotometer to
measure the results and feed them into