DIGITAL PRINTING
Just Normlicht Just Normlicht is the world’s largest manufacturer of lighting booths – both permanent and portable – for various industries. The company’s transportable viewing stations can be folded together and carried on a handle. All you need is an electrical outlet. At drupa, it was clear that Just Normlicht has been focusing on improving its technologies for soft-proofing applications. A monitor is first calibrated to proper viewing conditions for soft-proofing and then the light booth is calibrated as well. If you want to compare your printed sheet to the softproof, the light booth can be dimmed so very similar lighting conditions are present for sheet and screen – making it possible for a direct comparison between the printed sheet and the soft proof. The light booth can be set to full 5000K standard viewing conditions for on-press sheet comparison. If you do not have room in your print shop to set up a full viewing booth, Just Normlicht has come up with a wall-mounted system with overhead lamps and neutral grey, metal panels that can hold printed sheets. This system can illuminate press sheets at 5000K standard viewing conditions, and at the correct angle. On Just Normlicht’s booth, I was also interested to see how monitors for soft-proofing are not calibrated with the measurement device held directly against the screen, but at a slight distance, so the ambient lighting is also taken into consideration. Just Normlicht used a device called Diskus, developed by BasICColour. The Discus has three measurement modes used for calibration, ambient light measurement and distance measurement.
Eizo During my visit to Just Normlicht, I was made aware of some new EIZO monitors, which I consider to be the Mercedes-class of monitors. Some of the company’s newest monitors come with an EIZOswing system, in which a small arm contains a colour-measurement device that can swing out to calibrate the monitor. It is recommended that you calibrate your monitor first Eizo ColorEdge with a device like an EyeOne and then use the built-in measurement device to mimic the measurement characteristics of the EyeOne. Having a colour measurement device built into the monitor eliminates the hassle of looking for the calibration device. It makes automatic calibration easy. Using control software, it is also possible to set a time when the system should calibrate the monitor, so that your colour correct monitor is ready to use when you come to work in the morning.
BaslCColor As BasICColor’s name suggests, this company clearly views ICC profiling and colour control as an integral part of its business. As discussed earlier with Just Normlicht technology, BasICColor developed an interesting product called Discus. It contains a laser to help with the correct positioning of the device for distance measurement, not only of monitors, but also for projection systems. It is built into an aluminium-unibody housing with a sensor that allows a user to compensate for temperature changes. 26 • PRINTACTION • JUNE 2012