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Author Topic: Indigo Press  (Read 3462 times)

chriscor

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Indigo Press
« on: March 11, 2008, 07:12:22 pm »

Does anyone have any experience printing with a Indigo Press?  A&I in Los Angeles has one.  I'm going to have a small batch run to see what the color is like.  I'm a little stumped on how to prep the file.  They said that the press can't be profiled as they calibrate daily and it fluctuates.
HP, on their site, has ICC profiles for their various printers.
Without having a profile is it possible to soft proof an image in Photoshop?  

Thanks
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zirmedien

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Indigo Press
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2008, 02:43:51 am »

Use Photoshop-CMYK-profile (coated) for softproofing, in the US "swop" I think. Indigos are regulary calibrated to match standard CMYK-press-machines. In Germany I use "fogra iso coated" for softproofing a four color Indigo with sucess.
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neil snape

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Indigo Press
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2008, 03:11:31 am »

The Indigo certainly has profiles and a profiled workflow is possible. Calibration however is something that has to be maintained to make or keep profiles valid.
There are many different options on Indigo presses, so finding the profiles will be a challenge, and probably not worth the search. If you send SWOP or better with embedded profiles the results should be inline with a proof if they maintain their machine. PS, the Indigo runs very well as with rgb fed through the rip as well on the recent models.
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chriscor

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Indigo Press
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2008, 12:38:09 pm »

I asked them if I could use the SWOP profile to soft proof my images and they said no because the printer printed in RGB.  I've seen a number of post on the web that mention using the SWOP profile so I'm a little confused.  I'll try the SWOP profile and see what happens.

Thanks
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seangirard

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Indigo Press
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2008, 04:14:09 pm »

They might be feeding RGB and letting the RIP separate but the Indigo is definitely a CMYK device. We throw away those little toner canisters every day. I don't know why HP can't come up with a better way or at least recycle the damn things.

As far as proofing and profiling... our operator says you'll never get an Indigo to the same state twice which I'm willing to accept but don't totally believe. No one wants to let me near them with a spectro but that might change in the next couple months.

I would agree that SWOP would get you close. If you're going to run tests and they'll take RBG you might try sRGB (maybe too big, I don't know).
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chriscor

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Indigo Press
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2008, 05:33:04 pm »

Hi Sean,

I'm assuming you work with a Indigo press.  Do you soft proof images prior to printing them? If so what profile do you use and what color space are you working in?  The person I spoke with said they color correct every image that comes in.  If they're not soft proofing how can they make corrections with any accuracy?  I know nothing about printing on a press so this baffles me.

Thanks
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KeithR

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Indigo Press
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2008, 05:49:42 pm »

Quote
Does anyone have any experience printing with a Indigo Press?  A&I in Los Angeles has one.  I'm going to have a small batch run to see what the color is like.  I'm a little stumped on how to prep the file.  They said that the press can't be profiled as they calibrate daily and it fluctuates.
HP, on their site, has ICC profiles for their various printers.
Without having a profile is it possible to soft proof an image in Photoshop? 

Thanks
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Here are a couple of articals that might be of some help. The first talks about soft proofing for a book that is being printed on a Indigo Press.
[a href=\"http://www.bonsai-photography.com/blurb-color-management.pdf]http://www.bonsai-photography.com/blurb-color-management.pdf[/url]
This one also talks about printing with the Indigo
http://www.naturephotographers.net/article...5/mh0405-1.html
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seangirard

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Indigo Press
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2008, 07:05:14 pm »

I work in a shop that has two and the bottom line is we really don't color manage them. That's not the way I would do it, but that's a whole other story. Hopefully it's gonna change soon. Anyway...

Unless your provider is going to give you a profile or at least some guidance you're pretty much guessing. I think this is why folks suggested SWOP as a conservative space to work in (you could convert back to RGB at the very end if they absolutely refuse to accept a CMYK file for some reason). The downside to this approach is that the press will almost certainly have a gamut somewhat larger that SWOP on a decent, coated stock so you will have probably clipped your color more than necessary. If you sent something in SWOP and something in sRGB I'm guessing you would have sort of an upper and lower bound of what the thing can do and you could make some adjustments from there. Obviously not the right way to go about things but that's the only thought I have. Hopefully someone smarter will have a better idea or your printer will be willing to pull a couple proofs for you until you can get close.

Speaking very generally I don't think color accuracy is top priority on most of the jobs Indigos are used for. We photographers are an exception. Good luck.
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chriscor

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Indigo Press
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2008, 08:26:51 pm »

I had a test run on the indigo, soft proofing the image with the profile from the web site KeithR posted.  The printed image is pretty close to the screen.  My main fault with the image is that the blacks are very black.  Blacker than my screen.  Before I dropped the file off I asked what the black point (both input and output) should be set at.  They said 0.  It was my understanding that most printers can't print a pure black and therefore the recommended setting is in the 5-15 pt range for black and 245-250 for white.  Does anyone have any experience with this?  Should the black and white points, both input and output, be left at 0/255 ?

Thanks,

Chris
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